What in the world has happened to sound logical thinking by the American public? The more I read the news, the more I think that we, as a whole, have lost our minds. We have been deceived into allowing our feelings rule over truth.

I am referring to the current "craze" known as transgenderism. 

The term "Gender Dysphoria" formerly called “Gender Identity Disorder” is used to refer to an individual who identifies as the opposite gender from which he or she was born. These terms are classified as a disorder in the current ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition) and in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- 5th version published in 2013.) Transgenderism always starts as gender dysphoria – which is classified as a disorder. (Notice the term “disorder.”) The term “Transgender” refers to any individual who takes the next step and goes to the extreme in order to attempt to change to the gender with which he or she identifies.

The ultimate step is to undergo gender reassignment surgery, which can be very expensive. It has been reported that the cost for male-to-female reassignment is $7,000 to $24,000. The cost for female-to-male reassignment can exceed $50,000. This same article reports that, in the male-to-female reassignment procedure, the prostate is not removed. My question is: is “she” honest enough to report to “her” doctor that “she” was really born a male so the doctor knows he must order a PSA routine test for males, but not for females? In the case of a female to male transition, unless the patient has had gender reassignment surgery, does “he” report to “his” physician that “he” was really born a female? After all, it is not my usual practice to order a pregnancy test on men, nor would I usually have the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy on my radar should a man complain of abdominal pain! The ramifications of such delusions can be extensive and lethal. For information concerning regret for this type of surgery, click here.

Contrary to the current fad, such a radical sex transformation is impossible. When an individual is born, that individual has a set of what is medically known as sex chromosomes. A genetic female has two "X" sex chromosomes, (XX), and a genetic male has one "X" and one "Y" sex chromosome (XY). Interestingly, it is the presence or the absence of the "Y" sex chromosome that determines the gender.

Individuals who are born with Turner's Syndrome have only one "X" chromosome and no "Y" chromosome (XO) and are, therefore, genetically and anatomically female. Individuals with Klienfelter's Syndrome have two "X" and one "Y" (XXY) and are always anatomically male.

So-called "transgenders" have no way of changing their chromosomal makeup. Although they can take hormones to change their outward, physical appearance, dress as they wish, use makeup, let their hair grow (or cut it) as they wish, and even undergo gender reassignment surgery, they will still remain chromosomally either XX or XY, depending on the genetic makeup they had when they were born.

An article in the Express, dated September 27, 2016, was titled "Transgender Couple has their own baby after the ‘man’ gave birth to his own baby." In this case, the "woman" was born XY and the "man" was born XX. Neither had gender reassignment surgery so "she" got "him" pregnant and they had a son. (How do they know they had a son? Shouldn't they wait until the offspring is old enough to decide whether to be a son or a daughter?)

Another article published by the Associated Press on September 27, 2016, titled “Ohio judge orders girls’ bathroom access for transgender student,” reports that in a case involving a school district in Ohio, Federal Judge Algenon Marbley ordered that “a biologically male student who identifies as a female be treated ‘like the girl that she is.’”

With all due respect, I'm sorry, your honor! You can rule that the student be treated like the girl he wishes to be, but there is no way the student can be treated like "the girl that she is!" Not unless the student has found a way to rid himself of that pesky "Y" chromosome!

During my medical internship, I did a pediatrics rotation at Children's Hospital in Kansas City, MO. A child was born with a rare condition known as "Ambiguous Genitalia." In the days before ultrasound, when a baby was born the first place the physician looked was "down there" to see if the baby was a boy or a girl. In the case of Ambiguous Genitalia, when you look "down there" there is no way you can tell the gender; ergo, the label "Ambiguous." A test known as a Karyotype must be done to see if the baby is XX or XY. That "Y" is the deciding factor. Then and only then can treatment be started.

When transgenders can prove to me that they have either gotten rid of the “Y” chromosom (male-to-female) or implanted the “Y” chromosome (female-to-male), then they will truly be "transgendered." Until then, they are transvestites, pure and simple.

They may dress as they wish, look as they wish, and even be called by others as they wish, but I will not allow them to force me to participate in this charade -- to lie and say they are transgendered when they are not.

I'm sure the honorable Judge Marbley would not allow me to wake up one morning and self-identify as a judge, put on a black robe and make judicial rulings. I cannot identify as a Supreme Court Justice (there is currently an empty seat now, so maybe I should strike while the iron is hot!) and sit with the other "august eight." That would be folly! And I would justifiably be penalized for doing so.

I shake my head in wonderment at the number of “scientists” who have signed on to this blatantly anti-scientific position. My position is that when any male can prove to me that he got rid of the "Y" chromosome, then and only then will I refer to her as "she." Until then he will continue to have the XY chromosome and -- sorry -- he (and others like him) will remain a male. And no amount of cosmetics, hair styling, hormone treatment, other medical or surgical intervention, such as surgical castration or surgical reconstruction, or judicial fiat, will change the fact that once an XY (or XX), always an XY (or XX).