One of the most quoted lines from the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is spoken by a strange caterpillar. The caterpillar on noticing a young girl who had dropped into Wonderland via a rabbit hole asks, “Who are you”? Alice replied, rather shyly, “I-I hardly know, Sir, just at present-at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”[i] Indeed, Alice had “transitioned” several times during the story. She had been small and large and confused and frightened and happy and sad, but she had never been a boy.
Unfortunately for our children, the “who are you” question is as confusing and terrifying as dropping into the mad world of Wonderland. A decade ago, a child put to that question would simply answer their name or that they are a son or daughter or boy or girl, sister, or brother. They may mention an athletic title such as “soccer player” or “rollerblader”. Never would the answer be transgender, gender neutral, non-binary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, two-spirit, or third gender. The gender list continues to grow.
Today’s “Alice” is around 14 years of age. She is experiencing gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is defined as “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity”. [ii]Survey results collected for four years by Suzanna Diaz and J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University’s Department of Psychology reported 75% of children who developed rapid onset gender dysphoria were females around the age of 14.[iii] Alice thinks she knew who she was when she got up this morning but “I think I must have been changed”.
The gender debacle is as confusing as Wonderland’s Duchess’ ministrations to Alice when she says, “and the moral of that is…be what you would seem to be, or if you’d like it put more simply-never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” Humpty Dumpty would emulate the voice of LGBTQIA members in this conversation with Alice.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more or less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master---that’s all.”[iv]
Recently, members attending the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting passed a 700-word resolution labeling gender transition a “direct assault on God’s created order” urging states to ban gender procedures involving children. The resolution, referencing the Bible reads, “the differences between men and women are complementary, determined at conception, immutable, rooted in God’s design, and most clearly revealed in bodily differences (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 100:3).[v]
Answering “Who are you” is readily revealed through the looking glass of the Bible. Who is your master?
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[i]https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/chapters-script/alice-in-wonderland-quotes/ [ii]https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria [iii]https://www.christianpost.com/news/gender-dysphoria-most-common-among-girls-with-high-intelligence.html [iv]https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/chapters-script/alice-in-wonderland-quotes/ [v]https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/southern-baptists-urge-states-to-ban-gender-transition-procedures-on-children.html
