Biology Deniers are Great Big Meanies!

It’s just getting more pathetic for those attacking Archbishop Cordileone because they’ve already used their whole arsenal and now they’re left with just out-and-out lies and conjecture to promote their cause. I suppose some have always done this to some extent, but now it’s getting ridiculous. It’s not like I can blame them, though. They really don’t have the smoking gun they just knew they were going to find. All they can find is the Archbishop again and again echoing the Pope and the Church, so all that can come of that is spin. Case in point (http://www.donotlink.com/advocate.com/commentary/2015/07/14/op-ed-san-franciscos-hateful-bishop-dead-wrong-about-trans-people):

Op-ed: S.F.’s Hateful Bishop Is Dead Wrong About Trans People

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone denies the existence of transgender people. Maybe he should actually meet a trans person before making up his mind.

Let’s see, in the very first line, Tony Garascia writes a lie. When has Archbishop Cordileone ever said there were no transgender people? He’s only stated a biological, scientific fact.  Are we really denying that? They are now, I guess. In the second line, he says Archbishop Cordileone should “actually meet a trans person before making up his mind.” To this I’m going to ask: Mr. Garascia, how do you know the Archbishop hasn’t met a “trans person,” and did you bother to give Archbishop Cordileone the same courtesy when you called him hateful? Have you met with him? Yeah, I’m guessing not.  Chalk it up to hypocrisy.

Misguided and harmful — the easiest way to describe the anti-transgender comments made last month by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who has a history of targeting LGBT people.

Cordileone’s comment — that “the clear biological fact is that a human being is born either male or female” — suggests a lack of sensitivity to transgender people and no familiarity with gender dysphoria, which mental health professionals treat not as a disorder but as a profound experience of discomfort that an individual experiences with his or her assigned gender.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest, instead, that “trans people” are misguided and harmed, and the fact that you are opposed to a scientific fact shows how misguided and harmful you are. And, yes, up until about 5 minutes ago it has been treated as a disorder. In fact, it was called “Gender Identity Disorder” by and large until very, very recently when that got a little too politically incorrect although many still use it. The reason you are misguided and harmful? You want to help people deny reality. That’s really what it’s come to in our world. “Let’s deny reality, refuse to deal with it, and maybe it will go away.” (It won’t, by the way.) Meanwhile you’ve got Christians on the other side saying, “Hey! You are special. God thought you out in a very special way. God didn’t make a mistake! He made you just as you should be and He loves you and can help you through anything!” Yeah, that sounds really hateful. Color me hateful. That’s exactly what the Church and the Archbishop have taught. Do the Archbishop, the Pope and the Church take issue with the twisting of science and morality? YOU BETCHA!

His comments trivialize the true distress that some people feel when their inner experience of gender does not match their biology. Cordileone seems to want to frame this issue in terms of “culture wars,” based on the idea that so-called liberals have an “anything goes” attitude toward defining gender.

Uh, liberals have an “anything goes” attitude towards just about everything. There is no truth. There is no morality. And there’s definitely no history. It is “anything goes” which has kind of led to the downfall of civilization after civilization. (They’d know that if they hadn’t eliminated history.)

What Cordileone needs to understand is that people do not wake up one day and decide to change their gender, and that being transgender is deeply rooted in who they are from an early age. There is simply a disconnect between the inner experience of the individual concerning how they identify as female or male, and their biology.

Wow! This seems rather simplistic for anyone. Did you get your degrees from a box of Cracker Jacks? Close. Looks like Indiana U and Catholic U (back in the day when those in charge didn’t care so much about Catholic identity). Some of your “colleagues” would disagree with your assessment about the early age. Some present early and some do not. Nor is there any consensus about the cause of the disorder. (BTW, Psychology Today still calls it a disorder. How politically incorrect of them!)

In fact, every major mental health organization insists that gender dysphoria is real and should be taken seriously by parents and health care providers. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the anguish that some transgender people experience with the contrast between how they look on the outside and the gender they identify with can be so intense that they can take extreme measures to reconcile the difference.

Um, yeah! Who DOESN’T take it seriously? Most everyone I know takes it as seriously as a heart attack!  This doesn’t mean that it should be given the thumbs up. One, definitely, need not think that liberals handle it correctly or do right by those afflicted with it. It is a cross.

One wonders if Cordileone has in fact ever met with transgender people, listened to their stories, their pain, and their attempts to live authentically and integrate who they really are into how they function in the society. If he took the time to meet with trans people and consult mainstream researchers and clinicians, he would find that transgender people look to their faith and their churches for acceptance, often feel alienated from their places of worship, face great psychological distress, and are at a greater risk than others for suicide due to rejection.

You’ve already proffered that the Archbishop has not met a person with Gender Identity Disorder.  Got it. You’ve got no proof of that but you’re free to go on with that suggestion. The Catholic Church (I would think you’d know this going to Catholic U, but it really wasn’t the bomb when you were there) cannot accept a transgender lifestyle. It distorts Natural Law which is all good. The Catholic Church does, however, completely embrace those afflicted with that cross. Maybe it’s you who needs to get to know the Church a bit. News flash – the Catholic Church is full of many Catholic psychiatrists and psychologists who also do not agree with you.  I bet some might even have a degree from Catholic U!

In my counseling practice, I have worked with parents of transgender children as they work to accept and embrace their child’s journey. These parents have come to understand that human sexuality, orientation, and gender identification exist on a continuum and that their responsibility toward their children is to listen to their experience and to encourage them to fully accept who they are.

Just out of curiosity, do you advise them in light of Church teaching? My guess is no if you have a problem with Archbishop Cordileone. By the way, you might want to also note you have a problem with Pope Francis.  Writing an article about him next?

The archbishop’s attitude and flippant way of disparaging transgender people and even the LGBT movement unfortunately give Catholics who are struggling with acceptance of an LGBT son or daughter more freedom to minimize and disregard their own child’s feelings. Caitlyn Ryan, the founder of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, points out that LGBT children who experience significant rejection by their families are eight times as likely to attempt suicide as LGBT children who feel accepted, and are six times more likely to report high levels of depression.

Oh, please, please tell me where the Archbishop told families to reject their children? This is a huge red herring which needs to be shot and put out of its misery. How many times have we been asked, “What would you do if your child were ‘gay,’ transgender, etc.?” to which we all reply “Duh! We’d love them, of course!” Love doesn’t mean rubber stamping everything that your child thinks or wants to do, right? Again, the suicide problem doesn’t come from Church teaching. It comes from liberals who teach us that we live in a throw-away society (also contrary to Church teaching).

What message does the archbishop’s trivialization of transgender people convey to the Catholic faithful? What message does his attitude toward LGBT people send to parents who might be struggling with an adolescent who just came out to them as LGBT? Does the archbishop really want to encourage parents of LGBT children to respond to their coming out in the same dismissive way that he presented during his comments?

First of all, the Archbishop hasn’t done what you have said. Maybe you shouldn’t rely on the National catholic Reporter for your “facts” or lack thereof? His attitude toward “LGBT” people is the same as the Church and Pope Francis – loving. Does someone from Catholic U really need a refresher course in the teachings of the Church? Also, in case nobody else noticed, Dr. Garascia gave one quote on which he premises his entire caricature of Archbishop Cordileone.  What was it?  A scientific fact.  Oooh!  How trivial – not! What Garascia has done is inserted a whole lot of conjecture and innuendo as fact. Quite frankly, it’s sad that The Advocate would think of posting such a sloppy op-ed.

One would hope that the archbishop would truly consult doctors, psychologists, and mental health counselors who have worked with transgender people to better understand this issue. Better yet, the archbishop would do well to actually listen to the experiences of transgender people who fight to be heard and be visible to the hierarchy. If he would only listen, he would understand that this is not about “gender politics” but about treating others with dignity and respect.

Again, does Garascia actually know that the Archbishop, the Holy Father and the Catholic Church haven’t done this already? Really, the pompousness is staggering albeit all too common. Maybe Garascia is just upset they didn’t consult him?  That sounds about right!