Baptist Press reports that researchers are seeing a sharp decline in the number of young adults identifying as transgender – as much as a 50% falloff according to a professor at the University of Buckingham. Eric Kaumann studied surveys from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Higher Education Research Institute.
He found that transgenderism in college students peaked in 2023 but has declined since then. It has dropped from almost 7% to below 4%. According to Kaumann, freshman going in to college are less likely to be bisexual, transgender, or queer when compared to college seniors.
M.D. Perkins, a research fellow for church and culture at American Family Association and producer of the documentary In His Image, says that it seems about right.
“There seemed to have been a social contagion there, anyway, being less popular now because of the pushback that it's been receiving culturally. I think there probably has been kind of a shrinking back from just embracing an easy identity to embrace,” says Perkins.
He says most secular counselors have been pushing young people in the opposite direction and will be ill-equipped to help with recovery. That leaves the church.
“The church is still the only place that offers true hope and true healing through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as Christians reach out in compassion, I think that people can find lasting hope and healing,” states Perkins.
Perkins says that recovery will be easier for those who haven't mutilated their bodies using hormones or surgery. But both groups will need biblical counseling.
“The reality is that it's going to be a lot of issues that people are bringing in — a lot of confusion that they have, a lot of problems that they've already embraced, consequences from their own choices, ways that they were deceived,” says Perkins.
He says that there are resources available if a church is not prepared to deal with sexually broken people.
“In His Image is probably a good place for people to start. InHisImage.movie, you can go watch it for free. There's a lot of good resources connected with that, and the people that are interviewed in that documentary are all helpful resources themselves,” states Perkins.
