God Made Them Male and Female

Humankind is acting in unprecedented ways contrary to God’s plan for his Creation by tampering with the very essence of humanity.  There is a well-organized effort underway to re-define what it is to be male and female.  Worse yet, elements of humankind are using science and technology in an attempt to re-engineer males and females in ways not intended by God.  Such radical redefinition and re-engineering of humanity is contrary to God’s intention for Creation and the Catholic Church is rightfully opposed to this. 

As the Book of Genesis states, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (1:27).  Jesus further reiterates this in the Gospel of St. Mark:  “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” (10:6).  From the very beginning of Creation, God intended man and woman to be separate yet complementary beings; He intended there to be only two forms of humans – male and female. 

‘God made them male and female,’ but humankind has made them into an alphabet soup of gender and sexual orientation descriptions.  

Six years ago, I attended a class on LBGT issues as a requirement for one of my professional certifications.  I was incredulous as the class presenters described eleven (that’s not a typo) eleven different categories of gender and sexual orientation.  This alphabet soup of gender and sexual orientation terms was LGBTTQQIAAP.  LGBTTQQIAAP stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Ally, Asexual, and Pansexual.”  Others in the ranks of LGBT+ advocacy offer a variety of other letters / terms including LGBTQ, LGBTQIA+, LGBTQ2S+, LGBPTTQQIIAA+, and LGBTIQ.

For just one example of this bewildering redefinition of human biology, see this 25 June 2015 article by BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33278165/we-know-what-lgbt-means-but-heres-what-lgbtqqiaap-stands-for  .    Many universities and colleges now offer web pages to explain the bewildering and ever-expanding terminology associated with LGBT etc. advocacy.  The University of California, Santa Barbara is one representative example of how academia is striving to redefine humanity and human sexuality.  See https://rcsgd.sa.ucsb.edu/resources/lgbtqia-informational-resources/lgbtqia-glossary  . 

Mainstream media is also pushing this redefinition of humanity.  Given that its target audience is teenage girls, this May 2023 Seventeen magazine article “A Brief History of the LGBTQ+ Acronym” is especially alarming. (See  https://www.seventeen.com/life/a18209179/lgbtq-meaning/  ).  (No, I am not a reader of Seventeen magazine; the article came up in a Google search.) 

The “T” in the most commonly used LGBT abbreviations can refer to either “transsexual,” or “transgender,” or both.  Transgender means that the person identifies as a gender (sex) different from their biological birth gender, but they have not changed their birth anatomical features.  Transsexual means that the person has or is in the process of changing their birth biological features through surgery and/or pharmaceutical means. 

In either case, trying to change one’s sex through surgery or pharmaceuticals or by simply declaring one to be another sex is contrary to the reality of human biology.  A person’s gender or sex is determined at conception by X and Y chromosomes.   “A sex chromosome is a type of chromosome involved in sex determination. Humans and most other mammals have two sex chromosomes, X and Y, that in combination determine the sex of an individual. Females have two X chromosomes in their cells, while males have one X and one Y,” states the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institute of Health (https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Sex-Chromosome ).   

The Church teaches the reality of human beings as man and woman and not some other iteration such as those being pushed by LGBT+ activists.  “Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God; on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman  [emphasis in original],” declares The Catechism of the Catholic Church. “’Being man’ or ‘being woman’ is a reality which is good and willed by God:  man and woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their Creator” (paragraph 369).  

Popes have also taught the reality of human beings as man and woman.  In his General Audience of 13 February 1980, Pope St. John Paul II stated, “The fundamental fact of human existence at every stage of its history is that God ‘created them male and female.’ He always creates them in this way and they are always such.”  (See https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1980/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19800213.html  ). 

In his March 2016 Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris laetitia,”  Pope Francis I stated “Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.“ (See paragraph 56 https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf  )

This past April, the Dicastery for the Faith issued the Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” (On Human Dignity).  In one important paragraph on sex change, the Dicastery echoed Pope Francis I’s words in “Amoris Laetitia,” and added, “It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception.”  (See paragraph 60 https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html ) 

Pope Francis I has also spoken out against gender ideology.  In March of this year, Pope Francis addressed participants in the International Symposium "Man-Woman: Image of God,” declaring, “…it is very important for there to be this encounter, this encounter between men and women, because today the worst danger is gender ideology, which cancels out differences. I asked for studies to be made on this ugly ideology of our time, which erases differences and makes everything the same; to erase difference is to erase humanity.”  (See https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2024/march/documents/20240301-convegno-uomo-donna.html )

God created man as man and woman as woman.  Sacred Scripture confirm this fact and the Church teaches this fact.  He continues to create man as man and woman as woman, and no amount of surgery, pharmaceuticals or ideological advocacy can change that reality.