New York Magazine published an article by transgender-identified activist Andrea Long Chu, born a male named Andrew, “Freedom of Sex: The moral case for letting trans kids change their bodies.”
In the disturbing essay, Chu argues that children should be able to consent to experimental, body-mutilating drugs, hormones and surgeries for any reason:
We will never be able to defend the rights of transgender kids until we understand them purely on their own terms: as full members of society who would like to change their sex. It does not matter where this desire comes from [emphasis added].
There you have it: Children should be able to choose dangerous and experimental medical procedures, despite their lack of emotional and mental development, even if they later decide they regret this irreparable damage to their bodies. And for Chu, it would be even better if we had “Medicare for All” to pay for this mutilation of children.
Because, after all, “Where there is freedom, there will always be regret. In fact, there cannot be regret without freedom” [emphasis in original].
As we’ll see, the article has elicited ire from all over the political spectrum, with many questioning the author’s reasoning and conclusions, as well as why New York published the piece in the first place.
Chu tries to make the case that even though sex – being male or female – is real, this does not matter. It’s okay to deny reality. He writes:
To confront the reality of biological sex is not, by definition, to swear fealty to that reality; no one knows this better than a child who wishes to have their biological sex changed [emphasis added].
The article is really mistitled. It’s not “freedom of sex” Chu is arguing for, but “freedom from sex.”
Chu believes the reality of sex doesn’t matter. The author explains:
Sex is real. … But the belief that we have a moral duty to accept reality just because it is real is, I think, a fine definition of nihilism.
Chu is clearly a troubled individual. A man who considers himself to be a lesbian, Chu wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times, “My New Vagina Won’t Make Me Happy” and writes in the book Females, “Sissy porn did make me trans.”
British journalist and author Joan Smith argues that although claiming to be female, “Chu clearly has a very distorted idea of what being a woman is, conflating the idea with being passive and victimised in language so extreme that it’s distasteful to quote.”
She adds that his ideas “about being female appear to come from pornography and popular culture.”
Southern Baptist Seminary President Dr. Al Mohler points out that Chu is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (although that doesn’t necessarily mean anything – think about Pulitzer winners like Nikole Hannah-Jones, with her widely-vilified 1619 Project, or Walter Duranty and his lies about Stalinist Russia.)
Mohler emphasizes this to note that Chu is an influential writer, writing in “a major American magazine” which is “unashamed to put this on the front cover.” He explains that the target audience is “the medical establishment, the cultural elites, the kind of people who live in New York City and read New York Magazine.”
These are people with influence, Mohler says, so even if “you think you’re safe from all of this, recognize that it’s in places like [New York] that the policies are made that are going to be imposed upon Birmingham, Alabama.”
Chu argues that medical “transitioning” of children is a “rights” issue, not a “medical” issue requiring scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of treatments.
Journalist and podcaster Jesse Singal accurately debunks this, saying:
This is very silly either/or framing. Of course rights questions and medical questions are intertwined. …
Moreover, Chu is simply smuggling her premise into her framing: it is widely recognized that minors do not have the same rights as adults, because, due to their incomplete development, they lack the cognitive powers adults use to make fraught decisions, or to weigh long-term consequences.
Chu complains that journalists somehow turned the question of mutilating minors into a “medical issue,” and Singal explains that medical professionals who “transition” minors created the debate:
Think about it: on the one hand, you have the small army of psychiatrists, endocrinologists, psychologists, and others who held conferences, published papers, formed professional societies, and opened clinics, all on the basis of the supposed efficacy of youth gender medicine. On the other, you have journalists who have covered this movement as it has emerged. Who do you think is more responsible for “turning this into” a medical issue?
Bethel McGrew, in an article titled “When evil is unmasked” in WORLD, boils down Chu’s lengthy article into its essential point:
His thesis is shockingly simple: The freedom to change one’s body is a basic human right. Children are humans. Thus, they should have the freedom to change their bodies.
Many individuals who wrestle with sexual identity confusion are dealing with real pain from self-hatred, sexual abuse, serious mental and psychological problems, trauma and broken relationships. As humans created in the image and likeness of God, we treat them with kindness and grace, pointing to real healing through Christ.
But the ideology itself and the movement to medically mutilate children and adults in a vain attempt to “transition” them into the other sex or some indeterminate “gender” must be opposed.
McGrew describes the transgender movement’s underlying motivation:
[T]he driving force of trans rights activism has never been a genuine concern for the physical and mental well-being of trans-identifying people. It has been the demand for absolute emancipation, absolute autonomy, at any cost.
And she isn’t afraid to call this out for what it really is: “the face of pure evil.”
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family exists to help families, and that includes help navigating the issue transgenderism. Focus offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.
Helpful articles, books and broadcasts can also be found at Transgender Resources.
Addressing Gender Identity with Honesty and Compassion
How Science and Faith Can Defeat Gender Ideology
How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’
Protect Your Kids from ‘Trans’ Activism — Look for These Red Flags
Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?
Image from New York Magazine.
