Gender Ideology Threatens Catholic Formation

Recent headlines celebrated the “collapse” of gender ideology, the “fizzling out” of “transgender contagion,” and a “free fall” in number of students identifying as other than male or female.

Wonderful news, if only it were true. Reality, however, is more complicated—and less rosy. Gender ideology still represents a serious threat to children and families and should be firmly rejected by Catholic families and educators.

Remember that evil always masquerades as good, because human beings are hard-wired to search for truth and seek “the good” (God). Eve never would have reached for an obviously rotten apple. Decades ago, when gender ideology began seeping into our language, norms, and institutions, no sirens blared, no lights flashed, and few warnings were heard. Many families were blindsided, as children were seduced by gender ideology’s lies, seemingly overnight.

Gender ideology wears many masks:

• On a philosophical level, it masquerades as a progressive, tolerant, and egalitarian belief system that deconstructs oppressive norms and upholds “identity” as “the choice of the individual.”
• On a psychological level, the desire to reject one’s body or given sexual identity is packaged as perfectly “normal”—but paradoxically so compelling that others must affirm the chosen “identity,” lest denial drive the person to suicide.
• On a political level, gender ideology purports to stand on the “right side of history,” honoring self-determination, diversity, equality, and “freedom” for “LGBTQ+ Americans.”
• On a religious level, gender ideology presents as a “search for existential dignity,” a discovery of “authentic selves,” a Gospel mandate of “radical inclusion,” and a “celebration of belonging” for self-styled “LGBTQ Catholics.”

Don’t be fooled. Gender ideology is premised on a lie. It corrupts the good and devastates families.

In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI described gender ideology as an “anthropological revolution” built on “profound falsehood[s]” that reject human nature, sexual difference, and God as Creator. He warned of the consequences, particularly for human dignity and the family:

But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him…. the child has become an object to which people have a right and which they have a right to obtain. When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker Himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The defense of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. (Address to the Roman Curia, December 21, 2012)

Targeting Youth

Although gender ideology is a set of false beliefs, it is not just a set of false beliefs. Gender ideology is a belief system meant to be lived out. The ripple effects are enormous. Research from the Institute for Family Studies, for example, shows that ideological beliefs are strongly linked to “cratering” rates of marriage and childbearing among young adults, women in particular. Three in four young adults (age 18-34) support same-sex “marriage” and endorse same-sex sexual relationships as moral (Gallup, 2025). Most Catholics (65 percent in 2023) agree.

“LGBTQ” identification has tripled in just over a decade, while “trans” identification has increased exponentially. In 2025, 23 percent of Gen Z self-identified as “LGBTQ+” (Gallup), and 4.7-6.7 percent of U.S. college students identified as “transgender” or “non-binary” (Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine). These unprecedented numbers tell a sad story: so many young people—the future of our country and our Church—reject the truth that the body is a gift and that it reveals something true about who they are. Some reject their sexual identity as male or female, but many more fail to recognize the truth, written into the body’s design, that male and female are created one for another, and sexual complementarity is God’s design for the human family.

There is nothing organic about the unprecedented increase in youth “LGBTQ” self-identification. It is driven by culture. Despite some recent victories on the side of truth, gender ideology’s erroneous premises and ideological demands have become part of our cultural fabric. “Gender identity” laws and language mandates coerce compliance, while “LGBTQ” activism in corporate, educational, medical, media, judicial, and religious spheres intimidates and persuades, normalizing “emerging” sexual and “gender identities.”

The primary targets of gender ideology are children, adolescents, and young adults. Indoctrinating a substantial portion of America’s youth has proven to be shockingly easy and rapid, utilizing four primary channels: pornography, social media/gaming, healthcare, and schools.

Pornography

A 2025 report from the Institute for Family Studies found that rising:

…underage pornography use has been paralleled by a shift to more extreme and harmful types of pornography being available online. A growing body of research has consistently shown that a large portion of the sexual media available online is not only sexually explicit, but also regularly depicts rape, violence against women, [and] deviant sexual behaviors.

Nearly all boys and three in four girls have viewed pornography, and roughly half of all minors who have viewed pornography have watched “same-sex intercourse” and “group sex,” according to the report. (A popular saying—“If you can see it, you can be it”—delivers an ominous warning in this context.) Although it is unclear whether pornography exposure precedes or follows “LGBTQ” identification, a recent study (Thorn 2023) found that minors (age 13-17) who identify as “LGBTQ+” are twice as likely as “non-LGBTQ+ peers” to visit pornographic websites or to engage with “sexually explicit content or pornography.”

Social media

A 2025 study published by the American Psychological Association found that social media reflects the “explosion of diversity in gender and sexuality in America.” The study identified four dominant narratives in “social technologies,” including “gender as self-constructed,” “sexuality as plural, playful, flexible, and fluid,” “sexuality and monogamy as cultural compulsions,” and the centrality of “intersectionality.” These narratives reflect core beliefs of gender ideology. The APA study identified a fifth, less prominent narrative that they labeled “resurgent cisheteropatriarchal masculinity,” a likely online backlash to the dominant gender ideology.

ChatGPT and AI hold new dangers, exposing youth not only to gender ideology and sexual exploitation, but also to digital emotional manipulation that encourages self-harm and suicidality.

Given that 95 percent of teens have access to smart phones, and most use social media about five hours a day (sometimes “constantly”), parents and educators would do well to consider a “tech exit” and Wi-Fi filters. Catholic schools and colleges might reconsider procedures that require students to use social media or AI for class assignments, school announcements, and forms and registrations.

Healthcare

Every family needs healthcare for their children, and most schools and colleges provide medical services and counseling. But what happens when most pediatricians and counselors, and healthcare providers more broadly, promote gender ideology? Trustworthy, competent physicians in sync with Catholic teaching—or at least respectful of family religious beliefs—are hard to find. Most U.S. medical and psychological associations embrace gender ideology and endorse sex-rejecting procedures for minors (euphemistically known as “gender-affirming care” or “transgender” medicine)—despite medical ethics concerns, opposition from “rank and file” physicians, and “weak evidence” to support those procedures.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), for example, endorsed unproven, sex-rejecting interventions for minors in a 2018 policy riddled with errors.  Then, ignoring mounting evidence that these procedures cause irreparable harm, the AAP reaffirmed its support in 2023. Perhaps worse, the AAP’s “Bright Futures” clinical guidelines (Promoting Healthy Development of Sexuality and Gender Identity) explicitly endorse gender ideology and set expectations for all U.S. pediatricians to fuel the “transgender” pipeline by screening for “sexuality and gender identity” issues, from toddlers to teens. The “Bright Futures” guidelines instruct pediatricians to tell parents, before their child is a year old, about “assigned gender at birth and gender identity development.” Physicians should then “discuss and explore gender identity in a developmentally appropriate way with all children beginning at ages 4 to 5 years.” With children from 5 to 10 years, physicians are directed to “affirm the spectrum of gender identities” and to refer children to gender “specialists,” as “appropriate.”

The primary medical conduits for promoting gender ideology and facilitating sex-rejecting procedures are not only private physicians and counselors but also school-based health and counseling centers, where immigrant and low-income children are particularly vulnerable. What are Catholic educators doing to ensure they provide and refer only to professionals who uphold Catholic teaching?

Public schools and universities

For over a decade, gender ideology has saturated most public school and university environments, thanks to progressive government policies, “woke” curriculum producers, “LGBTQ” non-profits, activist teachers and professional organizations (including teacher unions and school counselor organizations), and school policies permitting gender ideology indoctrination from kindergarten on and permitting schools to secretly facilitate a child’s chosen (sex-rejecting) identity.

The Supreme Court has yet to review cases where schools “transitioned” a child without parental consent, but several petitions are pending. In a welcome development, the Supreme Court in 2025 upheld religious parents’ rights to opt their children out of compelled, “LGBTQ” curricula in public schools and considered two cases involving women’s sports and male athletes (decisions are pending).

Despite prohibitions on federal funding for gender ideology and numerous state laws limiting “LGBTQ” content in schools, the National Education Association and activist teachers and administrators openly flout these limits. In addition, school and college counselors face ethical obligations from their professional associations that require them to “affirm” “LGBTQ” identification.

Parents rightly worry about woke curriculum, but scrutinizing the culture of a school or college is also essential, as language, celebrations, artwork, social expectations, role models, and disciplinary rules prove formative over time. For example, a teacher or professor who describes students as “cisgender” normalizes a new binary—cisgender or transgender—instead of male or female. A homeroom teacher who habituates students into declaring their pronouns during daily social-emotional learning sessions teaches kids that identity is chosen and changeable. An annual events calendar that features monthly “LGBTQ”-themed celebrations (and zero religious holidays) conveys to students that “LGBTQ” beliefs enjoy privileged status.

Public schools and universities are unlikely to be free of gender ideology anytime soon, because the educational pipeline (including schools of education, unions, and professional development for teachers, staff, counselors, and administrators) remains committed to gender ideology.

Catholic schools: A haven?

Catholic education should be a safe haven from gender ideology. After all, Catholic teaching is clear: see Male and Female He Created Them, a 2019 Congregation for Catholic Education document on gender ideology; Dignitas Infinita, a 2024 document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; and “Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” a 2023 document from the U.S. Bishops’ Doctrine Committee.

Many U.S. dioceses do provide clear pastoral guidance, upholding Catholic teaching on the human person and opposing gender ideology. Bishop Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, for example, recently released an excellent pastoral letter, The Body Reveals the Person: A Catholic Response to the Challenges of Gender Ideology.

Even so, not all Catholic educators, and not all Catholic schools, oppose gender ideology. Some dioceses have given no guidance or encouragement to families (or their Catholic schools) on this issue—despite the devastating effects on a child, and the whole family, when a child is wooed and won by the lies of gender ideology. Worse, too many Catholic families I have met in my work have felt betrayed by Catholic schools that affirmed and encouraged their child’s newfound “LGBTQ” identification, often behind parents’ backs.

It is scandalous for Catholic formation events—like the annual Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles, which reaches thousands of educators—to platform speakers like Fr. James Martin who countenance “LGBTQ” self-identification, mischaracterize the medical facts of “gender transition,” and pretend that “welcome and inclusion” is the essence of pastoral care for persons experiencing same-sex attraction or identity issues. Catholic families deserve better.

Gender ideology will not be victorious. But we must respond to this challenging moment with truth and love, faithful to Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church, for the sake of our children.

Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She is co-author with Theresa Farnan of Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late.