Opinion
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July 15, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Many media outlets normalize transgenderism, but what about children raised in a home where a parent is “transitioning” to another sex? How normal are their lives?

Unfortunately, these children may be advised to affirm the parent’s new identity or stoically bear the uncomfortable circumstances wreaking havoc in their home lives. They may be bullied by peers, family members, and other adults. One 10-year-old boy was teased by peers who said, “Go home, and put on a dress as your daddy does.” During a grocery-shopping trip, two children under age seven were scolded by their transitioning father: “Don’t call me Dad.” 

Concerned family members have also told me that the children feel shame and embarrassment about their family situations. The pressure to accept or protect the transitioning parent can generate anger, fear, and anxiety as well as loneliness and feelings of abandonment. Sometimes the children’s prolonged and unresolved grief leads to depression, eating disorders, or substance abuse. A sense of being different or not belonging may cause difficulty with intimacy or trust in relationships. They often express confusion about God, religion, love, and sexuality.

Due to cultural glorification of transgenderism, some children wrestle with gender dysphoria. The left would have us believe cross-sex-identifying children should feel empowered in their confusion, although hard science shows that “for a boy to think he is a girl is not knowledge; it’s delusion. And research shows that between 80–95% [of] cases of gender-identity confusion in prepubertal children will resolve on their own.” (1) 

If I were a child today, confused and struggling to feel good about being female, my school counselor might suggest that I am transgender and need to embrace my masculinity. (2)  

But here’s the truth about my childhood confusion: I lost my dad the day he told me he wanted to become a woman. As I tried to process that revelation, he blindsided me with another admission: he never wanted to have children. To him, my siblings and I were mistakes because we didn’t align with his desires.

His confessions confused and hurt me. I felt rejected and abandoned. By the time I was 11, my father was abusing me emotionally and sexually. His behavior created chaos in our home. As his desire to be a woman intensified, I found articles of my clothing under bathroom towels or in the attic. I organized my clothes in a specific way to determine if he’d been pawing through my dresser drawers. When I confirmed that he’d worn a piece of my clothing, I never wore that item again. I began to hate my body because it reminded me of what my father wanted to become. When I applied makeup, I blocked out images of him using face makeup, eye shadow, and lipstick. His behavior was destroying my desire to be female. (3)

I speak for others who have undergone similarly tragic childhoods. Our culture tells children they are selfish to refuse to call their dad Mom. In reality, these children only desire the truth—Dad is male and should remain so. He should not exchange the fact of his biological maleness for the lie of becoming a woman.

Likewise, to encourage others, especially children, to believe the transgender lie and to act on it is wrong. There is “no proof—nor will any proof ever be available—that affirming a child in the rejection of his or her biological sex is good, right, or morally justified.” (4)

If we truly care about the well-being of children, shouldn’t we champion their right to truth?

(1)  “Harming Children from Toddlerhood to Adulthood,” Illinois Family Institute, posted on 2 July 2019, https://illinoisfamily.org/homosexuality/harming-children-from-toddlerhood-to-adulthood/.
(2) See related article written by Tony Perkins, “NYC Public Schools Begin Complete Transgender Insanity, Blindsiding Parents,” posted 11 July 2019, https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/nyc-public-schools-begin-complete-transgender-insanity-blindsiding-parents.
(3)  Read more of my story in My Daddy’s Secret, https://www.amazon.com/My-Daddys-Secret-Denise-Shick/dp/151516120X/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=78615192310337&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=my+daddy%27s+secret&qid=1562890409&s=gateway&sr=8-1.
(4) “Harming Children.”