Are people born transgender?
Two recent headlines proclaim, " Transgender people are born that way , a new study has found," and "Scientists uncover 20 genes linked to being transgender – supporting claims the condition has a physical basis." What are we to make of this? Before we evaluate these announcements, it's important that we understand that we are not discussing the question of people who are intersex , referring to those who have a biological or chromosomal abnormality in terms of their sex. By definition, people who are intersex are born that way. It's also important that we remember the many sensational headlines that proclaimed that a gay gene (or the like) had been discovered. Every few years, a new "discovery" would be made about "proving" that people are born gay, only to be replaced by the latest "discovery," none of which proved definitive. Back in February 1992, a cover story for Newsweek featured the face of an infa...