Transgender

People with gender issues today are in the news, perhaps more than ever before. Gender once seemed like an immutable characteristic that we don’t control. Today that isn’t the case; at least, that isn’t the modern view of gender. Gender dysphoria is not a modern phenomenon, but technological advances now allow gender transitioning that was not possible in the past, and the stigma of gender queerness is fast fading into history. Gender choice and gender transitioning promise fulfillment that would never have been possible just a short time ago. At the same time, dissatisfaction with what choice and modern technology allows is growing. In that void, some people are finding a path that delivers the satisfaction and fulfillment choice and modern technology fail to do. 

No two stories are the same, but Jesus is the common denominator in the lives of each one of the people whose stories are shared below.

Kyla Gillespie was raised in a Christian home in Canada, but her parents divorced, and Kyla developed a growing realization that had roots into her early childhood that she identified more as a boy than a girl. Same sex attraction and the desire to be male led her to transition. Though she was living her dream, alcoholism landed her in treatment. At that point, she began a different journey that led her down a road that opened up a new world in which she began to accept her birth gender and to find the satisfaction and fulfillment that always eluded her.

Laura Perry Smalts made the decision to transition to a man. When she received her first hormone treatments, she was filled with hope that her dreams would come true. She wanted nothing more than what she thought was the prison of being female. Six years after transitioning she found herself in a new prison of her own making. She knew that she would never be the man she wanted to be, and she was sick of pretending that she could. Over the next three years, she developed a relationship with her mom she never had and began to envy her mother’s newfound faith that was transforming her mother before her eyes. Nine years after living as a man, she began to transition back. More importantly, she experienced the same transformation she watched her mother go through.

Daisy Chadra identified more as a boy than a girl from as early as the age of 4. When she hit puberty, finally, at age 14, she went back and forth between feminine and masculine expressions. She couldn’t picture her future as female. Internet influences encouraged her to pursue gender transition. By 17, she decided to transition to male, and she began taking testosterone at age 18. This is her story to that point:

Around her 21st birthday, Daisy was completely transitioned, but she had a “deep, sinking feeling” when she was alone with her thoughts. She still felt a dissonance, a dissonance that was more apparent than the dissonance she felt before her transition. She became tormented with the thought that she couldn’t have a future either as a trans man or a woman. Daisy decided to detransition. Her sharing is raw and authentic. She emphasized this is HER story, not a road map for anyone else. (I note also that this really isn’t a journey of faith. Though she dabbled with Christianity at this point in her life, she no longer considers herself a Christian. She still believes, though, that detransitioning was the right decision.) Here she explains that choice: 

Kathy wanted to be a boy since she was 3 years old, and there was no question in her mind about that identity. She began hormone therapy at an early and, for all appearances, she lived as a man for many years. Meanwhile, she was drawn to Jesus and got involved in church. Her story is a very compelling one.

Kathy’s story continues here. She saw herself as a heterosexual male most of her life, until something changed, and she decided to go make back to who she was biologically. At that point, God began to touch on the issues that were deeply affecting her, and He met her in her pain and transformed her.

Walt’s grandmother began cross-dressing him as a little girl when he was 4 or 5, and that seed planted in him took root and grew. His grandmother told him to keep it secret. He was appreciated and fawned over, something he didn’t get when he was a boy. He was also molested by his uncle. He grew up with a great deal of confusion and had nowhere to turn. He felt he was on his own. In spite of these things, he had a great deal of success, including working on the Apollo Space Mission. He even got married, but he still struggled. The seed from his early youth would not go away. He went back to cross-dressing and turned to alcohol. Though his shame grew, he could not be free of the pressure, and a meeting with an expert who encouraged him to go through gender reassignment surgery solidified the decision to go through with it.

Walt told his wife about his fixation on becoming a woman, and they were divorced. Walt went ahead with the gender reassignment surgery. His children rejected him. He lost his good job in the automotive industry. Within a few months, he was homeless and a full blown alcoholic. He had gone from marriage, children and career success to homelessness and alcoholism.  He even became suicidal. Walt had become Laura at this time, when he was taken in by a pastor who embraced him and began to walk through the process of change with him. Its been over 20 years since Walt finally found his way home. Hear the rest of his story.

Daniel Delgado had a very abusive step-father. He didn’t have a good paternal role model and shut his father’s influence out of his life. As a teenager, he was attracted to drag queens and began to emulate them. He had success in the pageant scene, but his life was empty. One day he was invited to church and showed up in a rainbow poncho and bell-bottom jeans. He was completely out of place, but he was introduced to God. He wasn’t ready, but a seed was planted.

Daniel was abused by his step-father and teased and rejected. His mother was mentally ill. Daniel felt girls were safer than boys and wanted to be a girl. He was sexually abused from the age of 5. He was allowed into a gay bar at the age of 15. He was an addict and thought about suicide, but one day a neighbor girl felt that God put Daniel on her heart to invite him to church. His story is continued:

Diamond Dee was molested as a young child, and it took him 40+ years to understand what happened to him. In the meantime, however, his life course changed direction from that point, and it led down a very twisted road. His whole life became geared on sex. As time went on, he needed newer and different things to give him a “new fix”, but it was never enough. He was a slave to his desires. He got bored with the “other stuff” and read a magazine one day led him to become transgender. Even that far down the twisted road, he was not too far for God to reach him.

 

Arianna Armour was born to a violent and angry father, who turned to music, drugs and alcohol. Her mother was an aspiring singer and actress who turned to drugs and prostitution. Arianna was born with five different drugs in her system. She was quickly ushered into the foster care system. Her journey included transitioning from female to male. This her life story here in this video that she put together herself.