Last week, Fox Varian, a 22-year-old woman who had identified as a boy when she was a teen and had a double mastectomy, won a $2 million decision in a landmark lawsuit. Two doctors, psychologist Kenneth Einhorn and surgeon Simon Chin, had been accused of pressuring her to have the surgery when she was 16; a jury found them liable for medical malpractice. Varian’s lawyers put the primary blame on Einhorn, saying he was “putting the idea in her head” that she needed to change her gender with surgery.
Varian’s mother, Claire Deacon, testified that she was against the surgery, but agreed to it out of fear her daughter would commit suicide. “I think it was a scare tactic. I don’t believe it was malice, I think he believed what he was saying — but he was very, very wrong,” she said. The jury ruled that Einhorn and Chin did not take appropriate steps before suggesting the life-altering surgery.
Fox Varian is among a growing group of people called detransitioners, referring to people who had previously transitioned to the opposite sex but then transitioned back to their original biological sex. One thing that especially jumped out at me in this story is the statement by Fox’s mother that she was afraid her daughter would commit suicide if she did not have the double mastectomy. This fear has been promulgated by research which suggests that suicide rates are higher for those who are denied so-called “gender-affirming care.” There is other research which suggests the opposite: that suicide rates are higher for those who have surgically transitioned to the opposite sex. My guess is that over time we will find the latter to be true because people who are so unhappy that they have gender-altering surgery will not find happiness in their altered gender, at least not in the long run. Some detransitioners have expressed regret, for example, that they will never be able to have children. Thankfully, in most cases they are more at peace now than they had been before transitioning in the first place; this is at least in part because they have come to understand the roots of their gender dysphoria (meaning distress or impairment related to a strong desire to become the opposite sex).
In addition to the Fox Varian story, I noticed another one that has so far received less attention but which is also significant: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) board of directors now recommends that “gender-affirming surgeries” be delayed until a patient is at least 19 years old. While this is “professional guidance,” not a legal decision, it is highly significant. It is also obviously not coincidental that this “guidance” came out a mere four days after the $2 million verdict for Fox Varian.
There are currently 28 other lawsuits in the works that have been brought by other detransitioners; we can expect many more similar lawsuits moving forward. I am not generally in favor of lawsuits, but this is an area where I think they are needed; the threat of such a lawsuit will have a chilling effect on other medical practitioners who might otherwise pressure people into having such surgeries. A good psychologist or psychiatrist, for example, would dig deeply into the reasons that a person has gender dysphoria and would suggest options other than sex-reassignment surgery.
The primary reason this professional guidance from the ASPS is so significant is that on average, 80% of minors who to some degree identify as the opposite sex change their minds before adulthood. You will find other research which suggests a much lower percentage, which has at least partly to do with having gender dysphoria vs. being gender-nonconforming. The latter is much more common and has to do with behavior that differs from societal gender norms, while gender dysphoria is a psychological disorder. Even a girl who is what we used to call a “tomboy” is now called “gender-nonconforming” by some. The point is that most kids who show a behavior typically associated with the opposite sex eventually grow out of it. Additionally, those who at some point “identify” as the opposite sex grow out of that as well. Thus, even minors with gender dysphoria should be urged to wait until they are at least 19 before considering sex-reassignment surgery.
Since this blog is devoted to Biblical answers to questions and issues, let’s look at what the Bible says. You don’t have to look very far because Genesis 1:27 says this: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God is the Creator, and He is the One Who makes people as well. Psalm 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Even people who have sex-reassignment surgery cannot change who they are in the most fundamental way, at the depths of their being.
If you are reading this and identify to some degree as the opposite sex, my prayer for you is that you would come to know the One Who made you the way you are, including your biological sex. Jesus Christ is the only One Who can give you the contentment you desire.
To the Remnant 
Keith, I went up on Google Ask AI and found out that one long-term analysis stated that sex reassignment surgeries in the U.S. increased 152 fold between 2010 and 2018. One major reason was that Medicare lifted the ban on this procedure in 2014. I don’t know if this statistic is accurate since AI sometimes makes mistakes but if it is the results are appalling both from a biblical and social point of view.
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