This is a continuation of the previous post, “what is it like to be trans.”
One of the major struggles with general acceptance of trans individuals into mainstream society seems to be that it is a great source of power for conservative politicians. Two quotes from the Republican national Convention in 2024 showcase the attitude and lack of empathy for the complexity a trans person experiences[1]:
- “We were richer, inflation was low, and there were two genders,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said on the convention’s third night, referring to the country during the Trump administration.
- Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., similarly accused the left of “teaching our kids that there are 57 genders” and said it “can’t even define what a woman is.”
These efforts really fan the flame of public discourse, and not in a healthy way. On the other hand, research has been suggesting for several decades now that there are differences between cisgender men and trans women, and vice versa. Research into the human brain, and how it develops in utero, suggests that transsexuality is possible and perhaps has found a causal link between development of the brain and sex organs in utero and gender dysphoria.
Simplicity v Research
In 2008, a study found that during the last 5-6 months of the intrauterine period, the developing brain was exposed to a surge of testosterone in masculine brains, yet in feminine brains it was not. Development of genitals occurs much earlier in pregnancy:
As sexual differentiation of the brain takes place at a much later stage in development than sexual differentiation of the genitals, these two processes can be influenced independently of each other. Sex differences in cognition, gender identity (an individual’s perception of their own sexual identity), sexual orientation (heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality), and the risks of developing neuropsychiatric disorders are programmed into our brain during early development. [2]
A different study researched the BSTc or bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The BSTc is a region of the brain that plays an important role in “controlling autonomic, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses.”[3] It sits, physically, just above the amygdala. A study in 1995 found that the BSTc was a similar size for cisgender woman and transgender women. [4] The study suggests that the difference in size in the BSTc is linked with being transgender.
Further, a different study in 2009 that used MRIs to scan brain structures in transgender women, cisgender women and cisgender men. It found that the gray matter volume in areas associated with gender processing were more similar for transgender women and cisgender women than transgender women and cisgender men. [5] Suggesting, again, that brain structures play a part in transsexuality and/or gender dysphoria.
I don’t want to over-simplify how complicated and fraught studies of the brain are, especially as they relate to gender and sexuality. I bring these up to show, more than anything, that it is complicated, and that someone who is living with gender dysphoria or who is trans has a lot going on under the surface and that we need to trust their lived experience on what it is like to live with gender dysphoria more than lived experience on what it is like to lie without gender dysphoria.
Doctrinal declarations that seem insurmountable
How do we merge this idea that physical structure and lived experiences of people who are trans with scriptural and prophetic dicta? At first they seem mutually exclusive, but that may not always be the case.
First I want to examine some passages of scripture with the idea I mind that the scriptures were given to us (or the people at that time) based not on OUR understanding of how temporal things work but on how the people RECEIVING the message believed the temporal things work. I first heard of this idea from Dr. Joshua Sears on the Follow Him[6] podcast when discussing Genesis 1.
| Reference | Local Understanding | Modern Understanding | Teaching / Message |
| “Watery” Creation story (Genesis 1:1-2) | The earth sits amid a watery cosmos, being protected form it by a great barrier above the earth.[7], [8] | The cosmos is vast. Our earth is round and moves in space time in complicated patterns of orbits. | Creation story was told to mirror human’s understanding, not to teach them about cosmology and physical creation, but to teach them about God. |
| “Speaking” Creation Story (Genesis 1:3-31) | The earth and heavens were completed in seven days. | The creation took millions of years and many mysteries about it are still being uncovered by scientific discovery. | Among other things, creation story told to support highly symbolic numbers in Jewish tradition – seven, for instance, and to teach them about God. |
| The heart as the seat of thought (Proverbs 23:7, Matthew 9:4) | Thoughts/Decisions are made in your heart | The brain governs thoughts and emotion. | Our innermost being is where our spiritual and moral decisions take place. |
| The Sun Standing Still (Joshua 10:12-14) | Sun and Moon standing still is in harmony with local understanding of the cosmos – that the sun and moon revolved around the earth. | The complications of the earth’s orbit – and of having the earth stop and start rotating – would have been devastating to the entire planet. | The true teaching of the story isn’t about astrophysics or what God may or may not have done to intervene physically, but that God DOES intervene on behalf of his people. |
In this quick matrix, it becomes clear that when scriptures reference physical things occurring, they may not have always occurred the way that the scriptures reference. That’s okay. It doesn’t mean that the scriptures aren’t true and that the teachings don’t have efficacy in our lives. Jesus used many stories that weren’t technically true – as in they didn’t really happen – to teach us about ourselves and about God. Was there really a person that threw down seeds on a walking path and watched to see how they grew in relation to other types of soil? It doesn’t mean that divine truth isn’t in the stories and that they aren’t beneficial for us.
Many of these scriptural passages follow the same logic and we may agree or disagree about some of these or other passages as to whether they are experientially true or physically true or not. Hopefully we can all generally agree that there is truth in them as to how God relates to humanity and that God loves his children.
Therefor I offer one more possible option to add to the matrix above that relates to gender dysphoria and transsexuality:
| Reference | Local Understanding | Updated Understanding | Teaching / Message |
| Sex/Gender is defined by the organs physically on our bodies at the time of birth. | Sex is defined by physical organs that are part of your body and/or your DNA when you are born. | Brains develop at a different phase of pregnancy than genitals. It is conceivable that in some people the mind and physical body would be mismatched. Some people’s lived experience confirms this possibility. | We each have talents that feel innate to our own abilities that God wants us to magnify in service to the church and all of the human family. Excluding people from full participation in God’s covenants because they feel different about how their mind references their body only weakens us as a church. |
We must do more to welcome our trans family members, ward members, community members into our chapels and into our temples. They will be blessed and the church will be blessed by their love, lives, examples, compassion and mindset that cisgender people do not possess.
[1] Lavietes, Matt. “RNC Speakers lean into homophobic and transphobic rhetoric” ABC News. July 18, 2024. Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/rnc-speakers-lean-homophobic-transphobic-rhetoric-rcna162505
[2] Garcia-Falgueras, A., & Swaab, D. F. (2008). Sexual differentiation of the human brain in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation. Progress in Brain Research, 168, 1-14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091302211000252
[3] Crestani, Carlos C, Alves, Fernando, et al. Mechanisms in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Termanalis involved in Control of Autonomic and neruroendocrine Functions: A Review. Currenet Neuropharmacol. March 11 2013. 11(2):141-159. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3637669/#abstract1
[4] Reference: Zhou, J.-N., Hofman, M. A., Gooren, L. J. G., & Swaab, D. F. (1995). “A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality.” Nature, 378(6552), 68-70.
[5] Reference: Luders, E., Sánchez, F. J., Gaser, C., Toga, A. W., Narr, K. L., & Hamilton, L. S. (2009). “Regional gray matter variation in male-to-female transsexuals.” NeuroImage, 46(4), 904-907.
[6]Sears, Joshua. Smith, Hank. “Genesis 1-2, Moses 2-3, Abraham 4-5—Part 1 w/ Joshua Sears.” Follow Him Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ns_oDD78Q, accessed April 23, 2025
[7] Ryken, Leland; Wilhoit, Jim; Longman, Tremper; Duriez, Colin; Penney, Douglas; Reid, Daniel G., eds. (1998). “Cosmology”. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. InterVarsity Press.
[8] The watery story is also referenced in Psalm 74: 13-15.
Mormon Means Change 