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Cecilia Caporossi's avatar

“As the person goes through life, the person also has a gender identity—a deeply felt internal sense of being male or female.”

The word “sense” is going a lot of heavy lifting here. What does the word “sense” as used here mean?

Well “sense” in the English language had two definitions:

1. A faculty by which the body perceives an external stimulus. Aka 5 senses of smell, sight, touch, sound and taste.

Obviously that definition can’t be the meaning here bc a person who is trans by definition rejects the information about their sex acquired through their five senses and believes the opposite despite what their five senses tell them.

2. A feeling that something is the case.

That’s the only other possible definition of the word “sense” that could apply in the judges definition of gender identity.

So to this judge, gender identity is the feeling that you are the sex you are OR the feeling that you are the opposite sex than you are.

So this judges definition of a trans person is a person who feels and thinks that they are the opposite sex, despite all evidence to the contrary. And people who aren’t trans are people who feel or think that they are the sex that they are.

And we all share a common experience of “gender identity” which is the feeling that we are or aren’t the sex we are.

Okaaaaaaaay.

It is instantly obvious to anyone who has struggled with mental illness or seen someone struggle with mental illness up close that this who issue is basically just our society being terrified and ignorant of mental illnesses.

The stigma towards mental illness is so extreme in our society that people will tie themselves in knots making up terms and identity labels and laws to avoid the fact the fact that trans people display a known and researched psychological “condition” or, less pathologizing, a known psychological phenomenon: delusion (or to use medicalizing terminology, a delusional disorder).

Delusion/delusional disorders are hard to treat bc the patient by nature of the disorder is suspicious and delusional. But they can be successfully treated with psychotherapy, CBT, and medication. The key is to NEVER affirm the person’s delusional beliefs but also to not try to rationally refute their delusion (both of which we do wrong with trans people aka people with gender identity disorders). Empathize with their feelings and pain but don’t affirm (which is trapping people deeper in their mental illness and is the opposite of compassionate- trying to do whatever makes a delusional person not mad at you is selfish and cowardly. Have the strength to not get sucked into a person’s delusions bc it helps no one).

“Evidence suggests that delusional disorder can be triggered by stress. Alcohol use disorder and substance use disorder might contribute to the condition. Hypersensitivity and ego defense mechanisms like reaction formation, projection and denial are some psychodynamic theories for the development of delusional disorder. Social isolation, envy, distrust, suspicion and low self-esteem are also some psychological factors that may lead to a person seeking an explanation for these feelings and, thus, forming a delusion as a solution.” The cross-sex identity is a delusion that serves as a coping mechanism for stress and this applies to homosexual early-onset gender dysphoric people, homosexual or heterosexual adolescent-onset gender dysphoric people, late-transitioning sexually disordered/sexually paraphilic people, psychotic people, “personality disordered” people with delusions of envy, grandeur, persecution, etc as coping mechanisms (which often includes sexually disordered people), and autistic or neurodiverse people coping with social and sensory stressors. All of these issues are an interconnecting web with one person often experiencing two or more of these issues.

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Susan Scheid's avatar

Lisa, thank you, yet once again, for your clarity. I particularly appreciated this observation: “Part of the problem with handling gender medicine in the courts, instead of figuring out how to properly regulate it via medical organizations and government health agencies that care about patient health, is that we end up battling ideologies instead of science. One man and his acceptance of radical ideas matters more than a systematic evidence review.”

I look forward very much to your article on the issue of bans. I have a personal view, which probably most aligns with that of Leor Sapir, but I am not nearly as well informed as you are on what needs to be considered here.

There is, BTW, for those who haven’t seen it, an excellent article in Forbes summarizing, among other things, the pulling back in Europe precisely because of the shoddy state of the science: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2023/06/06/increasing-number-of-european-nations-adopt-a-more-cautious-approach-to-gender-affirming-care-among-minors/

In the last few days, I have made some inroads with additional friends on my D side of the aisle. What continues to be striking, though, even among those who are ordinarily skeptical of our profit driven Rube Goldberg health care “system,” is their willingness in this one instance to take it on trust that health care professionals know what they are doing and are basing it on sound science. I suspect the breathtaking ignorance and ideological illogic displayed by this judge will further exacerbate the problem.

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