Recently journalist Diane Sawyer interviewed Bruce Jenner, the Olympic Gold medalist in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. His notoriety soared when he was pictured on a box of Wheaties cereal that same year. Jenner is in the news because he claims to be transgender, a man who believes himself to be a woman. When Sawyer asked him, “Are you a woman?” Jenner replied, “Yes, for all intents and purposes.”
Jenner admitted to Sawyer he had struggled with his sexuality since he was a child, saying he had “always been confused with my gender identity.” Jenner’s case, probably because of his celebrity status, highlights the modern phenomena of transgender people, those who claim their gender identity does not match their biological sex assignment at birth. Jenner is sixty-five and said, “sexual reassignment surgery would be down the line.” If he is serious he might not want to wait too far down the line.
Jenner claimed his brain “is much more female than it is male” admitting, “It’s difficult to understand but that’s what my soul is.” A brain more female than it is male, what does that mean? It is not difficult to understand; it is impossible to understand, because nonsense cannot be understood. I am open-minded about a lot of things, but I am not so open-minded I let my brains fall out about anything. Was he thinking more like a female than a male when he fathered six children in three marriages?
I am sure his confusion is real and has created emotional and mental struggles, but those struggles are autogenetic, self-generated. I agree with J. Lee Grady who wrote, “I would never bash Jenner or any other person who wrestles with their gender identity…But because I am a Christian, I just can’t accept someone’s behavior if it is destructive or unhealthy for them. To affirm a person’s wrong choices just to make them feel accepted is not love.”
We read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” Genesis 1:27. Human sexuality was divinely determined in creation and subsequently through procreation, and for that reason our gender is sacred and not to be trifled with, especially if we are confused.
If Jenner is confused the mere recollection that he has fathered six children should dispel the fog, or the realization that sexual reassignment surgery will not make him capable of getting pregnant and bearing children no matter how much he thinks like a woman.
Jenner was adamant about his future life choices. He plans to work alongside the transgender community to get the word out, which he thinks will do some good. He told Sawyer, “I’m saying goodbye to people’s perception of me,” and Sawyer commented, “This is the last interview he will do as Bruce.” Don’t worry, he probably will not be featured on a box of Wheaties again either.
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