These questions are intended to stimulate thought and discussion. They are particularly designed for Sunday school and small groups.
1) Is limiting access to public bathrooms and changing facilities to those who are biologically male or female discriminatory? Why?
a) Does limiting access to public bathrooms and changing facilities to those who are biologically male or female exclude any human beings? Why?
b) If every person is held to the identical standard for which bathroom and changing facility they are permitted to access, then is anyone being treated unequally?
2) A 2013 survey from UCLA’s Williams Institute found that nearly 70% of trans people had experienced negative interactions in public facilities—from dirty looks to snide comments to physical violence. Why is the scope of this study too broad to be meaningful?
a) How many non-transgender individuals do you imagine have experienced negative interactions in public facilities—from dirty looks, to snide comments, to physical violence?
b) Does the 2013 Williams Institute study prove that bathrooms are a dangerous place for transgender individuals? Why?
c) Why do you think transgender individuals believe the bathroom might be a dangerous place for them?
d) What is the most consistent threat to transgender individuals using public bathrooms and changing facilities?
3) How is defining an individual’s sex apart from their biology, choosing instead to focus entirely upon the individual’s feelings, a destabilizing influence upon society?
4) Why do you think the transgender community has chosen to make public bathrooms the frontline of their culture war?
a) How do bathrooms shed light upon the transgender community’s rebellion against God and His purpose for their lives?
b) As Christians, should we involve ourselves in this and similar political battles? Why?
c) How can we as Christians oppose removing gender restrictions from bathrooms and changing facilities without being hurtful to the transgender community?
5) Is discrimination or segregation always bad? Why?
6) What do you think will be the result if Christian schools cannot speak against or prohibit transgender behavior, ministries cannot refuse to hire transgender individuals based upon their lifestyle, and pastors cannot refuse to marry transgender couples?
a) Should men who have not undergone hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery be permitted to play on an all-women’s sports team because they believe themselves to be female? Why? Wouldn’t anything less than this be discriminatory against transgender individuals?
7) If a closely held opinion of an individual is allowed to overcome scientific data and history, then how can any form of segregation be enforced?
a) Fundamentally, how is an individual being certain they are truly a woman trapped in a man’s body because of how they feel any different from a Caucasian being certain they are African-American because of how they feel?
b) Fundamentally, how is an individual being certain they are truly a woman trapped in a man’s body because of how they feel any different from an adult being certain that they are truly a small child because of how they feel?
c) If a fifty-two-year-old man can be considered a genuine woman based solely on how he feels, then why can he not be considered a genuine six-year-old based solely on how he feels?
8) If every cell in our bodies is hardcoded to a specific gender, then what is required for a gender-confused individual to truly bring their body into alignment with their gender identity?
a) Does reality ever change because it is wished away, or its reality is denied? Why?
b) If a little boy believes he is a fireman and dresses like a fireman, then is he truly a fireman in reality? How is this any different from someone who believes they are the opposite gender and change their dress and bodies to look like the opposite gender?
9) What is everyone’s spiritual identity when they are born?
a) How is our spiritual identity unique from our physical identity?
b) How is it possible to be spiritually reborn?
c) What does it mean to be identified as a child of God?