Transphobia as Pastoral Guidelines — How the Evangelical Alliance has used its latest publication to continue to find ways to actively harm trans people
CW: Transphobia, Conversion Therapy, Zucker, Religiously driven zealotry
(All sections quoted from Transformed have been done so for the purposes of criticism.)
I’ve waded through the Evangelical Alliance’s new pastoral “guidelines” for interacting with trans people (ughh, the things I do to expose transphobic ciswits to the world), and let’s just say it’s time to tear this particular sh*t-bag a new hole.
So, straight off the bat, first page of text, the use of language is . . . well, yeah, see for yourself:
“It is important to remember that transgender is not simply an issue to be debated;” — p5, Transformed
*sigh*
When such language gets reinforced by insisting that the rights of trans people to exist, to be recognised, and not to be discriminated against is a;
“broader ideological movement” — p5, Transformed
it doesn’t take a genius to see exactly where the Evangelical Alliance is going with it’s “guidelines”.
And, of course, it doesn’t take the Evangelical Alliance “guidelines” long to stick the boot in by complaining about ‘how selfish trans people are’, how ‘they destroy lives, and families’, about how terrible it was that the confidential support and medical services that work with trans people refuse to break confidentiality and forcibly out trans people to their families.
No, seriously. This is what they’ve said, couching it via the form of an anecdote to try and maintain a level of plausible deniability if they ever get pushed on it (‘oh, it’s not what we’ve said, we were just perfectly happy to publish and promote these words with our full endorsement’);
“Tim discovered that his Mum had known for 34 years that his Dad had been cross-dressing. They had been supported by social and medical services for 19 years for mental health issues and trying, in their words, to find a cure. As Tim processed everything he felt angry — that the family had been let down, not only by their Dad, but also by the support services who had never engaged with those who would be massively impacted by the decision.
Tim’s mum felt robbed of a life, having chosen to stick by him through everything, only for him to end up leaving her. She joked, “He left me for another woman — himself.” But behind the humour her world was turned upside down as she grieved the loss of someone who wasn’t dead, but was in many ways dead to her. She still doesn’t go out very often, paralysed by fear and shame. Tim’s sister refuses to talk about the matter or discuss it.” — p6–7, Transformed
It’s also notably throughout that entire piece (p6–7, Transformed) the Evangelical Alliance quite deliberately misgender the trans person in question, even when not using direct quotes from “Tim”.
Likewise, it’s also notable that the Evangelical Alliance uses the opportunity to get “Tim” to push for the removal of the rights of trans people to access medical care;
“Tim reflects, “I am convinced it is not God’s plan, design or desire for anybody to go through a gender reassignment operation. I see this as self-harm at the highest level — emotionally and physically — changing the external in the hope that it will change the internal.” p7 — Transformed
and instead decide to push for the Evangelical Alliance’s own position, religiously-oriented Conversion Therapy for all those pesky trans people;
“My desire is to present Jesus in a way that people would fall in love with Jesus, and in turn themselves. Our identity is in Christ — until you discover that you will always be chasing your own tail.” p7, Transformed
The Evangelical Alliance Dog to the TERF tail
It’s hardly a surprise, of course, that the Evangelical Alliance’s position about there being two kinds of trans people closely apes the TERF one. After all, the Evangelical Alliance is just a part of the dog that wags the TERF tail.
And here they are, in their “guidelines” lamenting the fact that there are two kinds of trans people. The nice, quiet kind who agree with the transphobia that the Evangelical Alliance likes to spew, and then there’s the nasty, horrible bolshy kind like me who are quite clear that no transphobic ciswit EVER gets to question or determine our existence, our validity, and our truth and understanding about our own gender identity and sex;
“Secondly, trans is used to describe those with a medical condition — gender dysphoria — and those who are part of a wider ideological movement. We need to distinguish good intentions from bad ideas.” (emphasis mine) p9, Transformed.
And, of course, no transphobe’s diatribe about trans people would ever be complete without misleading stats, especially around the numbers of people who are trans, or the number of people that experience gender dysphoria;
“There is debate as to how many people are affected however; there are approximately 15,000 gender identity patients in the UK — this equates to 0.02 per cent of the population” — p9, Transformed
What, you think we’re all so stupid that we won’t notice that you haven’t included:
• Trans people now discharged from the Gender Identity Services to have their care continued under Primary Health Care
• Trans people that are on the waiting list to be seen by a GIC
• Trans people that are waiting for their referral to be accepted by a GIC to be placed on the waiting list
• Trans people that are waiting for their GP to make the referral
• Trans people in Wales that are waiting for their GP to make the referral to Mental Health
• Trans people in Wales that are on the waiting list for Mental Health
• Trans people in Wales that, having had an initial appointment with a psychiatrist, have to wait a year to show that they are persistent in their gender identity
• Trans people in Wales that under the previous care pathway, having gone through that year, and having received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria then have to have their case passed on to a second psychiatrist so they can then be rediagnosed
• Trans people in Wales that, having been diagnosed, then have to have their case passed on to the funding body, so the funding body can then rediagnose the person to see if they are going to fund that person’s treatment.
• Oh, and every trans person who has, for whatever reason, yet to start any of those referral processes.
“Are we so out of touch that our disgust for trans people is wrong? No, it is the public who are wrong”
It’s hardly a surprise that the Evangelical Alliance resorts to pearl-clutching in their desperation to marginalise and other trans people. Like all transphobes, the Evangelical Alliance continually seems in a state of befuddled and addlepated anger that their transphobic denials of trans peoples rights, validity, and existence are only shared by a minute segment of the population, as expressed by their shock that it’s not just trans people who fight for trans people’s rights:
“The movement is supported by people who are not trans, known as allies” — p9, Transformed
They’re also known as decent human beings, as opposed to being known as bigots. There’s a reason for that, Evangelical Alliance; one that escapes your understanding.
So convinced of their righteousness, the Evangelical Alliance is convinced that simple, decent, human behaviour (i.e. not that expressed by the Evangelical Alliance) can only be ascribed to the shadowy forces of;
• “The transgender ideological movement”, — p9, Transformed
• “queer theory”, — p9, Transformed
• “prior ideological commitments”, — p9, Transformed
• “identity politics” and — p9, Transformed
• “Cultural Marxism” — p28, Transformed
Yeah, that would the sound of the Evangelical Alliance strapping on its jackboots, yet again, as it deploys the conspiracy theory version of “Cultural Marxism” in an attempt to justify its actions.
The Race to be Crowned ‘Supreme Ciswit’ — Religious Zealotry Category
The Evangelical Alliance does itself no favours by repeatedly pointing out they’ve got no fecking clue what they’re talking about. They are literally the walking embodiment of this meme:
Take this tortuous paragraph as the Evangelical Alliance really screws the dunce’s cap on tight and goes full tilt for the “Idiot of the Year” award;
“As the [trans] movement grows it includes many contradictory ideas. For example, if a person has male genitalia but feels they are a woman, this mismatch only makes sense on a binary approach based on two distinct categories — male and female. However, a person who describes themselves as non-binary rejects the categories male and female and/or see gender as a spectrum. If gender is a spectrum, not a binary, then everyone is trans. Or alternatively, there are no trans people.” — p9, Transformed
Eighty one words that manage to be so wrong dictionaries all over the world just rang to ask if they could use the screenshots to put next to the definition of ‘Wrong’.
These “pastoral guidelines” would hardly be something from the Evangelical Alliance if it didn’t touch upon Biblical passages. Yeah, I think we all know what’s coming up with this, but here goes, anyway.
First up are those two favourites of transphobic Christian organisations (needs saying- not all Christians are transphobes), Deuteronomy 22:5 and 1 Corinthians 6:9.
For those not au fait with those passages;
• “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” — Deuteronomy 22:5, KJV (yes, I am perpetually aware of the irony that, despite the fact I’m a committed atheist, I actually prefer the older and more traditional Bible than most Xian Fundamentalist orgs do)
• “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” — 1 Corinthians 6:9, KJV (I am pleased to note that I have actually managed to tick a fair number of those off of my personal To-Do list 😉)
But, of course, the Evangelical Alliance really likes to screw the pooch, so decided that it was time to start equating trans people with eunuchs. Oh yes, of course they went there.
Take, for example, this paragraph;
“Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch in Act 8 is an important story on the inclusion of the marginalised in the fulfilment of the great commission. The man is described as Ethiopian, probably a gentile, and a person who did binary understanding of gender. He was returning from the temple, where he was unlikely to have been welcomed to worship for any of the above reasons. However, he (the text identifies him as a ‘he’) encounters God on the way home.” — p10, Transformed
I invite everybody to read the original passage (Acts 8:26–40) to see just how desperately the Evangelical Alliance is scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and find any Biblical passage that they can try and twist to be about trans people.
And what would any bit of evangelical bigotry be if they didn’t prop it up with the “words” of a probably fictional person, from about 2000 years ago:
“Matthew 19:12 talks about three different types of eunuchs [. . .]. The wider context is a discussion about marriage in which Jesus reminds a questioner that we are made “male and female” in the image of God.” — p10, Transformed
Yeah, I’m going to rely on something a bit more modern to inform my views about trans people. It’s called biology. And neurology. And neuropsychology. And modern psychology. Which definitely don’t support the assertion that the Evangelical Alliance then goes on to make;
“In Transgender, Vaughan Roberts applies a classic biblical structure to the complex trans questions of our day. The creation narrative speaks of two distinct and compatible biological sexes. Cross-gender identification is a concern because it distorts the creational order of male and female. We live in a fallen world where not every biological or psychological experience is a reflection of God’s will. Within this narrative gender dysphoria is understood as a result of living in a fallen world” — p10, Transformed
It’s meaningless tripe. Word salad. It’s the equivalent to me saying that trans people exist because everybody mistakenly went and followed to Jesus the Carpenter, instead of Jesus the Plumber.
And no, trans and intersex people are not defects, we’re not the result of a “fallen world”, and to use the terminology of the Evangelical Alliance, we don’t exist outside the “reflection of God’s will”, whether you want to view that statement literally or figuratively (i.e. trans and intersex people aren’t aberrations or abnormal humans. We’re just people, as valid as every other person, and the very living examples of two fingers being held up to those whose who’s views of “biology” and “sex” are so simplistic as to be deliberate simplemindedness, wilful ignorance as it were).
Of course, no part of the Evangelical Alliance’s contribution in this section of the “guidelines” would be complete without homophobia being thrown in for good measure:
“how our individual gender identities will play out in the eschaton is not revealed, but God wants us to forever think of our relationship with Jesus through a monogamous, male/female relational analogy.” p10–11, Transformed
In something of a refreshing change, the Evangelical Alliance actually, if accidentally, manages some honesty with the tired, cliched, and very wrong Argumentum ad Quartus Gradus Biology, by removing the claims that the argument is based on biology, and openly admitting it’s based on something completely unsubstantiated and, frankly, untrue;
“Sex/Gender — The very first reference to humankind differentiates male and female. We are persons, but not merely persons. At a fundamental level, we are men and women. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27). The binary ‘male’ and ‘female’ of Genesis 1 is developed into the nouns ‘man’ (’ish) and ‘woman’ (’ishshah), as these are applied to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:23. Throughout the Bible, biological sex is binary and integral to personhood — biological sex should reveal and determine gender.” — p11, Transformed
So, the next time somebody rocks up to you and claims there’s only two sexes ask them, ‘Do you mean ish and ishshah, and why the feck do you never want to talk about Lilith?’
The One Where the Evangelical Alliance Laments the Existence of People Thinking For Themselves
Now, if there’s one thing that certain Fundie Xian orgs hate, it’s people thinking for themselves. There’s a reason why it’s all sheep and lambs in the Bible, and why that particular book goes out of its way to give goats get such a bad press.
And the Evangelical Alliance is no different. ‘Oh Woe is Us!’, they cry, ‘for the herd has stopped being biddable and *gasp* people are thinking for themselves and realising they’re individuals!!!”
Yep. Trans people are all the fault of individualism, or at least it is if you’re daft enough to listen to the Evangelical Alliance;
“Individualism and ideology — We live in a profoundly individualistic culture, which has its roots in the Enlightenment. Individualism, combined with a desire for authenticity, is a strong stream in the transgender movement. The end goal for many is simple; we should be free to define ourselves as we want, not even nature or our bodies can stop us. The question has moved from “Who am I?” to “What do I identify as?” This way of putting things emphasises chosenness over givenness and changeability over stability.” — p12, Transformed
Of course, even the Evangelical Alliance realises that the beginning of their contention isn’t exactly a winning argument, which is why they resort to the lie at the end, as well as another jab at trans people. trying to associate them with being selfish, instead of selfless.
And no, the question hasn’t moved on from “Who am I?” The question is still, “Who am I?” — (“Who are you?”, “What do you want”?) —To delve into one of the true religions — can you honestly imagine a Vorlon rocking up and asking, “Who do you identify as?” (for those unaware, in context the original question was meant to challenge the person being questioned and have them reflect and look inside themselves to examine who they really are. Were the question, “Who do you identify as?” well, obviously, no such searching of the self would occur). And as ridiculous as that imagery is, when it’s put like that, you can see just how insidious a lie the Evangelical Alliance is engaged in — by trying to change the narrative the Evangelical Alliance is desperately trying to convince people that trans people don’t do a lot of soul searching about who they really are. By trying to reframe the question as “Who do you identify as?” the Evangelical Alliance is instead trying to make the same claim they do about queer people, namely that such people are merely choosing to don a costume for the purposes of rebelling against God and “going against the natural order of things” and could choose to take that costume off any time they choose because in the Evangelical Alliance’s eyes, everybody is straight and cis and anybody who claims otherwise is just lying for the attention.
Given all of this, it should hardly come as a surprise that the Evangelical Alliance should try and drag Gnosticism into this. There’s certain sects of Christianity that blame Gnosticism for everything. Stubbed their toe? “Fecking Gnostics!”;
“Gnosticism [. . .] fundamentally sees matter and bodies as fallen and inferior. We can see this idea reflected in statements from transgender people around the idea of a ‘real me’ trapped inside the wrong body — the view that the inner self is paramount and one is free to shape their body to reflect their inner self.” — p12, Transformed
Leaving aside the fact that it’s ciswits that make the claim that trans people are “born in the wrong body” (it’s the only way they can understand the concept of trans peoples’ existence) it’s hardly a surprise that the anti-choice and anti-freewill Evangelical Alliance would advance arguments fighting to strip trans people of both bodily and medical autonomy. After all, this is just a repackaged version of the Evangelical Alliance’s anti-abortion argument. It’s also an argument that TERFs throw around fully knowing that it is a rebranded antiabortion argument.
Wherein the Evangelical Alliance Poses the Question, “How Can the Church Respond Pastorally?” and Decides That Conversion Therapy Is Really The Only Answer
Yes, the Evangelical Alliance really does like to recommend, promote, and push Conversion Therapy as a treatment option not only for trans people, but for all people on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. And as far the Evangelical Alliance is concerned the first step in that process is that whatever you do, you mustn't trans people actually begin the process of transitioning;
“The integrated framework encourages church leaders and others to:
• Maintain respect for the integrity of sex differences and encourage caution when considering the most invasive procedures; where possible seek wisdom and maturity in light of a Christian view of sex and gender.
• Respond with empathy and compassion in the management of gender dysphoria identity — try to consider the least invasive ways to manage dysphoria.
• Offer meaning-making opportunities for identity within community — help locate the person within a broader community of support, a kinship network that affirms the person’s worth, and assists the person by navigating this terrain together.” — p14, Transformed
Notice how no part of the “integrated” framework actually advocates listening to the trans person in question and following the lead of that person as that person details what they need. Everything about the framework is designed to limit the trans persons involvement in it as much as possible, whilst at the same time trying to stop or severely limit the trans person’s ability to transition, including deliberately seeking to limit their ability to access appropriate medical services. And the Evangelical Alliance isn’t even subtle about their approach, describing the current secular approach to social and/or medical transition as;
“3. The diversity framework
On this view transgender issues are seen as something to be celebrated and honoured as part of normal human diversity. It answers the identity and community questions for many trans people, helping them feel accepted. In its strongest form, proponents of this framework seek to completely deconstruct sex and gender. However, weaker forms can help validate a person’s experience, providing meaning and community.
Amongst health professionals and in broader culture, the diversity framework is becoming dominant and is increasingly driving public policy agendas. As a step towards the development of a nuanced Christian response to inform practice, pastoral care and public policy engagement, Yarhouse suggests an integrated framework for understanding gender dysphoria to avoid speaking past one another, acknowledge complexity, draw on the best each framework offers, and offer distinctly Christian resources.” — p13–14, Transformed
It doesn’t matter how hard you squint, it’s still impossible to see the difference between the Fundie Xians or the TERFs approach to trans people.
So what does the Evangelical Alliance recommend if that all fails, and somebody insists on transitioning despite all the Conversion Therapy?
Spying.
Yup. Church leaders and others are to spy on the trans person and the advice they’re given from other, considerably more reputable and reliable, organisations. Say, for instance, CAMHS;
“Our role is to be one of a range of voices speaking into a trans person’s life. If you are meeting pastorally with a trans person, it will be important to understand who those other voices are and who you can refer to. Some of these are noted in the diagram below. For example, a voice from the health services could be CAMHS, which covers a range of services that work with children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural wellbeing. It is a good idea to take notes and records of meetings in case concerns are raised later, and ensure other services are involved as appropriate.” — p14, Transformed.
Yes. That was the Evangelical Alliance green-lighting church leaders, and other church members, to spy on young trans people and, if they discover that the young trans person is getting the support they actually need, to interfere and try to limit their access to support, whilst at the same time increasing peer and religious pressure on the young person in yet another attempt at Conversion Therapy, denial of access to support, services, and care, and deny the young trans person a chance to truly transition.
“We Demand Respect, But Will Not Give It” — The Evangelical Alliance’s stance on, well, everything
And the Evangelical Alliance is not at all subtle about that position as you flip over the page;
“Jesus at the Well
John 4, which details the amazing encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well, models a way of meeting with, and ministering to, those who feel marginalised” — p15, Transformed
Guess what, Evangelical Alliance, If you weren’t so transphobic and didn’t relentlessly promote a deeply flawed, homophobic, and transphobic perversion of Christianity, then gay and trans people wouldn’t feel marginalised by you.
“Compassion — Jesus is compassionate in His encounter with the woman at the well, meeting her at her point of need. Compassion will lead us to meet people at their point of need, respecting their chosen identity without necessarily agreeing with it.” — p15, Transformed
1) It isn’t their “chosen identity” you transphobic ciswits. It’s their real identity. The very fact you’ve referred to it as a “chosen identity” already shows that you’ve just lied in that ,sentence, because you sure as hell haven’t shown that hypothetical person any respect.
2) If you hear a trans person tell you who they are, and you choose not to accept that, then no, you haven’t respected them, or their identity. So yet another lie. Which I could have sworn was a sin, even if you think you’re doing it in the name of God (little hint — you’re not, you’re doing it in the name of your own bigotry).
“It will acknowledge the complexity of gender confusion and offer what Christian psychologist Mark Yarhouse calls a ‘relationally thick’ response that walks alongside those who are suffering.” — p15, Transformed
Really?
“Gender Confused”?
Ciswits like Yarhouse sound real confused about gender, but to describe trans people as “gender confused” is exactly as insulting as that jab intended it to be.
“Integrity — At the well, there is also a truth encounter — a moment of divine revelation — around the woman’s marital status. Jesus says, “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” Jesus moves quickly from compassion to integrity, gently challenging the woman about her life; a journey that may take us much longer.” — p15, Transformed
Oh, the Evangelical Alliance couldn’t be clearer in their arrogance. Only they know the “truth” about trans people, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes; they have a holy mission to ‘convert trans people into cis people, to cure them, praise Jeebus!!!’
Funny (not really) how you can swap out ‘Evangelical Alliance’ and replace it with ‘TERF’ in the above paragraph and still accurately describe both groups.
“Redemption — In a relationship with a transgender person we should seek to rise above the sex and gender culture wars, drawing the individual to the transformative work and power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The encounter in John 4 ultimately leads to redeemed relationships; the woman is transformed and runs off to tell the whole town about Jesus.” — p15, Transformed
“drawing the individual to the transformative work and power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit [. . .] the woman is transformed”. They are flat out advocating for church leaders, and other members under the umbrella of the Evangelical Alliance, to engage in conversion therapy with a trans church member, instead of actually supporting them.
Page 16 of Transformed is just . . . bad. Throughout. I’d be here till next week dissecting just that page, but these three things really jumped out as being bad in a sea of bad:
“For some, the balance of grace and truth is struck by using the person’s preferred name but not pronouns. For others, courtesy leads them to use the name and preferred pronoun of a transgender person” — p16, Transformed
Notice that not only is it considered by the Evangelical Alliance to be “grace and truth” to not have enough respect for somebody to simply refer to them as they wish to be, but if you do actually decide to respect any trans person, that’s merely considered a “courtesy”, with the word “truth” conspicuous by its absence. Yes, as with TERFs, the Evangelical Alliance has no qualms whatsoever about playing the ‘all-trans-people-are-deceitful’ card, all in pursuit of their ideologically driven hate.
“Context — The age of the person and the nature of the relationship may influence your approach. The parent of a five-year old child may want to push back and guide a child who is trying out new ideas.” — p16, Transformed
Again, as with TERF dogma, the message from the Evangelical Alliance is clear — it’s better to belittle and abuse a trans child than support them.
“Consistency — If we decline to use a trans persons name, we should be consistent in refusing to use other names that reference a worldview, religion or ideology we may disagree with — eg using Cassius Clay rather than Mohammad Ali, the name the boxer changed to as a sign of his freedom and allegiance to Islam.” — p16, Transformed
It’s been said before, and it’ll be said again — scratch a transphobe, and find all kinds of bigotry underneath. It’s no coincidence that they chose to use a prominent black Muslim in their example here. And once again, their staggering lack of respect for people who make decisions for themselves shines through.
What’s interesting about reading through the Evangelical Alliances “guidelines” is that, just like Fairplay For Women and their GRA Consultation “guide”, it doesn’t matter how hard they try to disguise it, their disdain, disgust, and bigotry against trans people keeps on appearing in plain sight the moment they stop concentrating on what they are writing. Consider, for instance, this:
“However, it is worth thinking ahead how to respond to a request for baptism from someone who is transgender. While many churches will want to offer a place of welcome, baptising a person in(to) their trans identity will be seen as an act of affirmation and/or confirmation.” — p17, Transformed
Yep. The whole spin that the Evangelical Alliance has tried to put on their “guidelines” is ‘How to support trans people’, but the problem with lying like that is that if you fail to keep the lie going, even for a moment, the whole facade falls apart. The Evangelical Alliance is very clear, even if they hadn’t wished to be. Trans people, in the Evangelical Alliance eyes, aren’t to be accepted as they are, their very reality, their very existence, is to be denied.
The Legal Illiterati — TERFs and the Evangelical Alliance Bound By The Same Wilful Ignorance, Holding Hands Across The Aisle
The Evangelical Alliance also seems to be getting the same very dodgy, and very wrong, legal advice that TERFs have been getting. Despite the advice they so confidently lay out;
“(The law does allow organisations to differentiate on the grounds of sex in relation ,to bathrooms and accommodation, so an organisation can insist that only biological females can use the female toilets.)” — p17, Transformed
they are, of course, completely wrong. For anybody who’s thinking of following their advice, DON’T. That’s a one way path to court, a finding of having engaged in unlawful discrimination, and a not insubstantial pay out as you discover the joys of having been found guilty of breaking the law. The moment — the moment — that you start providing a service you become a service provider for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, and the law is very clear — it is an act of unlawful discrimination to bar, or otherwise stop, a trans person from using the facilities of their gender identity. And if, as a member of the Evangelical Alliance, you choose not to believe me, look up Brook v Tasker & EVT Enterprises [2004], for reference.
And there’s not reason not to look up that case. Put it this way, I’ve got a copy of the case brief and I wasn’t involved in the case, so there’s certainly no excuse for the Evangelical Alliance not to make the effort now that they know that the case exists and that it can be checked.
Page 23, and the Evangelical Alliance’s continuing attempts at explaining the law. Which goes about as well as you would expect it would for an org that does actually know what the law is, doesn’t want to admit that it is that, but at the same time doesn’t particularly want to get caught overtly handing out advice that would be unlawful to follow (bit late for that there, Evangelical Alliance)
They do open with something of a bizarre statement;
“The law on issues relating to trans in the UK is complex, often ambiguous and subject to change.” — p23, Transformed
The first rather obvious question to ask is, ‘trans what?’ Are we talking transistors here? Translators? Transpennine Express Trains?
Of course, I’m being facetious. The Evangelical Alliance has deliberately chosen a form of words designed to dehumanise and other trans people, because that’s what transphobes do.
And as for the rest?
Well, it’s hard to get such a vague statement wrong, and yet somehow they managed to do it.
The law relating to trans people in the UK is no more complex than most law in the UK, and as every person in the UK is required to know what the law is (ignorantia legis neminem excusat), it can’t really be that bloody complicated. After all, most reasonable, that is to say, not-bigoted arseholes, have a pretty good idea of what the law is in regards to discriminating against trans people is (you don’t, duh), and as most of the rest is specific to trans people (GRA, etc) that’s something the trans community is pretty good at knowing about (certainly better than a certain Professor of Law).
“The law [. . . is] often ambiguous]” — p23, Transformed
No, not if you know it. If you need a general guide, the EHRC has them available in terms of the Equality Act 2010 and human rights law, and if you need specificity, well that’s what us legal professionals are for. Those of us who aren’t bigoted arseholes are actually pretty good at this kind of thing.
“The law [. . . is] subject to change” — p23, Transformed
Oh I bet that gets right on your tit, doesn’t it Evangelical Alliance? You “natural law” types really loathe the fact that modern legal systems actually move with the times (admittedly, with something of delay, but still…). We live in a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. Yes, the law changes. It changes because Parliament changes it, and it gets refined in the Court and Tribunal system. Because that’s how the law works. Again — duh.
Given the close ties between TERFs and the fundie evangelical religious far-right, it’s hardly a surprise to find the Evangelical Alliance enthusiastically pimping out Transgender Trends ‘How to get sued, prosecuted, and lose your job as a teacher’ school pack.
Again for all teachers out there who get one of these packs — keep yourself safe, stick it straight in the bin, follow the established guidelines and procedures. There’s some very good legal reasons for doing that, and you’ll find that legal advice being offered by the professional teachers’ associations.
“Why Trust Medicine When We Have Prayer, For All Know That Science, Bad!”
Page 18 of the “guidelines” is exactly the same lies, half-truths, and obscurations of reality that we see coming from TERFs, such as hormone blockers haven’t been tested or studied (they have with the studies showing no ill effects or effects on fertility when the drugs were used to temporarily block puberty), that delaying puberty doesn’t alleviate gender dysphoria (it isn’t expected to, the purpose of blockers is to delay puberty to give the young trans person time and room to explore their gender identity without being forced to go through what is likely the wrong, irreversible, puberty for them), and that trans identity is an area where research is still in its infancy (no, it isn’t — modern research into trans people is a few months away from celebrating being a century old, and has been around for longer than the discovery of penicillin and true antibiotics).
Of course, the Evangelical Alliance couldn’t help but throw their support behind the now thoroughly discredited and debunked fantasy of ROGD (when even the most passionate supporters of the ROGD paper are claiming that the initial data sets used were polluted, you know that the paper produced has less credibility than a Wakefield “study”).
But it’s on the same page that Evangelical Alliance returns to their favourite topic of conversion therapy, this time trying to disguise it as a “therapeutic interventions”;
“There are three broad interventions being explored:
1. Give preference to a person’s gender identity altering their body to conform to that identity through hormones, breast binders or surgery.
2. Give preference to a person’s biological sex encouraging psychological treatment or counselling aimed at altering their sense of gender identity.
3. Support the person through their experience of conflicting emotions.” — p20, Transforms
Except, of course, there is only one therapeutic intervention recognised by the world’s leading medical bodies, which is option 1. The other two options very clearly fall under the definition of Conversion Therapy as explored through the Memorandum of Understanding Against Conversion Therapy Version 2.
Option 3, on the surface, looks innocent enough, but when read in full, and in conjunction with Option 2 and with all the rest of the “guidelines”, it’s very clear that its intent is to be used as part of a package of conversion therapy, especially when you note the specificity of the wording, “experience of conflicting emotions”. That would be the conflicting emotions of knowing that you are who you are, but being abused to the point where you try to force yourself to believe that you aren’t.
Page 21 is all, ‘Won’t somebody think of the children!!!”. It’s not even disguised, and it’s exactly the same propaganda we’ve seen coming from TERFs (after the publication of these “guidelines” any claim by TERFs that they aren’t working with extreme far-right religious fundamentalist groups should be met with howls of laughter and direct links to the Evangelical Alliance “guidelines” where TERF talking points are regurgitated pretty much verbatim).
So yet again we see that Goddess-awful (why yes, of course I’d use that particular epithet) phrase, ‘Watchful Waiting” rear its ugly head as it’s once more misused in the name of hate-driven ideology, along with yet another swivel-eyed claim that;
“The new approach [to support trans children], which for many is driven by ideology rather than research, requires unquestioned affirmation of the child’s preferred gender.” — p21, Transformed
This is, of course, yet another lie. As repeated studies have shown, affirming a child’s expressed gender identity is the best way to help that child, and by far and away produces the best outcomes, resulting in trans children and young trans people experiencing little to no increase in rates self-harm, suicidal ideation, attempts at suicide, and mental health problems compared to their cisgender peers, unlike the utterly failed older model of not whole-heartily supporting young trans people is, as it is now known, more than partially responsible for the massively elevated rates of self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide, and serious mental health issues within the young trans community.
Again, page 21 sees exactly the same discredited scare stories about puberty blockers that we’ve seen elsewhere — cancer drugs, used off-label, no research on long-term consequences, risk of infertility, and issues around consent.
Hardly a surprise that an organisation like Evangelical Alliance, which has no respect for bodily, medical, or personal autonomy, would try and bring into question a minor’s ability to consent to medical treatment, because, of course, organisations like Evangelical Alliance loathe that Gillick competence exists (as well as the Fraser Guidelines because those are the ones that allow minors to consent to, and receive, contraception and medical advice and treatment around sexual health on their own cognisance), and are always campaigning to strip away a minor’s rights to consent to and choose their own health care.
And, as mentioned above, there is long-term research on the use of puberty blockers and the results of the studies are very clear — there are no expected long-term consequences or effects on fertility when puberty blockers are used to delay puberty. Claiming there isn’t research is just another lie. And a lie is a lie, even if you think you’re doing it in the name of your god.
It should hardly come as a surprise that yet another desistance myth, this time courtesy of a longitudinal study that looked pretty much only at studies that are already know to be deeply flawed and exceedingly weak, also makes its way onto this page.
For reference, the latest figures on childhood desistance in young people with gender dysphoria comes from the Australian Gender Service which, through much more rigorous methodology than had been applied in the past, and via long term study, has shown that desistance for young trans people is less than 4%.[1]
And, of course, with all the misuse and abuse of studies, it was only a matter of time to find the Evangelical Alliance fecking the same chicken as TERFs as they too decide to whole-heartily, and wilfully, engage in deliberately misrepresenting Dhejne’s “Swedish” study (there’a an AMA on Reddit Science from last year with Dhejne on this exact study if anybody wants to see what the author has to say about it), to make the fanciful claim that;
“It should be tragically noted that those who have had transition surgery are 19 times more likely than average to die by suicide.” — p22, Transformed
And you know some deliberate chicken-frelling is going on here by the deliberate use of words, “19 times more likely than average…”
What average? The average mongoose. The average rainfall in Madagascar in August during a Leap Year? Yeah, nice try at trying to slip some vagueness through hoping it wouldn’t get noticed and just accepted, but that won’t work with people who actually have two brain cells lined up and firing in the same direction.
All modern studies are very clear, those trans people who wish to medically transition and receive the appropriate professional medical support, including surgery, have a much lower risk of attempting suicide than those trans people who are denied access to the professional medical care that they need. That risk of suicide drops even further, to the same risk as the general cis population, when a trans person who receives appropriate professional medical support also receives appropriate social support, including not being discriminated against, and being accepted and recognised for who they are, not what bigots like TERFs and the Evangelical Alliance demand they must be for purposes of their own warped bigotry.
The Great Big Evangelical Bugbear In The Sky — Sex For Fun, Not For Procreation
And so on we go to Section 7 — The cultural trends.
Pages 27 and 28 are worth a read, just for the laugh at how out of touch the Evangelical Alliance is.
Yes, they really do believe in the conspiracy theory version of Cultural Marxism, and yes, that is yet another go at their bugbear, Gnosticism.
But what makes me really laugh at this section is their section on that other great bugbear of fundie religious types, The Sexual Revolution. And oh dear, oh dear, doesn’t their description of it give away exactly who Evangelical Alliance is, and just what their agenda is;
“The sexual revolution of the 1960s promised more sex and greater happiness, but failed to deliver on either. It detached sex from both marriage and procreation and taught people that their bodies are their own, to do with as they please.” — p 27, Transformed
“The sexual revolution [. . .] promised more sex and greater happiness, but failed to deliver on either” — Well, I wasn’t around in the 50s, so I can’t comment on quantity back then, but I’m part of a few communities where I can assure the Evangelical Alliance that there is plenty of fucking going on, and we yes, we are very happy about it.
But in all seriousness, it’s the next sentence that gives the Evangelical Alliance away, and shows them for just what they are;
“It detached sex from both marriage and procreation…” — the Evangelical Alliance is very clear on their abhorrent views on this — as far as they are concerned women are only here to breed and serve. And these are the type of people that the TERFs willingly joined and work with. What does that say about TERF ideology? (Rhetorical question, we all know the answer to that one)
“…and taught people that their bodies are their own, to do with as they please.” As I’ve said a couple times further up the thread, the Evangelical Alliance is completely opposed to bodily, medical, and personal autonomy for anybody who isn’t one of the few select men allowed by them to be granted that privilege (curiously enough, that would be the men at the top of the Evangelical Alliance). And again, this is exactly the ideology and organisations that TERFs willing work with, and whose values they promote via their words and actions.
““I’m Not Owned! I’m Not Owned!!”, We Continue To Insist As We Slowly Disappear Up Our Own Hole Of Irrelevance”
And that then leaves Section 8 — Conclusions.
It’s what you expect. Thinly veiled cries of, ‘Go, Team Conversion Therapy!!!’, and ‘Won’t somebody think of the children!?!’, but there’s a bit at the end I wanted to highlight.
“John Stott, echoing Karl Barth, famously challenged Christians to have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. The newspaper reports on trans vary from paper to paper and change day by day as they seek to report on this difficult and fast-moving area. The Bible provides a consistent framework and engaging narrative to help engage with the diversity of people and situations each one of us faces.” — p29, Transformed
If anything sums up just why this particular stain (not a typo) of Christianity has become less and less relevant, less and less influential, and more and more bitter, vicious, and toxic, as time has gone by, it can be seen it that quote as the Evangelical Alliance openly admits that it refuses to move with the times, and that it refuses to accept that society has become better (slightly) at recognising when its actions are wrong and harmful, especially when those actions are directed at minority and marginalised groups, such as trans people.
To borrow inspiration from Terry Pratchett;
What don’t change can’t learn,
What don’t learn can’t grow,
What don’t grow can’t adapt.
It is clear from the “pastoral guidelines” that the Evangelical Alliance, other fundie orgs, and TERFs who share the same ideology, that they’re all weeds in the garden of life who refuse to grow, instead trying to strangle all the life around them so only they’re left standing; toxic, bitter, and alone.
And that’s why I won’t back down from confronting them, not one step.
[1] RE: KELVIN [2017] FamCAFC 258, FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
