Skip to content
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
The Baptist Paper
The Baptist Paper
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds

Gender confusion and the church’s response spark more podcast discussion

Author Katie McCoy continues to speak out about how cultural norms have generated confusion about gender — specifically how biological sex is seen as something that can be changed.
  • November 7, 2023
  • Stephen R. Clark
  • Church Life, Latest News

Gender confusion and the church’s response spark more podcast discussion

Katie McCoy speaks at the Pastors Wives & Women’s Conference was held June 12 in conjunction with the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting. (Photo by Sam Evans/TBP)

Following the release of her book, “To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond,” author Katie McCoy continues to speak out about how cultural norms have generated confusion about gender — specifically how biological sex is seen as something that can be changed. McCoy recently spoke with ALCAP President and CEO Greg Davis on his radio program, Priority Talk.

From the fringe to the center

McCoy, director of women’s ministry for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, explained that she wrote the book because, as she was teaching in seminary, her students were increasingly encountering what, at first, seemed to be “fringe issues.” 

RELATED: Check out other stories on McCoy’s book here.

“These were some anomalies in the news,” McCoy said. “We would hear about transgender identity. But gradually that became more and more common.” References consistently increased in entertainment news and academic contexts, she noted. “Now it has trickled down even to the elementary schools.”

Churches and parents are struggling to navigate

Now “we have so many people who are trying to navigate the cultural moment we are in,” McCoy noted. It’s an increasing challenge to help families, students, teachers and church members and leaders deal with what has become a very confusing topic.

“Wherever social media is,” she explained, “this is there.” She shared how she was recently in a small rural church in Texas and stunned to discover “this issue, this question” is affecting them. “It has pervaded all of society” due to social media proliferation. As a result, an “entire generation” is being influenced by ideas that too often lead them to irreversible choices, she said.

Countering the LGBTQ “community”

A challenge for churches is that the LGBTQ culture, those who endorse and advocate for transgender rights, “is very much a community.” The message that kids who are struggling with identity issues and same-sex attraction hear from them is that, McCoy said, your families may reject you, but we will accept and embrace you.

In her book, McCoy shares the story of Heather who was a new Christian dealing with same-sex attraction.

“She needed someone to come along side her,” said McCoy, “and disciple her in how to live a biblical sexual ethic.” Her church failed to help her so she turned to the LGBTQ community. They embraced her, but in doing so, added to her confusion and led her into irreversible choices she now regrets. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit persisted in her life and she returned to Christ and a biblical lifestyle. She is now actively warning others about this danger.

Searching for answers

McCoy points to how these women need discipling and therapy, not “gender affirming care” or treatments. Her book focuses on women because ”this issue disproportionately affects adolescent women and girls.”

A startling statistic she offers in her book is that 80% of LGBTQ women come from a religious background. She says this is due in part because we are in a post-Christian time. “We have a generation growing up [in the church] with a normalization of these identities, desires, choices and behaviors,” she noted, yet they don’t hear a biblical, rational, factual rebuttal that explains how to be human and sexual in a God-created God-imaged manner.

Churches and parents need to be aware that their kids “are searching for these deep significant questions of what it means to be a happy and whole and fulfilled human being,” McCoy noted. In other words, the issues related to gender are not “out there” but right in the church.

“It also really dovetails into the deconstruction movement,” McCoy said. This is because there is the sense that they have to either choose church and religion, or the find acceptance in the LGBTQ community.

Rediscover

To counteract this, McCoy said, the church needs “to recapture the true meaning of community and family, that sense of identity that is formed within the family of God.”

She emphasized that this “is not a fleeting fad” but a persistent issue that needs a “clear, cogent biblically based response.” 

Listen to the entire interview at Priority Talk. Her book can be purchased wherever books are sold. 

Share with others:

Facebook
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest News

  • Interim role offers niche ministry for ‘old-school preacher’
    Interim role offers niche ministry for ‘old-school preacher’
    June 17, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • First person: A critical ministry role some may overlook
    First person: A critical ministry role some may overlook
    June 17, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • Pew report shows Catholicism’s roots, challenges in American life
    Pew report shows Catholicism’s roots, challenges in American life
    June 17, 2025/
    0 Comments

Sign up for the Highlights

Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month.
Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

Related Posts

Interim role offers niche ministry for ‘old-school preacher’

Steve Ellis, who is 70, has held five interim assignments since 2018 and has preached in more than 80 different churches.

First person: A critical ministry role some may overlook

Sound engineers? Your role is far more critical than audio levels, EQ and running a sound board.

Pew report shows Catholicism’s roots, challenges in American life

While reporting relatively low levels of attendance at Mass, almost half of U.S. adults (47%) say they have a personal or family relationship to Catholicism, a new Pew Research Center survey finds. 

Supreme Court to hear case involving pregnancy center, free speech

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin. The case spotlights a New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center fighting a state subpoena it says infringes on its First Amendment rights.

Want to receive news highlights throughout the week? Sign up here!

Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us
  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us

Explore

  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Submissions

  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy
  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
The Baptist Paper
Address:
3310 Independence Dr.
Birmingham, AL 35209
Copyright © 2025 TAB Media Group
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ

Email:
news@thebaptistpaper.org

About

  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church
  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church

Explore

  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news

Subscribe

  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate

Log Out?

Lost your password?

Log In

Lost your password?

Log in

Become a part of our community!
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy/Terms of Use

Reset password

Recover your password
A password reset link will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy/Terms of Use
Back to
Login
×
Close Panel