Political ideology can often cloud judgement and impair critical thinking. I am not suggesting that you should have no convictions or even that relying on political ideology is necessarily bad. Still, it should be recognized that ideology is in a sense an algorithm. It is a prism to view the world through and often in a sense putting it on ‘autopilot’. While it is alright to operate with a dominant template it is important to disengage from that template a from time to time and look at things independently with an unbiased perspective.
Why am I lecturing on over reliance on ideology?
When it comes to issues of sexuality and gender identity there is very little nuanced discussion or debate and there has been a conflation of political identity and clinical reality. The political alliance of the gay and lesbian community with transgender individuals has clouded judgement regarding the serious ethical issues regarding sex change operations and hormone replacement therapy.
This conflation may be partly the residual effect left over from when homosexuality was once regarded as a mental health disorder by healthcare professionals. It may surprise people that those that have gender identity issues and have had sex change surgery are still often attracted to the opposite sex to their birth sex. The reality is that sexual orientation or preference is dealing with behavioral preference and is not necessarily connected with gender dysphoria.
Gender identity or dysphoria issues are literally a delusion and a denial of one’s biology. It should be noted that delusion is not meant in a derogatory sense here as it is often in normal conversation when you tell someone they are delusional about a belief that is ‘out there’. Delusion here is meant in a literal sense. The belief runs contrary to physical reality.
A 2014 CDC study on sexuality reported that 1.6% of the population is gay and lesbian, .7% bisexual, and around .1% didn’t know. As a whole LGBT is 2.4% of the U.S. population. Less than .1% of the population is transgendered. (Ward, Dahlhamer, Galinsky, & Joestl, 2014). If these numbers, especially the transgender number have changed, then that would be the direct result of mass media and academic influences.
