Bruce Jenner is a Man

Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic athlete, has come out and said something which surprises no one. He has announced to the world that, for all intents and purposes, he is a woman.

We beg to differ with Mr. Jenner. For more than any intent or purpose, you are a man.

This is not a philosophic point. It is based on hard and certain science. Science tells us whether we're male or female. In fact, that's one of the easiest things science can tell us, based on our DNA. Your DNA tells us that you're a man or woman. Nothing else determines your gender. You can have whatever surgeries you want and take whatever pills are available and you will still genetically be (outside of rare cases of which Jenner does not fit) what you were born being. Period.

Yet he feels like a woman and feels he can help other guys who feel like women. But what good is that? How can it possibly be helpful for anyone to encourage them to be what they are not? How can denying physical reality actually help anyone in becoming what they are unless we accept that physical is reality is the most obvious determinant of what we are? And we will say here without reservation that it isn't bravery to chalk things up to how we happen to feel. Folks have 'felt' wrong things to be right for all of history. Simply put, feelings and yearnings cannot make a given position right. That position must right on its own merit.

This doesn't mean that we should not have compassion for those who struggle with so-called gender identity issues. Why they feel as they do may be the result of many things, from a psychological issue to a deep seated delusion. We say delusion as nothing more than an observation rather than an insult; aren't we all at times delusional over this or that, especially when we may want something patently untrue to in fact be true? Why ought the Bruce Jenners of the world not be subject to that same scrutiny so long as it's done within an honest and charitable framework?

The world wants us to believe in science. That is, until science dictates something which we don't like. In this case, it tells us emphatically that we are either male or female. Denying that will help no one's mental health. Accepting it more likely will.