Letters: Transgender resolution outdated

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It is impossible to address how badly the Baptist General Convention of Texas resolution concerning gender identity was ill-informed in 250 words. But I must at least introduce the subject. The resolution’s binary absolutism reflects a state of scientific knowledge at least 25 years out of date. Let us not be blinded by traditions of thought in response to progress in human knowledge.

We have known for ages that people are occasionally born with sex-specific traits that place them outside the absolute binary of male/female. These are now called “intersex” persons. Thus, the declaration “in creation God made male and female as biological gender assignment” is an inherently flawed rationale for rejecting the legitimacy of transsexualism, since we know for a fact biological exceptions exist.

We also know all organs of the human body are subject to being affected by these ambiguous conditions. In recent decades, we have come to clearly understand the male brain is physically and functionally different than the female brain. It is thus a perfectly reasonable conclusion that the same processes that cause ambiguity in other sex-specific organs of the body might also affect the brain. The result of such an event would be a transsexual person.

Moreover, there is no specific biblical teaching that gender/sex is immutable, and that assertion reflects human tradition, not sound exegesis. Respectfully, it would honor God for Christians everywhere to allow scientific discoveries to enlighten their beliefs, rather than cling to outdated traditions of thought.

Tammy Rainey

Ripley, Miss.


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