Congressman Lieu: Wrong on Transgenderism

Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance, CA) tweeted the following message on NewYear's Day, 2015:

Being #transgender is not a "mistake." It is the beautiful expression of what it means to be human. http://t.co/Luu24kH4hn #LeelahAlcorn

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 1, 2015

This is one of the most offensive tweets I have read from a politician.

Does Congressman Lieu understand the health implication which afflict individuals who insist that although they were born as one sex, they are in fact another?

I am deeply concerned with Lieu's decision to tweet about this issue, in the face of budget concerns, an overblown national debt, plus the insecurity of our nation's borders, combined with the exasperating arrogance of the President. His executive actions have ruined any chances for reform and progress in Washington.

The death of Leelah Alcorn, in reality a young male named Josh, struggled with identity issues.

CNN reports:

When Josh Alcorn voiced a desire to live as a girl, the Ohio teenager's parents said they wouldn't stand for that.

So the parents are at fault because they respected their son's physical and well as mental integrity?

"We don't support that, religiously," Alcorn's mother told CNN on Wednesday, her voice breaking. "But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy."

The son's suicide note read:

"Please don't be sad, it's for the better. The life I would've lived isn't worth living in ... because I'm transgender," the note said. "I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body, and I've felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally 'boyish' things to try to fit in."

One has to ask: how did he know that he was really a she trapped in a boy's body? The struggle to fit in, to define oneself, to understand a place in life, these issues do not get resolved right away for young people, and their minds are still developing.

Here's a larger part of the problem. The issue has nothing to do with the individual traditions or beliefs of families. The small-time crisis of transgenderism is a health problem, a malady of identity.

SexChangeRegret.com writer Walter Heyer shared the following points on his website:

He (yes, HE!) confirms the point I made in my book, Paper Genders--the brain hasn't matured enough to make this decision until the person reaches their mid-20s. So why would we encourage any child to undergo "treatments" with such long-term consequences?

Young people are still trying to get answers in a world which seems destined to occlude or even shame the pursuit of answers.

Young people who believe that they should change genders are not demented or evil, but they need help. Creating another entitled minority class called "transgender" is not only foolish and without merit, but inherently dangerous, a form of biological insanity.

Heyer also criticized administering hormone blockers to children:

One controversial treatment for children with gender dysphoria is the administration of drugs called hormone blockers to delay puberty. The practice is gaining traction without any scientific proof that it is appropriate or effective, and despite the evidence that it can be harmful.

The real problem, gender dysphoria, needs to be treated in a clinical setting. Mental health specialists are now overrun with politically-correct doctors intent on accommodating rather than treating the dysphoria.



Walt Heyer, born male then altered to female, returned to himself

Heyer notes that at a young age, he was abused by his grandmother, who insisted on his wearing a purple dress and pretending to be a girl. Many men who suffered abuse as children struggle to share this pain with others, whether medical professionals, or even their wives and close and relatives. The trauma, the shame of sexual predation, or abuse, is so great, that many young men usually choose a homosexual or trangender identity rather than dealing with the shame.

Celebrity talk show host Oprah Winfrey conveyed the difficulty of facing the truth about sex abuse, for example. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Winfrey acknowledged that she was forty-two years old when she finally grasped that her abuse was not her fault. Interviewing convicted child molesters who explained how they manipulated young people, it finally occurred to Oprah why she continued to feel ashamed about the abuse, even though in reality it was never her fault.

The revelation of the truth about who we are, and the strength to overcome the shame associated with it, does not happen right away. Often, it takes time and awareness, something which therapists do not truck in.

Now that Congressman Lieu (among others) has outlawed adults from counseling young people with gender dysphoria, helping young people to lead productive and stable lives has become more difficult.

Transgenderism is a mistake, and the high incidence of depression, health problems, and even suicide associated with the conversion should alarm concerned adults as well as legislators.

People are not mistakes, though, and they need real help. They need to be encouraged to respect and embrace the physical traits they were born with.

Heyer quotes one example of this acceptance:

Seven years ago, Matthew, a male drag queen, became Chelsea. Now Chelsea wants to become Matthew again. In the article published Oct. 1, 2014, Chelsea says:

'I have always longed to be a woman, but no amount of surgery can give me an actual female body and I feel like I am living a lie.

'It is exhausting putting on make-up and wearing heels all the time. Even then I don't feel I look like a proper woman.

'I suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of the hormones too.

'I have realised it would be easier to stop fighting the way I look naturally and accept that I was born a man physically.'"

Heyer also argues that no matter how many surgeries or hormone treatments an individual receives, the fundamental genetic identity of an individual cannot change. A male is born with XY chromosomes, and all the surgeries and medicinal tampering cannot alter that.

Congressman Lieu and his like-minded colleagues must encourage young people, and all people, to respect their bodies and acknowledge that they are not mistakes, and they should not regret their inborn, innate sexual characteristics, either.