Telling kids they can ‘change’ sex is harmful: US Catholic bishops with other faith leaders
“Children especially are harmed when they are told that they can ‘change’ their sex or, further, given hormones that will affect their development and possibly render them infertile as adults.” So says a letter released Friday and initiated by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops , and joined by faith leaders from the Lutherans, Anglicans, Orthodox, Presbyterians, and Southern Baptists . One Islamic representative also signed the document. “Gender ideology harms individuals and societies by sowing confusion and self-doubt,” the statement says. The bishops and other religious leaders denounce transgender ideology, calling it a “false idea” that a man could become a woman or a woman a man. “The movement today to enforce the false idea—that a man can be or become a woman or vice versa—is deeply troubling. It compels people to either go against reason—that is, to agree with something that is not true—or face ridicule, marginalization, and other forms of retaliation,” they sta