When it comes to the transgenderism movement, there are many who believe “it is harmless,” said Walt Heyer on Thursday’s “Washington Watch.” Heyer, who stopped identifying as transgender and serves as a senior fellow with Family Research Council, described his mission to share his story and proclaim the truth about transgenderism. “I’m here to tell you it’s not harmless. It will destroy your life. I’m 84 years old, [and] I’m still talking about what happened when I was four. It can’t be harmless.”

At the heart of this ideology, explained FRC President Tony Perkins, is that those swept up in it “refuse to acknowledge God and the differences that He [has established], in terms of His creation of male and female. They’re not only ignoring God and His word, but even basic biology. They follow neither God nor science, but rather the lies of a radical and a destructive ideology.” But as evidenced by Heyer’s testimony, this is not a recent development — he was manipulated by this ideology 80 years ago. And yet, transgenderism as a movement has seemed to gain a lot of momentum in recent years.

Under the Biden administration, in particular, it bled into seemingly all aspects of life. Now, with President Donald Trump in office, he’s slowly worked to undo much of what was put in place by former President Joe Biden. But if it could swell into the tsunami of political destruction that it did in the first place, who’s to say that couldn’t happen again in the future? With this in mind, Perkins stated, “The question is, in 2025, how should we as Christians think about and respond to this disconnect between God’s design and man’s false beliefs about reality?”

Both Heyer and FRC’s Director of the Center for Family Studies Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, authors of a forthcoming book entitled “Embracing God’s Design: Addressing the Spiritual and Psychological Practice Behind Transgender Identity,” addressed this topic on Thursday’s episode. According to both Heyer and Bauwens, there are two crucial aspects to keep in mind. First, to have conversations with people who identify as trans or support the movement at large, one must be able to identify underlying factors. As Heyer explained, he was abused as a child, both emotionally and physically. His grandmother would sew him dresses. “She made dresses for women,” he said, “but she decided to make it for a four-year-old grandson and affirmed me in that dress, and that planted that seed.”

But beyond that emotional confusion, Heyer went on to suffer physical agony when he was sexually molested by his father’s adopted brother. There was so much “psychological, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to somebody before they [were] 10 years old,” he said. In fact, this is the painful reality Dr. Bauwens has discovered in her many years of research to be a common phenomenon among people who are confused about gender.

“[M]any of the people that are struggling with identity issues, often referred to as gender dysphoria, have real intense underlying conditions,” she explained. “Many have gone through traumatic experiences. Maybe they were bullied in school. Maybe they were sexually abused. We know from some of the research that those who tend to take on a transgender identity, the vast majority of them do experience some kind of abuse … much like Walt’s story.” This leads to the second most important aspect of conversations surrounding transgenderism.

Both Heyer and Bauwens highlighted the same message: “there is hope and there is healing for those people,” and it all comes back to “the redeeming power of Jesus.” As Heyer explained, the only thing that pulled him out of the surgeries and the hormones “was Jesus Christ.” He shared how the Lord redeemed his life, and from that moment on, he was determined to “stand up and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.” His mission now is to speak out against this “horrible stuff,” proclaiming to those who need hope, “the Lord will save you. Come to the Lord and He will bring you back.”

Ultimately, Bauwens chimed in, Jesus is still “transforming lives,” and the book she and Heyer recently finished was written “with the expectation that we are going to see a generation truly set free” from this ideology — “a generation that has been socialized to believe that this is … a pathway to happiness.” However, “it’s a very destructive road. And … as the church, we have an opportunity before us where … the church can step in and be a compassionate, loving, truth bearing force that can bring freedom.” As Bauwens emphasized, “we have the answer,” and the next step “is to get the church ready to deal with the generation that’s been socialized to believe that a transgender identity is a good path.”

Going a little deeper, Perkins stated that as Christians, “we have to start with embracing God’s design that God created male and female. Now, that may be offensive to some people today, but it’s truth, and we cannot effectively respond to this unless we’re willing to embrace truth.” With this in mind, he asked, “how should we think about this” as it relates to transgenderism “and how should we respond to it?” According to Heyer, the best beginning point is to be honest about the nature of transgenderism. Namely, that is doesn’t actually exist.

“[T]his will probably surprise you,” he explained, “but when somebody comes to me and they say, ‘I’m a transgender, I transitioned, and I have gender dysphoria.’ I tell them, ‘You’re not a transgender. You’ve never been one. You never transitioned because it’s not possible.’” The purpose in doing this, he added, is that “you get the individual to start thinking, ‘[If] I am not transgender and it’s not about gender dysphoria, what is it, then?’” From there, the more impactful discussions begin.

“That’s what Jennifer and I have outlined in the book,” he continued, “because it’s [the] underlying issues that no one talks about that we need in our churches for people to start addressing. … [I]t’s stuff on the internet” people get addicted to. “There’s porn, there’s social contagion … [in which] people do it because their friends do it.” Most people wrapped up in this ideology are “looking for a place to offload” their trauma or confusion. For most, they turn to environments that make it worse, when “the place they need to go is to Jesus Christ.”

Perkins agreed, highlighting the fact that these very conversations are often “referred to as hate speech.” However, it’s crucial to remember that “in reality, it is the most loving to speak truth. … And the church’s response has to … [be] that this is not [just] a political movement, although it’s manifesting itself in the political.” Ultimately, he urged, “it is a spiritual cry for help. And we’ve got to be willing to pull back the layers and find out that there is, in most cases, trauma. There’s a need here that only the truth of Jesus Christ can solve.”

Bauwens articulated the difference between the “macro fight” and the micro. “[A] lot of times,” she said, “we’re not good at differentiating those.” In a micro sense, “we need to understand the root issues and how to minister to someone or just come alongside them individually.” In terms of the macro, that is when it gets more in line with policy work and boldly taking these truths to the public square. However, regardless of which side of the coin one finds themselves fighting on, Bauwens urged that “we need the Holy Spirit [in] everything that we do.”

“Without Him,” she added, “we can do nothing. … [W]e need the wisdom of God to get behind each individual’s unique reasons [for] why they’ve chosen this transgender identity,” because, “ultimately, this ideology is about undermining God’s design for the individual and for the family.” Children need examples of “oneness” and the “loving embrace” that ought to be first demonstrated through their parents.

As Bauwens concluded, transgenderism undermines all of that. “It is not just about erasing one’s sex. It’s about erasing the whole family so that we, from an early age, don’t have a clear picture of who God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, [and the] love that they have between” each other.