The Transgender Escape

Transgender. The word does not carry the same shock value that it once had, since the gender dysphoria has found faces to manifest its reality in popular media.Magazine covers like those shown here reveal the transformations undergone to reconcile transgenderism, and hint at the obvious feelings of disconnect hidden beneath external sexes. Thankfully individuals like these have braved the norms of society to enlighten the public to identity incongruence, that surely even all of us feel in our own small ways.

Even others within the LDS community have admitted gender dysphoria, like the short film about Eri (once Eddie) http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/growing-up-transgender-and-mormon, a Utah woman who recently underwent her transformation to womanhood after growing up a LDS boy. Confessions like these remind us that trans is a human issue, and we are all human. The overarching message in much of this coverage, however, focuses on the embrace, the release from confusion, the transformation—as TIME magazine put it in their headline "The Tipping Point." This is not the only story about transgender, though, and shame on us if we assume that there are not in our midst, perhaps even many, others that also contend with this struggle. And shame on us if we assume that all those suffering will embrace transformation, and that they can only look forward to such.

Here I share the story of two individuals that I admire as personal heroes, and each valiantly suffering the struggle of transgenderism without embracing transformation. Kyle and Amy Merkley are a married, active, and faithful LDS couple, yet Kyle identifies at his core, as a woman. In these two separate blog posts, each half of this couple shares the way in which their faith has blessed their lives, and sanctified their trials so that they can look forward with hope, even with a veil of darkness that sometimes covers them. http://northstarlds.org/journeys-of-faith/jesus-wins/


http://northstarlds.org/journeys-of-faith/an-unassuming-love-nurturing-a-happy-marriage-with-a-transgender-spouse/

Transgenderism has found a prevalence in pop culture, and made us aware of its reality in the lives of many, be it those suffering or family members of the same, and let us remember them openly. I do not intend to teach that those who have embraced transformation are any lesser than those who have chosen to endure suffering, or that either is better than the other, let that decision fall on those who handle such challenges in their own lives. I do wish to make everyone aware that transformation is not the only story, and that we can learn much from the faith of individuals who choose to suffer with joy the challenges that God has given them.