By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post.
The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, has passed a measure expressing support for body-deforming sex-change surgeries for youth exhibiting gender dysphoria.
At a plenary session for the PCUSA’s 227th General Assembly held last week, delegates voted 441-30 in favor of an overture called GEN-02, also known as “On Access to Healthcare.”
The rationale for the overture describes so-called “gender-affirming care” as “medically necessary and evidence based for the well-being of many transgender, non-binary, and gender- expansive people who experience symptoms of gender dysphoria or distress that result from having one’s gender identity not match their sex assigned at birth.”
GEN-02 also denounces state bans on the chemical and surgical mutilation of children’s bodies, labeling them as stopping young people “from accessing medically necessary, safe health care backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association representing over 1.3 million US doctors.”
The Rev. Olivia Lane, moderator of the 227th General Assembly’s Gender and Sexuality Justice Committee, explained to those gathered that her committee amended the overture to remove the phrase “including minors” from the text, which originally read “the PC(USA) supports all individuals, including minors, to have access to all medically necessary, evidence-based gender-affirming healthcare.”