On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a survey on transgenderism and gender identity confusion among American high schoolers. The data was collected by the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System by surveying over 20,000 high school students from both private and public schools. As The New York Times pointed out, “The 2023 survey was the first to ask teenagers in all schools whether they identified as transgender.”

Right off the bat, the CDC illustrates its bias when it refers to gender as “the socially constructed norms and expectations imposed on persons.” According to the CDC, “gender identity” is “a person’s sense of self and personal experience of gender,” completely glossing over any acknowledgment of the fixed, binary biological reality of male and female. It even goes on to explain how “gender identity development is a fundamental part of adolescence” and essentially makes the claim that “transgender and questioning youth” require the option to reject “social expectations of gender” lest they “experience … discrimination or violence.”

The survey found, “In 2023, 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender, and 2.2% identified as questioning.” It also noted “a higher prevalence of violence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors … unstable housing, and a lower prevalence of school connectedness” more commonly associated with gender-confused students. More specifically, of the two groups of interest (trans and questioning), a collective 51.7% “skipped school because they felt unsafe,” roughly 40% claimed to be bullied, an overwhelming majority “experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” and 26% reported to have “attempted suicide in the past year.”

These are heartbreaking statistics, to be sure. But notably, children not confused about their biological sex (which the CDC referred to as “cisgender”) were significantly more grounded and comfortable at school and in their own skin. Only “8.5% of cisgender male students,” the survey wrote, skipped class due to safety concerns. A significantly lower percentage of students in this group attempted suicide in the year prior — 5% of males and 11% of females.

But if you look deeper into the results, there are some interesting similarities between the students who experienced gender confusion and the students who didn’t. Regardless of the camp they fell in, both sides of the equation reported having poor mental health. Both groups, as already addressed, have students who attempted to end their own lives. Whether confused about gender or not, at least some percentage from both sides reported struggling to feel “close to others at school.”

Ultimately, the CDC concluded:

“These are the first nationally representative data on transgender and questioning students. Their school environments are neither as safe nor as supportive as they are for their cisgender peers. … Tools exist to improve the safety and supportiveness of schools, and research demonstrates that when schools make steps to implement inclusive policies and practices, the mental health of all students improves. More effort is necessary to ensure that the health and well-being of students who are socially marginalized is prioritized.”

There’s a danger to these statistics — specifically the CDC’s presentation of them — because they’re misleading. The problem, according to the CDC, is that this group is suffering because society isn’t as inclusive or accepting as it should be. If only we would just embrace their gender dysphoria, then they’d be happy and safe. The problem, according to NYT, is that too many policies have passed “limiting bathroom use, sports participation or access to medical treatments for transgender children under 18.” If only males were allowed in female spaces and children could more easily be loaded with unsafe chemicals and drugs, then everything would be fine and dandy.

There’s an immensely ridiculous nature to such thinking. And yet, it’s promoted all the same. But there is an objective reality to all this, and it explains what the real problem is behind suffering and confused children. Those answers come directly from science and the Bible.

Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Family Studies and a licensed clinician, alongside other experts at or in partnership with FRC have conducted extensive research on gender identity. Gender dysphoria is real, Bauwens explained in a policy brief, and it’s defined as “a psychological condition marked by an incongruence between … experienced gender and the gender associated with … biological sex.” Gender dysphoria can have many causes, including “[c]hildhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, autism,” and influence “by peers and social media sites,” to name a few.

As Bauwens discovered, “When it comes to the gender dysphoria diagnosis, multiple treatment options are not available to reduce symptoms.” Rather, “The only treatment option you will be offered … is to socially and medically transition” — despite the practice’s invasive nature, incredibly minimal evidence supporting its use, lack of federal accountability, and strong likelihood of immediate and long-term “health problems … including sterilization, reduced bone density, cognitive problems, increased body fat percentage and body mass index, decreased lean body mass, and arterial hypertension.” 

Even the tragedy of suicide, Bauwens has said, is abused and manipulated in the service of gender ideology. As she wrote, “The ‘threat’ of suicide is what is being used against responsible leaders trying to protect children from harmful and often unknown risks associated with gender transition procedures.” Of course, “suicide is a real threat, and it should be addressed,” she urged. But “suicide should never be used as a tool.” The real problem, according to science, is that children are “not fully developed physiologically, psychologically, and neurologically,” and exposure to such a confusing and damaging ideology will inevitably lead to overall poor well-being. The CDC doesn’t seem to care about that.

However, more important than science, is the clear and illuminating answer found in Scripture, where we see the biblical mandates God has set forth. In the Bible, there are two genders — male and female. What we’re born as is exactly how God intended us to be and to remain. Nowhere in Scripture does it say our gender can change, and nowhere in Scripture is the implication that it glorifies or honors God to try doing so.

According to Scripture, the real problem with these school-aged kids suffering from depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and more is the fact that they’ve become victims of a pagan fallacy that gender is a social construct. They’ve become slaves of a medical process that subjects them to lifelong pain and complications. They’ve been brainwashed by an ideology that tells them, “You’ll never be happy unless you move forward with transitioning. You’ll never be accepted as you are. You’ll never feel better until you just accept that you were born in the wrong body. Take the drugs. Do the surgery. If they won’t let you, tell them you’ll kill yourself!”

How unspeakably despicable is the fact that children are told these things. How unutterably wicked is the fact that they’re being stripped of their health, innocence, and childhood. Jesus said in Matthew 18:6, “[B]ut whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Shame on the CDC for manipulating the truth and leading children astray. And shame on anyone who follows suit.

When we read, see, or hear of how “gender-affirming care” is the answer to the woes of children and gender-confused people, we must say, “No! You’re wrong!” We must demand the truth be proclaimed and implore these entities to stop leading children astray. The problem isn’t that we aren’t “inclusive” enough. The problem is that there’s a film of ignorance and self-serving ambition over the eyes of those selling this gender hysteria as they plaster the propaganda of pseudoscience on vulnerable, helpless, broken individuals.

As the CDC’s survey showed, even kids who don’t identify as trans or question their gender are still experiencing depression, anxiety, and other such ailments. But it’s not surprising, is it? They’re surrounded by lies, deceit, and sin. It’s our job, as the church, to be salt and light. It’s our responsibility to bolster truth and proclaim God’s decrees. If nothing else stirs you to action in this broken and perverse world, even though we’re called to action in all areas of life, I hope and pray that you can at least stand up and do something for the innocent children being targeted by this insanity.

On the Last Day, Jesus will say, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). What will you do for the least of these?