Is Gender Identity a Religious Freedom Issue? Freedom for Faith conference, September 2019

1. Is Gender Identity a Religious Freedom Issue?Freedom for Faith conference, September 2019 Prof. Patrick Parkinson, University of Queensland

2. Gender identity and discrimination

3. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity • It is unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of their gender identity in circumstances where their gender identity is irrelevant • Eg refusing service in a restaurant to an apparently male person wearing a dress • This does not necessarily mean that others must accept a person as the sex with which they identify • Believing oneself to be of another gender does not change biological sex. • Eg Schools, sports organised on the basis of sex, not gender identity

4. Religious exemptions • In Commonwealth law, s.38 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 creates exemptions for faith-based educational institutions • lawful to discriminate on a number of grounds including gender identity: • if the institution is “conducted in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion or creed” and • the discrimination is “in good faith in order to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion or creed”. • Discrimination must be based upon religious beliefs • Exemptions under threat

5. Gender identity discrimination and educational institutions • Nathan, a 13 year old boy in a co-ed school, wants to be known as Natalie • Wants to wear girls’ uniform and participate in netball • Wants an appointment with a gender identity clinic • Is it discrimination against him to refuse to permit this at school? • Can the school principal insist on awaiting expert medical advice? • Is he Gillick-competent? • What do the parents think? • Is this gender identity discrimination? Not clear but state schools may need just to accept the new identity if supported by parents

6. Christian schools and gender identity • God made us male and female • Long recognised that a small number of people may experience gender dysphoria and wish to change gender • The need for a pastoral approach • Best interests of the child the paramount consideration • What if consideration of those best interests may well mean not going along with the child’s desire to transition? • Is there a religious objection covered by the legislation?

7. Eight reasons for concern

8. 1. The growth in referrals to clinics for gender dysphoria • Changing gender involves major medical interventions • Cross-sex hormones for life • Health risks emerging – eg estrogen for natal males increases heart issues • In the past: 0.005% to 0.014% of males, 0.002% to 0.003% of females • Massive growth in referrals all over the western world • New clinics opening everywhere • Two year waiting list at Tavistock Clinic in London • If people were just ‘born that way’, why the astonishing increase?

9. Referrals to the Gender Service at the Royal Referrals to the Gender Service at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne - Adolescents

10. 2. Percentage of adolescents identifying as transgender • 1.2% in New Zealand study of over 8,000 adolescents (2012) • 1.3% of Californian students in years 6-8 (2011) • 2.68% of 82,000 students in Minnesota ‘transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, or unsure of their gender’ • If people were just ‘born that way’, why the massive increase in transgender identification among teenagers? • A survey question is not the same as a clinical diagnosis - but illustrates a trend in the adolescent population

11. 3.Gender ratio of adolescents claiming to be transgender • In the past, at least 3 times as many biological males as females – maybe as high as 6-1 • In the New Zealand study, 54% of the respondents who identified as transgender were biological females • In Minnesota study, 68% who identified as transgender, genderfluid or similar, were female. • Clinic in Finland, 41 girls and 6 boys over two year period • If people were just ‘born that way’, why the change of gender pattern?

12. 4. Socio-economic background, family situation and abuse history • Many come from troubled family backgrounds and have histories of abuse • In the Minnesota study, those who identified as transgender, “genderqueer” or similar were: • 75% more likely to have a parent or guardian in prison, • nearly twice as likely to live with a problem drinker, • over twice as likely to live with a drug abuser, • reported much higher levels of physical abuse, psychological abuse and of witnessing domestic violence. • four times as likely as those who did not identify as transgender to have experienced childhood sexual abuse • If they were born in the wrong body, why so many from troubled backgrounds?

13. 5. Autism and mental health issues • High levels of mental health problems • Depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder • Study of 204 children or adolescents seen at the Gender Identity Clinic in Amsterdam: • rate of autism diagnoses were about ten times as high as the general population • Finnish study – 25% on autism spectrum • Many parents with major psychological problems • Suicidal ideation may be for reasons other than gender dysphoria

14. 6. Gender dysphoria may well be transitory • Ristori and Steensma, reviewing studies of childhood dysphoria: • The conclusion from these studies is that childhood GD is strongly associated with a lesbian, gay, or bisexual outcome and that for the majority of the children (85.2%; 270 out of 317) the gender dysphoric feelings remitted around or after puberty. • Watchful waiting – as long as there is no social transition • Puberty blocking drugs and sexual development.

15. 7. Rapid-onset gender dysphoria and the problem of social contagion • Evidence now that gender dysphoria emerging without any history in childhood • Especially among teenage girls • Lisa Littman’s study (2018/19): • 256 parents. 83% of the children female • The majority had been diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder or neuro-developmental disability prior to the onset of their gender dysphoria. • None showed childhood indicia of gender dysphoria • Nearly half had experienced a traumatic or stressful life event prior to the onset of their gender dysphoria • 45% had friends who identified as transgender • 37% - majority of the friendship group identified as transgender

16. 8. Young people who desist after irreversible treatment • Swedish study over 50 years: high rates of suicide among post-operative transsexuals not explained by prior mental illness • Formal studies show few regrets • Regrets on social media • Cari Stella, social media survey: 203 respondents in two weeks • 65% had not had any counselling before hormone treatment • Over 75% reported that detransitioning had helped them to cope better with their gender dysphoria • https://www.reddit.com/r/detrans/; https://sexchangeregret.com/

17. Beliefs in the transgender movement

18. Born in the wrong body? • “Despite intensive searching, no clear neurobiological marker or “cause” of being transgender has been identified” (Mueller et al, 2017) • Possible genetic links in male-female gender dysphoria • Transgender advocates and clinicians tend not to claim physiological basis • Arguments based upon prevention of suicide and amelioration of gender dysphoria, whatever its cause.

19. Two fundamental beliefs • Gender is not innate but “assigned at birth” • such an assignation, based upon observation of the genitalia, is at best provisional • One’s “real” gender is a matter of subjective identification rather than biological reality • Essentially a belief about subjective understanding versus objective reality • Gender is fluid and gender identity may change over time • Begins from the premise that gender is something different from biological sex. Previous generations would have regarded the two words as interchangeable • These are not scientific claims: they are incapable of either validation or falsification by science .

20. The belief in multiple genders “Humans aren't a binary species. We now understand that that oversimplification taught in science classes about human sex and “sex chromosomes” is essentially wrong, and leads to widespread misunderstanding. “People are born with a wide range of genders, and with a wide range of sex traits. There is no way to “match” sexes and genders because there are different numbers of each. Humans are not born transgender or cisgender. Humans are assigned into one of those groups by esssentially a weighted lottery. Sometimes the gender assigned to a child is correct, and sometimes it isn’t.” (Answer on Quora)

21. Gender is who I say that I am • The Yogyakarta Principles, Principle 3: • States shall: • Take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to fully respect and legally recognise each person’s self-defined gender identity; • Take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that procedures exist whereby all State-issued identity papers which indicate a person’s gender/sex — including birth certificates, passports, electoral records and other documents — reflect the person’s profound self-defined gender identity. • Hence the new laws in Tasmania and Victoria – the person is the gender they say they are even if it is neither male nor female

22. The belief that being transgender is not a medical issue • The Yogyakarta Principles, Principle 3: “Each person’s self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. No one shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sex reassignment surgery, sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity.” • Principle 18: “Notwithstanding any classifications to the contrary, a person's sexual orientation and gender identity are not, in and of themselves, medical conditions and are not to be treated, cured or suppressed.”

23. The belief that gender is socially constructed • Some advocates completely reject the essentialist idea that human beings are normally to be classified as male or female and that medical intervention to alter biological sex requires clinical justification. • Florence Ashley: “Most clinicians assume that the clinical starting point should be the absence of transition…. This assumption is predicated upon a social organisation that centres cisgender ways of being as the default. In an alternate society that used the pronouns of the child’s choice on any given day, the idea of changing pronouns as part of a social transition would not be perceived as an intervention that must be clinically justified; it would be the default, the status quo.”

24. The clash in the medical profession • Two different approaches to the requirement to avoid harm • Child protection approach – recognise adolescence is a time of change, teenagers experience peer influences, concern about other mental health issues: do not do irreversible harm. • Is gender dysphoria in adolescence akin to anorexia nervosa? • Affirmation approach: Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne • “Withholding of gender affirming treatment is not considered a neutral option, and may exacerbate distress in a number of ways including increasing depression, anxiety and suicidality, social withdrawal, as well as possibly increasing chances of young people illegally accessing medications.” • ‘Conversion therapy’ is unethical

25. Christian responses to the trangender movement

26. Fundamental principles • The importance of a compassionate response to troubled teenagers • “Male and female He created them” • Sex is to be defined by reproductive function not subjective gender identity • Rejection of the unscientific beliefs of the transgender movement • Recognition that a small number of people with persistent gender identity issues have found greater peace in transition • Need for great caution with children and adolescents: most compassionate response to a young person who presents seeking to change gender may be not to embrace his or her newly found gender identity

27. The legal conundrum for schools • No harm if teenagers wish to be described as “non-binary” • Schools have a duty of care towards children and adolescents – supports watchful waiting, counselling, expert medical and psychiatric advice • Schools have child protection responsibilities towards troubled youth • Therapeutic intervention to address other mental health issues • A parent may, in some cases, be the major cause of child’s confusion • The religious objection to the transgender movement is based upon rejection of its unscientific beliefs that contradict Christian worldview

28. Towards law reform • Clarify that nothing in the legislation prevents educational institutions and other service providers such as fitness centres, organising or offering their services on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity • Absolute defence to a claim of discrimination against a young person under the age of 18 that they acted in good faith on the basis of what they considered at the time to be in the best interests of the child. • Protection for religious objections to alien belief system