“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
Protecting Children: Avoiding the Regret of Gender Transitioning
19-year-old Chloe Cole shares about the devastating effects of gender transitioning on children, her personal regrets of transitioning as a young teen, and the peace found by trusting in God’s perfect design.
Transformation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ
Linda Seiler has written a terrific new book, Transformation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ, about her struggles with transgenderism and lesbian attractions – and how God brought healing and change to her life.
Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A Measured, Careful, and Compassionate approach
A Focus on the Family statement regarding professional therapies.
When Transgender Issues Enter Your World
This free, downloadable resource helps you understand transgenderism in the culture and explains the Christian perspective of “gender ideology.” It also offers guidance for how to respond well when transgender issues affect your child’s school, your private space or your family.
Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast – Listen now: Becoming the Woman God Made Me to Be
Linda Seiler tells her remarkable story of finding healing in Christ and restoration of her identity as a woman after many years of struggle with gender confusion, same-sex attraction and pornography addiction.
Helping Children with Gender Identity Confusion
This question-and-answer document offers guidance for parents or family members faced with questions about gender confusion in a child they know and love. This thorough introduction also concludes with additional resources and links.
Help for Parents, Families & Individuals
Our God is awesome and mighty in grace, truth and power. He is with us in our times of question and need. These links are aimed to help those seeking hope, direction and connection with Christian materials and organizations that offer biblical compassion and information on this topic.
Addressing Gender Identity With Honesty and Compassion
Laura Perry Smalts and pediatrician Dr. Meg Meeker offer compelling evidence for the harmful physical and psychological effects of gender transitions. They speak compassionately about the issues surrounding gender confusion, offering practical insights and hope for people who are struggling with gender dysphoria.
Helping Kids Stand Firm While Navigating the Ever-Changing Landscape of Transgenderism
There is a crucial shift in youth culture, and Christian teens need to understand transgenderism as well as how to respond in love and truth.
Resources for Transgenderism and Gender Confusion
While we hold to biblical truth about male and female differences, we also reach out with biblical redemption and healing. This referral list is a starting point for individuals, families and churches affected by transgenderism.
Talking to Your Children About Transgender Issues
When this topic comes up in your home, be ready to have an informed conversation that educates your children with a calm, caring and truth-filled response.
‘Trading My Sorrows’ – A Story of Healing from Transgenderism
Walt Heyer struggled for years with the desire to dress in woman’s clothes and to be a woman. Read the heartening article about God’s grace, healing and forgiveness in his life.
Answering Parents’ Questions on Gender Confusion in Children
Glenn Stanton, Director of Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, answers basic questions about parenting and gender-confusion in children. In addition to this brief article, his book gives guidance for parents helping their children develop into Secure Daughters and Confident Sons.
Reinforce Your Child’s Sexual Identity
Parents can seize everyday opportunities to affirm their child with affection and for who God made them.
Reliable Resources for Teaching Children About Marriage, Sexuality and Homosexuality
The resources shown here will give guidance and equip parents as they teach children about healthy sexuality, marriage and God’s design for the body.
Responding to the Transgender Issue – Parent Resource Guide
This guide is the product of a unique collaboration between organizations with very diverse political opinions and one common concern: The negative consequences of treating bodily sex as irrelevant. The resource provides input for families faced with gender activism in public schools as well as descriptions and cautionary information concerning “gender affirmative” treatment model that facilitates a child’s “transition.”
A Biblical Perspective on Transgender Identity: A Primer for Parents and Strugglers
This resource gives a Biblical perspective on how to handle the challenges those struggling with embracing their God-given sexuality and gender face as well as the challenges parents are facing raising children in an over-sexualized society.
“Help! How Do I Answer My Child’s LGBT Questions?”
Our counselor provides specific ways to address some of your child’s LGBT questions and encourages you to look to the Scriptures and God’s design “from the beginning,” just as Christ did in Matthew 19:8.
It’s difficult to understand the quickly evolving nature of this issue which questions something as basic as being male or female. These articles help readers think about God’s design and biblical beliefs with reason, grace and love.
Addressing Gender Identity With Honesty and Compassion
Laura Perry Smalts shares her story of childhood pain and trauma that led her to identify as a man for seven years.
Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: A Social Contagion?
Have you ever noticed how societal trends can influence the personal identities of an entire generation?
Study: Gender Reassignment is no Cure for Mental Health Issues
A Finnish study finds people with gender dysphoria cannot expect gender-reassignment interventions to solve other mental health issues.
Talking to Your Children About Transgender Issues
Focus on the Family wants to help parents navigate this topic, so we’ve developed helpful guidelines and suggestions for addressing transgender issues with your children. (Spanish version available)
Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?
A culture and policy analyst investigates what “transgender” research actually demonstrates in light of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for “Gender-Affirming Care and Young People”.
What is “Gender Identity”?
This article helps us understand the basic history and current cultural usage of this and other related terms.
What Does That Mean? Understanding Transgender Terminology
Although the use and creation of terms are ever-evolving, this list offers a starting point. Words are strategically used by gender-bending advocates to cause youth and society to have “new concepts” and possibilities. Educated awareness without fully adopting these concepts is important.
Male and Female: By Design
This series of articles explains how “gender ideology” affects our culture and public policy, describes God’s creation of humanity male and female in His image, details some biological differences between men and women, and tells about the spiritual component of this issue.
“Transgenderism” Brings Chaos from Order
A helpful article which explains the transgender agenda and gives examples of this growing movement’s impact on our culture — from education to entertainment and from restrooms to the runway.
Transgenderism – Our Position
At Focus on the Family, gender matters to us, because it matters to God. In our growing secularized and “multi-gendered” culture, we encourage you to create your own position and values statements, so you, too, can stand firm in your beliefs when you’re called on to defend them.
What About Intersexuality?
Although frequently confused, intersexuality is quite different from transgenderism. This article briefly explains the issues and offers suggestions for a Christian response.
Fifty years ago, no one would’ve thought that the reality of humanity’s division into two sexes — male and female — would be questioned, much less under attack in our nation’s policies. Yet that’s the world we now live in. These articles and resources help you navigate this issue and take action in support of freedoms, parental rights, privacy and safety.
Expert in ‘Transitioning’ Children Admits ‘We Were Wrong’ About Puberty Blockers
Dr. Susan Bradley, once the Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, one of the foremost researchers who prescribed puberty blockers to “pause adolescence,” speaks out about the negative and long-term consequences of this treatment.
Transgenderism: Blurring the Lines
This article gives a broad overview of the issue, including:
- Examples of gender identity disorder affecting the culture,
- Possible influencing factors for children to believe they are the opposite sex,
- Treatment of gender identity disorder in children,
- The roots of the transgender activist movement and an explanation of its ideology, and,
- A basic understanding of God’s design for two sexes.
Desensitizing Society on Transgenderism
This short article gives numerous examples of the transgender movement’s impact on our culture, classrooms and legislation.
Public Restrooms – Your Privacy and Safety
This series includes the following articles for concerned families:
- Keeping Your Family Safe in Public Restrooms
- What Is ‘Gender Identity’?
- Who is Included in the ‘Transgender Umbrella?’
- Do ‘Gender Identity’ Laws Affect Me and My Family?
- How Did We Get To This Gender-Confused Place?
Why This School is OK with a Man Exposing Himself to Young Girls
Jim Daly’s blog tells the story of a girls swim team using the women’s locker room at a local college. The college could not stop a naked man, who believes he’s a woman, from also using the facilities.
Gender-Confusing Messages in Schools
This downloadable resource provides invaluable advice for parents whose children are exposed to the transgender agenda in education.
The Impact of Adding LGBT to Nondiscrimination Laws
What happens when new rights are created based on a person’s “gender identity” and “gender expression”? This article gives clear examples of freedoms threatened and innocence lost.
Doctors speak out: Lupron and the ‘Diabolical’ push to sterilize, gender-transition confused kids
This article speaks about a push to put children confused about their bodies on puberty suppressants and hormone blockers like Lupron to change their physical sex. While referenced here, this writing is not completely endorsed by Focus on the family. The information may be useful to our readers for purposes of understanding this issue and furthering personal research.
Minnesota Mom on the Frontlines for Parental Rights and Protecting Children
We think you’ll be encouraged by hearing some of Emily Zinos’ story and about this new resource for parents concerned about transgender activism in schools.
Hospitals and Doctors “Transition” Hundreds of Children with Drugs, Hormones and Surgery
Rather than helping children embrace their bodily sex – male or female, many hospitals, doctors and therapists have shifted toward helping children “transition” to living as the opposite sex. In the process, they’re placing these children on a fast-moving conveyor belt toward dangerous and life-altering drugs, hormones and surgeries.
A Singularly Christian View of the Transgender Problem
Take a deeper look into what the Transgender movement has become, what it is redefining, and what it means for Christians.
Preventing Parents from Guiding a Gender-Confused Children is a Recipe for Disaster
It seems each day brings with it headlines and highlights of renewed attacks on the family, but especially on the autonomy and authority of moms and dads to nurture and raise their children according to their deeply held convictions and beliefs.
Parenting – Q&A’s
- Concerns About A Boy Developing Healthy Masculine Traits
- Concerned about Young Son’s Masculinity
- Dealing with Transgender Issues in Elementary Schools
- Discussing Transgender Issues with Teens
- Gentle and Sensitive Boy
- Helping a Teen Boy Become a Man
- Helping a Teen Girl Become a Woman
- How Gender Distinctions Affect Parenting
- How to Find Counseling Support for Teen With Sexual Identity Issues
- Opposite-Sex Parent-Child Relationships
- Parent Concerned about Teen’s Future Sexual Identity
- Parent Concerned about Tomboyish Tendencies in Daughter
- Parents Raising A Boy as A Girl
- Parents Responding to Child Who Wants to Be the Opposite Sex
- Parents Responding to Teen Who Wants to Be the Opposite Sex
- Same-Sex Socialization and Toddlers
- Support for Parent Whose Adult Child Identifies as Transgender
- Talking to Kids About Sexual Identity
- Three-Year-Old Boy Plays Dress-Up With Sisters
- Grandparents Threatened To Either Support Transgender Grandchild or Be Cut Off
Identity – Q&A’s
- Feminine “Preferences” and Male Sexual Identity
- Questioning one’s own sexual identity
- Struggling with Temptations and Identity
- Teenager Identifies as Transgender
God’s Design – Q&A’s
- Casting God’s Vision for Sex and Sexuality
- God and Man as Male and Female: Implications for Gender Identity
- Key Differences Between Male and Female
- Scientific Support for Gender Distinctions
Relating to others on LGBT issues – Q&A’s
- Adult Child Living at Home
- Boundaries With Adult Children
- Dealing with Transgender Issues in Elementary Schools
- Family Gatherings & Interactions
- How To Interact with an LGBT Friend
- How to Tell Others of Your Child’s Struggle
- Not Rejecting Others Who Differ
- Support for Parents’ Emotions
- Responding to a “Gay Christian” in the Family
- Responding to a Transgender Family Member
*Referrals to other organizations are for research purposes and are not a blanket endorsement of all materials or positions held by these outside sources
- Doctors Admit Puberty Blockers Aren’t “Reversible” by John Stonestreet & Jared Hayden
More Proof that ‘gender-affirming’ care does not follow the science but instead follows ideology, even to its undoing.” - Identity TV
The Identity Project is a comprehensive library of videos and other resources addressing issues of identity, sex, “gender,” and sexuality from a Judeo-Christian worldview, featuring world-class experts.
Our experts speak with clarity and authority based on years of research and relevant experience. They include psychologists, theologians, sociologists, pastors, doctors, and parents who have real-life experience with these concerns.” - The Paradox Institute: Myths of Gender Affirming Care (Infographic)
An infographic from The Paradox Institute which challenges the validity of conclusions in social research which suggest “Gender Affirming Care” as the only valid and healthy treatment for those with gender dysphoria. - The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman
- Elephants Are Not Birds – by Brave Books and Ashley St. Claire. Book to help children understand how God has created only two genders.
- Gender Resource Guide – produced by a coalition of organizations
- Help Not Harm: A National Child Safety Campaign
- Family Policy Alliance
- American College of Pediatricians on Gender Confusion
- American College of Pediatricians pamphlet
- Christian Medical and Dental Association
- Related Articles from Christian Medical and Dental Association
- Find a Therapist for My Child
- Find a Therapist for Myself
- Sex Change Regret
- Related articles in Public Discourse – A Journal of the Witherspoon Institute
Responding in Grace on Divisive Issues
– Chip Ingram
Equipping Christians to Understand Sexuality
– Dr Juli Slattery
Responding in Grace on Divisive Issues
– Chip Ingram
Equipping Christians to Understand Sexuality
– Dr Juli Slattery
The Journey Back to My True Identity (Part 1 or 2)
– Walt Heyer & Kathy Grace Duncan
The Journey Back to My True Identity (Part 2 or 2)
– Walt Heyer & Kathy Grace Duncan
Books & Broadcasts
Books
Trans-Formation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ
by Linda A. Seiler, PhD.
Talking Points: Transgender
by Vaughan Roberts
Secure Daughters, Confident Sons
by Glenn T. Stanton
The Truest Thing About You
by David Lomas
I Don't Have to Choose
by Ellie Klipp
(Available on Amazon)
God Made Boys and Girls
by Marty Machowski
(Available on Amazon)
Why Boys and Girls Are Different: For Girls Ages 3-5
by Carol Greene
Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor
by Glenn T. Stanton
I'm Glad God Made Me a Girl
by Denise Shick
Compassion Without Compromise
by Adam T. Barr
Choosing
by Ellie Klipp
(Available on Amazon)
Why Boys and Girls Are Different: For Boys Ages 3-5
by Carol Greene
Elephants Are Not Birds
by Ashley St. Clair
When Harry Became Sally
by Ryan T. Anderson
Strange New World
by Carl R. Trueman
She is She
by Bethany & Ryan Bomberger
Affirming God's Image
by J. Alan Branch
More to the Story
by Jennifer Kvamme
The Daring Rescue
by Melinda Hardy Patrick
Broadcasts
When Your Child Struggles With Their Sexual Identity (Part 1 of 2)
Ann Mobley offers guidance and encouragement to parents who are struggling with their child’s homosexuality. (Part 1 of 2)
What’s Really True About You? (Part 1 of 2)
Pastor Dave Lomas encourages listeners to base their identity on being a beloved child of God rather than on things the culture values, such as success, personality and appearance. (Part 1 of 2)
Nurturing a Healthy Gender Identity in Your Child (Part 1 of 2)
Family formation expert Glenn Stanton offers insight and advice from his book Secure Daughters, Confident Sons: How Parents Guide Their Children Into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity. (Part 1 of 2)
Navigating Sexual Sin to Find Your Identity in Christ (Part 1 of 2)
Author Rosaria Butterfield, who found faith in Christ and left homosexuality, offers her unique insights on how Christians can more effectively reach out to the LGBT community with God’s love while remaining faithful to His Word. (Part 1 of 2)
Becoming the Woman God Made Me to Be
Linda Seiler tells her remarkable story of finding healing in Christ and restoration of her identity as a woman after many years of struggle with gender confusion and same-sex attraction.
Accepting My True Identity in Christ (Part 1 of 2)
Rosaria Champagne Butterfield shares her dramatic testimony of coming to faith in Jesus Christ after living as a lesbian who was vehemently opposed to Christianity and the Bible. (Part 1 of 2)
Other Resources on Sexual Concerns:
COUNSELING CONSULTATION
FIND A COUNSELOR
NOTE: Referral to websites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites’ content.