Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

                The New Atlantis published a new report about gender identity and sexual orientation. The report, “Sexuality and Gender:Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences,” is co-authored by Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh, two of the nation’s leading scholars on mental health and sexuality.

                Ryan T. Anderson at The Daily Signal says that the report “challenges the leading narratives that the media has pushed regarding sexual orientation and gender identity…. The major takeaway, as the editor of the journal explains, is that `some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender are not supported by scientific evidence.’”

                Anderson then lists “four of the report’s most important conclusions.” (1) “The belief that sexual orientation is an innate, biologically fixed human property – that people are `born that way’ – is not supported by scientific evidence.” (2) “Likewise, the belief that gender identity is an innate, fixed human property independent of biological sex – so that a person might be a `man trapped in a woman’s body’ or `a woman trapped in a man’s body’ – is not supported by scientific evidence.” (3) “Only a minority of children who express gender-atypical thoughts or behavior will continue to do so into adolescence or adulthood. There is no evidence that all such children should be encouraged to become transgender, much less subjected to hormone treatments or surgery.” (4) “Non-heterosexual and transgender people have higher rates of mental health problems (anxiety, depression, suicide), as well as behavioral and social problems (substance abuse, intimate partner violence), than the general population. Discrimination alone does not account for the entire disparity.”

                The new report should cause people to pause and consider some of the actions that are being taken in our nation. There is no scientific evidence available to prove the need for some of these actions; therefore, our federal government and media should stop pushing for drastic changes in our society.