Abstract

Expert opinions diverge on appropriate treatment for gender dysphoria. Some encourage the pursuit of counseling that helps one to identify with one’s natal sex. Others encourage people struggling with gender dysphoria to change the body to match the so-called inside. The latter advocate the use of hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgeries to facilitate the transition. Such procedures are not only immoral because they render the patient sterile, but also because they reject the God-given personhood that is manifest through one’s sexuality. Since sexuality constitutes so much more than genitalia, sex reassignment surgery does not actually change one’s sexuality. Rather, it merely maims the individual, limiting her ability to love authentically as a sexual person. Out of respect for the human person, the only appropriate course of action is to counsel these individuals and encourage them to overcome the inhibitions that prevent them from embracing their natal sex.