Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 04:2 (Fall 2022)
Article: Detransitioners in Your Church Doorway?
Author: Jonathan P. Clemens

Eikon 4.2 (Fall 2022) p. 104

Detransitioners in Your Church Doorway?

Jonathan P. Clemens

Jonathan Clemens is a Physician Assistant in outpatient practice in Olympia, WA, and serves as president of the Fellowship of Christian PAs. This article is developed from his Th.M. thesis at Western Seminary in Portland, OR. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Medical Sciences.

What Will You Do When A Detransitioner Comes To Your Church?

With more young Americans identifying as transgender, easy access to cross-sex hormones, and insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery, the number who have transitioned1 has exploded. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association estimated the prevalence of gender dysphoria as 0.014% in boys and 0.003% in girls.2 A 2021 study found that 9.2% of public high school students in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania did not identify with their biological sex, a roughly thousandfold increase in less than a decade.3 As the UK high court’s since-overturned 2020 decision regarding Keira Bell highlighted, few to no safeguards protect youth funneled

Eikon 4.2 (Fall 2022) p. 105

into gender transition.4 Prior to the explosion in gender reassignment interventions, the previous standard of care — “watchful waiting” through puberty — resolved gender dysphoria for approximately 85% of children who once yearned to become the other sex.5 Roughly 17 out of 20 children with gender dysphoria desisted when never encouraged to transition. With today’s push for transition-affirming interventions, how many of those 17 will be rushed into gender transition and later regret that decision and detransition?

Eikon 4.2 (Fall 2022) p. 106

Detransition has multiple meanings, but denotes a cessation and possible reversal of the social, hormonal, and surgical changes that supported the individual presenting as other than their biological sex.6 We have an ever–increasing number of transitioned youth who may seek detransition. Sex researcher Debra Soh sounds the alarm:

Within sexology, we saw this tragic period coming for years, the only logical outcome following a generation of children being rushed to transition without critical thought. We tried to stop the epidemic that is coming. No one would listen. […] The more I learn about detransitioners, the more heartbroken I become. There is no question in my mind that the 2 percent statistic of t...