
Transgender is the belief that you are the opposite sex to the one you are biologically. Some boys might be drawn to activities typically engaged in by girls and vice-versa. This feeling can just be part of growing up and result from a number of influences: family, environment and natural developmental stages. When prolonged it is seen as a psychological condition: gender-dysphoria. Most grow out of this at puberty, but as with anorexia - another psychological condition - we seek to help the person, affirming them but not the condition. A helpful resource: Transgender: An Introduction for Parents and Youth Leaders
This, however, became the new battleground of the progressives with Stonewall making it a cause: to protest that people with this condition are being oppressed and, among other things, should have surgery and drugs suppressing normal bodily development and function. This has happened all too quickly and the way young people have been mistreated in clinics is already a scandal with over 1000 likely to sue the NHS. A major clinic has been closed. A similar process is taking place in the US with the Vanderbilt clinic.
Many primary schools have been accommodating trans ideology thinking (or choosing to think) it's the law - but this has recently been challenged and the opposite affirmed.
The LG&B are now in open conflict with Stonewall as they believe these people were naturally part of their group and should be left alone. Mermaids, active in Junior schools, is now under investigation.
Synthetic Sex Identities
The area has morphed into people being encouraged to affirm any number of 'identities', including 'cat'. This has been described as Synthetic Sex Identities (SSI). There are ideological as well as financial motivations involved in this, which link with transhumanism (see Tablet article). Large donors create NGOs which fund hospitals in the US that provide surgery, psychiatry and training.
Pronouns
A common point of contact with Transgender ideology is over pronouns, as you are being invited to affirm that a person's sex may not be what it seems to be by their name or physical appearance. So there is often a subtle coercive or co-opting element here, seeking to normalise an ideology that we cannot support from the Bible. There is also a 'weaponising' of the issue. If someone calls you by the wrong name or says Mrs rather than Ms it’s irritating but usually nothing more. 'Misgendering' however can bring swift retribution.
This aggressive shaming, by itself, shows that these actions don't come from the Holy Spirit but from 'the accuser'. Try to avoid humour in responding to a call for pronouns as this will usually not be well received given the manufactured seriousness of the ‘offence'. However, as your pronouns could be anything (by their definition) you might be able to put something non-committal: 'no/thanks'.
We will not want to offend unnecessarily so we seek to avoid confrontations, especially in a meeting where we're numerically and emotionally outnumbered. Having an open response lowers stress levels. Do note what others say but try to address people by name (which is a good relational habit anyway) rather than by pronoun or else use the plural form 'they' 'them'.
Dr Mackereth, dismissed over transgender terminology: His legal team argued that his “conscientious objection to transgenderism” is based on his belief “that it would be irresponsible and dishonest for a health professional to accommodate and/or encourage a patient’s impersonation of the opposite sex.” Mackereth v Department for Work and Pensions
A longer treatment on pronouns from Erik Reed.
A sacred journey?
What has now become clear is that the proposed legislation has been aiming at the wrong target. It is not orthodox Christians, who teach that we should live not for self but for the Holy God, restraining sexual desires to the marriage of one man and one woman, who pose a risk of harm. No, it is those who promote a religion of enlightenment by bodily modification. Christians teach children that their bodies are good, to be loved and cared for; they tell them that they are to be carved up to match the mysterious “gender identity”. Christians teach that bodies are God-given, to be valued and accepted, whose very nature and design teaches precious truths about who we are; they teach that bodies are mere “walking meat skeletons” (to quote one BBC video for teens), a mere container for the Self, whose structure and function mean nothing and should be ignored, blocked, or even disposed of altogether. Who, do you think, is more likely to cause harm?
When chemical sterilisation and physical mutilation are promoted as a “sacred journey to wholeness”, it is time to realise that those who say such things are not offering the rest of us solutions. It’s time to begin to see them as, just perhaps, part of the problem. Matthew Roberts
Looking at it from a philosophical perspective:
What Trueman accomplishes superbly is to demonstrate for how long the cultural trends have been gestating that have made transgenderism the phenomenon it is today. Tracing the story through the influence of Rousseau, the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Darwin, Freud and the New Left he demonstrates that transgenderism hasn’t simply appeared from nowhere but is the logical consequence of trends stretching back two hundred years. Matthew Hosier of Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
The whole tenor of the Bible in this wonderful and foundational area of sexuality is the binary design - different but complementary. It is literally written into our genes and cannot be changed. Today's culture says our concepts are outdated - but the temptation to change gender expression stems from the fall and is reflected way back in Deuteronomy - so there is nothing new there. The cultural endorsement of proscribed sexual expression is also not new, but the extent of legal coercion is unique.
Evangelicals may choose to just be silent on this to avoid offending people but if God has made certain things plain that lead to human flourishing then we're not helping if we don't bear witness to them also. Some trans-attracted will reach out and grab that lifeline. Jesus also constantly caused offence - coming to our fallen world it could not be otherwise... but he also bought healing to those who would accept him.
Look further
A detailed study on

Of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 ‘it put the notion that one can change from being male to female or vice versa on the statute books. Both Holy Scripture and science agree that your sex cannot be changed. God created us male or female.’
The legal aspect of 'misgendering' should be understood as there can often be an implied assumption that the law says something more restricting that it actually does. A recent case is Maya Forstater who won her case in the Employment Tribunal, including:
to express gender-critical beliefs to the effect that transwomen are not women, or that a trans person’s internal feelings about their gender identity has no basis in material reality, is not inherently unreasonable or inappropriate – even if some people are offended by such statements
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on 4/4/22 that trans women can be legally excluded from single-sex services.
US Victory: Shawnee State agrees professors can’t be forced to speak contrary to their beliefs.
Also Professor awarded $400,000 after refusing to refer to a man as female
Suella Braverman (Attorney General for England and Wales Aug 22) said "Under the Equality Act, it is lawful for a school to refuse to allow a biologically male child, who identifies as a trans-girl, from wearing a girls’ uniform or participating in girls’ single-sex competitive sporting activities. And it is lawful for a single-sex school to refuse to admit a child of the opposite biological sex who identifies as transgender ... Under the Equality Act, it can be lawful for a mixed school to refuse to allow a biologically and legally male child, who identifies as transgender, from using the girls’ toilets. ... Pupils should not be punished for refusing to adopt a preferred pronoun for a gender-questioning child in a case where the school has decided to affirm a child’s preference."
More details: Parents vindicated by Attorney General speech