The Liturgy of Trans
We are in the middle of Gender Identity’s holy month of Pride (formerly known as "June")
I grew up as a Protestant kid in a predominantly Catholic country. I wasn’t really familiar with the doctrines of the religion of my friends and neighbors, but I understood that Catholicism permeated every aspect of the culture. The Catholic church was involved at the highest levels of government and any position of influence was held by a Catholic.
At a personal level, at times I felt left out. Every kid in my class, except three of us, experienced First Communion, which was the most exciting event to that point in their young lives. The priest was revered and what he said was taken as absolute truth. My family didn’t follow what the priest or the Pope said, so we were considered cultural rebels. My classmates and friends accepted that my family was not Catholic and it wasn’t an issue that divided us.
There was another aspect of Catholicism practiced by a few of the extremely devout. On certain occasions, such as during Holy Week, some of the devout, often poor and uneducated, would flagellate themselves as a sacrifice to God. They would embark on a pilgrimage by walking on bare knees until they bled. Some would carry heavy crosses or whip their bodies to represent the scourging of Christ. The pilgrims typically climbed up a steep mountain to reach an altar where a statue of Christ or a saint was waiting to receive their sacrificial offering. Some reported that, when they got to the top, they experienced a sort of euphoria or spiritual experience which made them momentarily forget the pain of punishing their bodies so cruelly.
In some indigenous towns that combined animism with Catholicism there were processions during Holy Week where icons of the faith were paraded on the shoulders of the pilgrims. Some people including the shaman would wear costumes and scary masks of demons and devils. The costumed men would play their role as devils by chasing and scaring people, especially children. The pilgrims were loud and crying, many of them drunk on moonshine. As a child who was vacationing in those towns during the holidays, I found the processions deeply disturbing and had nightmares of the masked figures chasing me.
I moved to the USA as a young adult to attend university. From my outsider’s perspective, I understood that a framework of faith was the foundation of this country, but people were free to believe whatever they wished or not believe in anything and live their lives as they saw fit… until now. Times have changed. There’s a new State sponsored religion in this country. It is a cult of the self and to the gods of Gender Identity. The devout followers call themselves “trans” or “queer’ or “non-binary”. This religion permeates, influences and is trying to control every aspect of our lives.
In her book, Lost in Trans Nation: A Child’s Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness, Dr. Miriam Grossman, accurately depicts the tenets of this religion by writing “The Articles of Faith of Gender Identity”:
“Behold GENDER IDENTITY; it liberated you from oppression from the harsh constraints of biology.
GENDER IDENTITY is sacred; thou shall not question it; thou shall not turn away from it to hard science; for GENDER IDENTITY is jealous and cannot tolerate the scientific method.
Remember GENDER IDENTITY, to keep it holy. Behold, it is both fixed and fluid; healthy and needing drugs and surgeries; do not admit the contradictions.
Thou shall consider “male” and “female” arbitrary assignments; thou shall deny their establishment at conception.
Thou shall affirm all gender identities with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will be an ally and keep your livelihood.
Do not misgender.
Do not deadname.
Thou shall not explore anxiety, ADHD, trauma, or autism; thou shall always invoke the minority stress model.
Thou shall honor the self-diagnosis and judgment of minors and young adults. Thou shall not recognize their emotional and cognitive immaturity.
Gatekeeping is an abomination. Thou shall therefore scorn psychotherapy and place your trust in breast binding, penis-and-testicle tucking, pills, patches, syringes, scalpels, implants, and prosthetics.”
I am adding a mandate to the Articles of Faith.
Thou shalt honor and remember GENDER IDENTITY in the sacred celebration of Pride during the holy month of June
Once again, I am reliving my childhood experience of growing up in a culture completely dominated by a state religion. However, this Gender Identity religion doesn’t have the friendly and honest faces of my peers and neighbors. Instead, it feels as if I am living in the middle of one of those scary processions of my childhood where the shaman in his demonic mask gave me nightmares for days.
When a religion permeates a society, everyone in the culture, believer or not, has to in some way participate in the celebrations and observances of the religion. We are in the middle of Gender Identity’s holy month of June celebrating Pride. The religious symbols and idols are in full display lest anyone forget the gods the State mandates that we worship. Wherever we go we are expected to bow and pray before the flags and symbols or at least acknowledge them.
So, why do I care? Why can’t I be like the non-believers who just go along with the tenets of the religion and be “nice and kind” to the true believers? I care because my own child has become one of the extreme devout believers of this religion. He is one of those poor souls on a pilgrimage to the altar of the Trans Goddess. He is flagellating and scourging his body through wrong sex hormones, tucking, tweezing, shaving, body modification, permanent sickness and painful side effects, while carrying a blue and pink flag. He is climbing the steep steps up the hill to where the Trans Goddess sits flanked by the idols of Pharma Greed and Gender Ideology. He believes that when he gets to the top he will be rewarded with euphoria and self-actualization. He also gets a sense of belonging to this special group of pilgrims who are willing to sacrifice it all to show their devotion to the religion. The problem for these pilgrims who harm themselves is that once the euphoria is over, they will have to deal with the damage that they have done to their bodies.
Like all religions and cults built on false premises and promises, this one too will fall, leaving in its wake a carnage of broken bodies and souls. Until that day, I will continue being part of the resistance of parents and allies who recognize that the religion of Gender Identity is simply one more cunningly devised tool of those who are driven by greed, and a hunger for power and control. Once again, I find myself as an outlier and rebel against a state sponsored religion. You can’t fool me!
“It’s never really about racism, feminism, LGBT+, DEI, climate change, etc. –it’s only all about the Revolution. “The issue is never the issue; the issue is always the Revolution”. They worship power, their own power–the Self becomes god.” James Lindsay
I can understand why several people have responded to this article by defending Catholicism or Judaism, but the author wasn't attacking those religions or religion in general. The author was pointing out how gender ideology has become an unofficial state religion in the U.S., so that those who don't practice it are on the outside. Meanwhile, the author's son has become an adherent and participant in some of the cult-like aspects of this new state religion, and the author compares the son's zeal to that of Catholic pilgrims engaging in self-flagellation as an act of devotion. I find the comparison apt and powerful. As a religious person, I can still admit that in my own tradition there are fervent believers who look crazy and cult-like from the outside, and they may actually be psychologically unbalanced people. That does not mean that my whole tradition is a cult, and I absolute do not think that this author was calling Catholicism or other major religions cults.
Brilliant and searing.
I'm so sorry your son is caught up.
We need insights like this from people like you who have witnessed or experienced other cultish structures, societies, behaviors, etc. You see the similarities so clearly.