Participants: Michael Carducci (Host), Walt Heyer
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000115A
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:40 Welcome to Pure Choices. 00:41 My name is Michael Carducci, and I'm Coming Out Ministries. 00:44 And today, we're going to be interviewing Walt Heyer. 00:47 Welcome, Walt. Yeah, thanks for having me on. 00:51 I'm really excited about the fact that you're here 00:53 and that we get to have this dialogue. 00:55 I remember hearing about you and reading your articles 00:59 before I actually spoke with you one time 01:01 when we did a telephone interview 01:03 with Raymond King. 01:05 And from that moment on, 01:06 you have given me so many insights 01:08 that have helped me even understand 01:10 some of my own journey, 01:12 not to mention the fact that now transgenderism 01:14 is at such a height with the Caitlyn Jenner issue 01:18 and the story. 01:20 So really, we just have so much that we want to unpack today. 01:22 Thank you for coming. Sure. 01:24 Yeah, I'm happy to be here. Great, great. 01:25 So well, let's get right to it. 01:27 Let's start, if you would, 01:28 just by giving me some of the history 01:30 of what you came from, 01:32 like how this all began for you. 01:33 Yeah, you know, it's interesting, today, 01:35 there are so many stories about kids being transgender. 01:40 And I was a transgender kid at the age of four. 01:44 And my grandmother was babysitting me, 01:47 and for whatever reason, 01:48 I don't know if I encouraged her 01:50 or if it was her thing, at four years old, who knows? 01:54 But the fact is she seemed to enjoy cross-dressing me, 01:57 I enjoyed her cross-dressing me. 02:00 So we had this mutual thing, but it was a secret. 02:03 Nobody was supposed to know, it was just my grandma and I. 02:06 And so, over a period of time, 02:08 she eventually made me a purple chiffon evening dress. 02:12 And she had me standing on a cushion 02:14 and she pinned up the hem and all that. 02:17 It was just a lot of fussing over a boy, 02:20 and dressing this boy up, who was me, as a little girl, 02:24 and that planted a seed. 02:28 And you really have no idea, when you're so young, 02:32 what seed's being planted. 02:34 And that seed, when it's nurtured, 02:36 like my grandmother did, and it was obvious to me 02:39 that she really liked me more as a girl. 02:42 And she never fond over me as a boy but just as a girl. 02:47 So that gave me the idea 02:50 that I was better off as a girl. 02:52 I would be loved more as a girl, 02:54 I would be appreciated more as a girl, 02:56 and you always want that. 02:58 I mean that's one of the things that we want. 03:00 We want people to like us, love us, 03:01 we want people to fond over us. 03:04 And so here's a grandmother, 03:05 but she's only doing it 03:07 when I'm dressed in girls' clothes. 03:09 Right. About how old were you at this time? 03:11 Well, that was from the age of four 03:13 to about the age of six or seven. 03:16 And then I ended up, 03:19 'cause I wanted to continue doing this, 03:21 not just at grandma's house, 03:22 I wanted to do it at home when I could. 03:24 So I put the dress in a brown paper bag 03:27 and snuck it home when my dad was taking me home 03:30 and put it in my dresser drawer, 03:32 but my mother found it. 03:33 And then that was a problem. 03:36 And so all of a sudden there was this explosion 03:39 about what are you doing with the dress? 03:41 How did you get this? 03:42 And then I was unable to go to grandma's house anymore, 03:45 the dress disappeared. 03:47 And my dad, you know, 03:49 because he was kind of a very macho guy, 03:51 a police officer and so forth, 03:54 really, really sort of floored him 03:57 that grandma was doing this. 03:59 And so that started a fight between my mom and my dad, 04:03 you know, the conflict, you know, why did you have... 04:05 Your mother's doing this stuff, we didn't know about it. 04:09 And so then I felt like it was my fault. 04:11 I mean, here I am, six or seven years old, 04:13 and I'm thinking what did I do 04:15 when, in fact, I really hadn't done anything. 04:18 And so that just started this long journey about my identity 04:24 and who I was and the conflict 04:26 that went along with me being this... 04:29 I don't think I had the term in those days as transgender. 04:33 I mean, this was quite a long time ago. 04:36 This was in the '40s. 04:37 I don't know if I was the very first transkid or not, 04:40 but that's what was going on in those days for me. 04:44 Right, so I really identify in so many areas of your story. 04:48 My father was also very macho, 04:50 and I would get spanked 04:52 if I got caught playing with dolls 04:54 or dressing up in my sister's clothes. 04:56 But I remember I had an aunt that one day took me 04:58 and she actually styled my hair 05:00 to look like a girl's and she teased it. 05:02 And I remember like this thrill that came over me, 05:05 not to mention the fact 05:06 that she was affirming me in femininity, 05:09 but then also, you know, 05:10 that it felt like I was free or liberated 05:12 to actually experience that, 05:14 which I think became a stronghold, 05:16 you know, for me at that time as well, 05:18 rejected my father's masculinity, 05:20 it was just unapproachable and unappealing, 05:23 and I reverted back to my mother. 05:25 So again, this affirmation, 05:26 I had a very strong macho father, 05:29 you know, and that to me I could relate to, 05:31 but I could relate to the feminine side. 05:33 So while there was some more extenuating circumstances 05:36 that happened that also helped to drive this transgender. 05:40 Yeah, yeah, once that seed was planted 05:44 and dad's doing the heavy discipline 05:46 and he's obviously very concerned about me 05:48 and upset that this was going on in my life 05:51 and his adopted brother, 05:53 who was a teenager at the time, 05:56 thought it would be appropriate for him 05:58 to tease me and taunt me and sexually molest me, 06:02 and he did this for a couple of years. 06:04 He would take me in his car up in the mountains 06:07 and do that sort of thing, and so... 06:09 This was your uncle. This was my uncle. 06:11 And so that became, you know, 06:13 another part of this painful journey 06:16 that really only started 06:17 because my grandmother crossed-dressed me. 06:20 I mean, that was the start of all of this. 06:24 Dad wouldn't have been doing the discipline, 06:25 the uncle wouldn't have been doing the molestations, 06:28 had it not been 06:29 for my grandmother cross-dressing me 06:31 and doing this over a period of a couple years. 06:34 So we can see all of the things going on, 06:38 really, the origin comes 06:40 from that very moment of cross-dressing. 06:42 Now I realize that actually the... 06:45 In my life, the event of cross-dressing 06:48 begins the abuse. 06:50 So I'd like to kind of point out 06:52 that now we live in a world 06:53 where, you know, cross-dressing seems to be the norm. 06:56 We have school systems in Europe 06:58 that are actually saying 06:59 that kids need to experience that 07:01 so that they can experience 07:03 what their gender identity is. 07:04 Is it no... 07:06 There's no wonder now to me 07:08 why God says that it's not proper for men 07:10 to wear the opposite sex clothing 07:12 and for women to wear men's clothing 07:14 because what that does is... 07:16 what it did for us 07:17 is it affirmed this identity detachment 07:20 and what it did is it encouraged it 07:21 and helped it to grow. 07:23 So that, to me, helps to explain that, verse wise, 07:26 what's the big deal 07:27 if a guy puts on a dress or if he, 07:29 you know, wears his hair like a girl 07:31 because what that did is that affirmed to us 07:34 this deep attachment to the opposite sex 07:36 and the dissatisfaction of our own sex. 07:39 Right. And we see this so much now. 07:42 And we can see that not only are the children, 07:45 if there's a boy, changing to be a girl, 07:48 he gets much more affirmation and much more attention 07:51 and much more protection, you know, from the teachers 07:55 and the family and all that because he is transgender. 07:58 But what I've kind of come to the conclusion 08:01 is that we've taken 08:02 what is really nothing more than a behavior 08:05 'cause dressing is just a behavioral action 08:08 and tried to turn it into an identity of self. 08:13 And this is where the trouble starts. 08:15 It's interesting because the more I was exposed 08:18 to masculinity, the more frightening it was, 08:20 which actually drove up for me the gender confusion. 08:24 So what I want to also point out is the fact 08:27 that you never struggled with homosexual attraction, right? 08:31 That was nothing that was an issue for you, 08:34 whereas it was for me. 08:35 Because I think in my situation, 08:38 you know, I was kind of repulsed by what my uncle did, 08:42 and so it wasn't anything 08:43 I ever wanted anything to do with. 08:46 So instead of driving me to it, that drove me away from it. 08:49 But still my identity, 08:51 at that point, was still so fragile, 08:54 it became broken. 08:55 Interesting, so one thing that 08:57 I'd like to point out is the fact that, 08:59 you know, there's no formula for why somebody is homosexual 09:03 or heterosexual as far as that goes. 09:05 What I find amazing is that 09:06 even with all of the physical 09:08 and sexual abuse that you experienced, 09:10 that your identity was able to survive through that, 09:15 you know, heterosexual attraction, 09:16 whereas other people, 09:18 like myself, and even though I wasn't molested, 09:20 there were issues that created 09:23 the same sex attraction as well. 09:25 So again, I'd like to point out 09:26 that people are always trying to find 09:28 what's the formula for why someone is gay or not, 09:31 and there's a very high statistic of men 09:33 that are transgendered that are not homosexual. 09:35 You know, that's right. 09:37 A lot of them just have an identity issue 09:40 about their gender 09:42 and it doesn't involve homosexuality, 09:44 in fact, many of them, boys who become women, 09:48 identify more as being a lesbian 09:51 than they do heterosexual. 09:52 That's just what they do, which is interesting. 09:55 Right, okay, so on that vein, 09:57 you ended up marrying and having children. 10:00 Talk to us maybe about the struggle 10:03 that you're still having the transgendered feelings 10:06 but yet you have a family, a wife, a great career. 10:10 Right. 10:11 You know, I started going through school 10:14 and still struggling inside with these things. 10:16 I didn't want to talk to anybody about it. 10:19 So I kept them internalized, but they never went away. 10:22 I even secretly took on a different name, Krystal West, 10:26 when I was in my teens, you know, just to... 10:29 But I was cross-dressing in private. 10:32 So that was my little secret, my little world, 10:34 I didn't let anybody into it. 10:36 And so as I got into this and then later I found a girl, 10:41 we got married. 10:42 And we had two children, and I was still struggling, 10:46 I told her about it, and our conclusion was that 10:50 if I got married, it would go away. 10:52 You know, so I wanted her to know that I was struggling, 10:55 and I was convinced, 10:56 well, this is going to go away, well, it didn't. 10:58 I mean, even after the first child 11:00 and the second child, 11:01 and me working as an associate design engineer 11:06 on the Apollo space missions, 11:07 I had a very nice successful career 11:10 and eventually becoming an executive 11:11 for a large automobile company. 11:15 But I still struggled. 11:16 And then I was starting to use alcohol 11:19 as a way to cope with the struggling, 11:21 to try to suppress the feelings 11:23 because I was... 11:24 I had a family, I had children, I had responsibilities, 11:27 and to a certain degree, 11:29 I had this great integrity about 11:30 wanting to be the father, the husband, 11:34 to the kids and the family, and do a good job. 11:36 But I was sort of dying inside 11:39 because of what had started at grandma's house. 11:43 And then I was pouring alcohol on it 11:46 as a way to try to cope with it, 11:48 which turns out not to be the best way 11:50 to deal with a situation. 11:52 Right, okay, so now you ended up seeking counsel 11:55 and this therapist gave you some advice. 11:58 Take us now into that aspect if you would. 12:00 Yeah, struggling so much, I decided that I would go 12:02 to the most prominent therapist on this, 12:05 and it was Dr. Paul Walker 12:06 who actually wrote the WPATH Standards of Care 12:10 that we know today. 12:11 He was the original author of those standards. 12:14 So I thought here's a guy that really knows 12:16 how to diagnose 12:18 and provide guidance in what I should do. 12:20 And he diagnosed me right away with gender dysphoria 12:23 and suggested, within a very short period of time, 12:27 that I should undergo hormone therapy 12:29 and gender reassignment surgery. 12:31 But I did wait the two year time period, 12:34 and I went back to him after two years, 12:38 and I was still married during this time 12:40 and still working. 12:42 And so I went back to him 12:44 and I said, you know, "I'm still struggling. 12:45 We talked in 1981, now it's 1983, 12:49 and what should I do?" 12:51 He said, you know, "I think 12:52 you still have gender dysphoria, 12:54 and the only way to resolve 12:55 that is undergo gender reassignment surgery. 12:57 So I decided to get divorced and undergo the surgery. 13:03 And I did. 13:05 And I became Laura Jensen, 13:07 and my career as an automobile executive 13:11 quickly evaporated. 13:13 They ushered me out of the building 13:15 and said I couldn't work there anymore. 13:17 And so within very few months, 13:20 I was broke and living in a park 13:24 and starting to try to dig my way out of what had happened 13:29 that started with the dress at grandma's house. 13:32 Okay, so, well, really did they escort you out? 13:34 Was it really that blatant? Yeah. 13:37 Were you living as a woman now? 13:39 I wasn't at that time. 13:41 I announced that I was going to come to work as Laura, 13:44 and they weren't going to let that happen. 13:46 Wow, okay. 13:47 So now here you are, 13:48 you're homeless, living in a park. 13:50 Right. Okay. 13:51 And so you did end up having the surgery, 13:53 talk a little bit about that, did it satisfy that for you? 13:57 Did it help? 13:58 Well, there was this great euphoric feeling about, 14:01 you know, finally have arrived. 14:03 The next day, it's just like, "Wow, this is wonderful." 14:07 It was great. 14:09 And there's a period of time, I kind of liken it to the time 14:13 when you're in a bar drinking and you're having a good time, 14:16 but you're not really aware 14:17 of what's going on in your life, 14:19 you know, 'cause it's very euphoric, 14:21 it's very exciting, 14:22 you finally made it, especially in my case, 14:24 where I was 42 years old, so I'd struggled for 38 years. 14:30 But then you start dealing with reality. 14:34 And the reality is I don't have a job, 14:36 I no longer have a family, I no longer have any money, 14:40 and I'm laying in a park wondering, 14:43 "Okay, I'm a transgender female Laura Jensen, 14:47 now what do I do?" 14:49 So the battle back. Right. 14:51 So how extensive was your surgery, Walt? 14:53 I had everything done. Top and bottom. 14:56 Top, bottom, sides, everything. 14:59 I had chin implants, buttocks implants, nose, 15:03 they did the complete... 15:05 Okay, how expensive was that? 15:07 Oh, it was very expensive. 15:09 I tried not to calculate how much it was 15:11 because I knew that would be very painful, 15:13 but it was, you know, 15:15 well over $50,000 in those days, 15:17 it's been over 30 years ago. 15:20 If I may, I'd really like to go deep. 15:22 On that day, when you were having the first surgery, 15:25 what went through your mind of, 15:26 you know, I'm passing over to somewhere 15:29 where I've never been before or let's get this going, 15:32 I can't wait to be Laura Jensen, 15:34 was there any regrets at that time 15:36 when you were about to go under the knife? 15:38 No, you know, that's a great question. 15:40 And because I had been dealing with this for so long 15:43 and I had what I called kind of a radio playing in my head, 15:46 you know, that you're Laura, you're not a man, you're... 15:49 You know, that was just going on in my head. 15:51 So I thought this has got to be the only way I can cure this 15:54 and make it go away, turn the radio off, 15:56 turn off that whole thing that kept telling me 16:00 that I was a female in a male body. 16:04 So I was excited about it. Okay. 16:05 So I didn't have any regrets, I didn't have any concerns. 16:10 Obviously, you don't know how it's going to end up, 16:13 but, you know, you think this has got to be better 16:16 than what was going on. 16:17 All right, so I'm going to use your analogy. 16:19 Now, you know, the night is over, you're out of the bar, 16:23 now it's the next morning 16:24 and you're waking up with this hangover, 16:26 only the hangover is not going to go away, 16:28 you are now Laura. 16:29 And what was that like for you? 16:31 Well, I think, you know, 16:32 one of the things that needs to be clear 16:34 is that hangover, it takes, sometimes, months or years. 16:38 You know, so it's not instantaneous. 16:40 You've sort of... 16:41 You're really working hard to make it work. 16:44 You're really trying to live out this life 16:46 that you've dreamed about, that you've fantasized about, 16:48 that you've worked toward, 16:50 that you've done all these things 16:51 that people are telling you this is the answer. 16:54 So I was able to do that for eight years. 16:57 I lived as Laura Jensen for eight years 16:59 and I had a good employment after I finally got to work. 17:03 But there was a time 17:05 when I started studying psychology 17:07 'cause I wanted to become a therapist and help people, 17:11 and I was studying at UC Santa Cruz, 17:13 and I was looking at some of these books 17:15 and they started talking about transgenders 17:18 having what they called separation anxiety 17:20 and dissociative disorders, and I'm looking at this 17:22 and I'm going, "Whoa! Wait a minute." 17:24 And as I began to study this, 17:27 I realized that nobody's born that way. 17:29 That, you know, these are behaviors 17:32 that people get involved in 17:33 and begin to sort of fantasize about 17:36 and develop an identity 17:38 that's not actually who you are. 17:40 You think it's who you are 17:42 and you sort of develop something 17:45 out of all of the stuff 17:47 that's gone on in your life that you never dealt with. 17:51 So this is interesting, 17:52 well, 'cause I want to go back to the beginning again 17:55 because something you said 17:57 that really hit the nail on the head for me 17:58 is that gender dysphoria 18:00 is really symptomatic of a depression. 18:03 And the issue for me is I couldn't get my body 18:05 to match what was going on inside my mind, 18:09 give us some insight on that. 18:10 Yes, people don't realize when the grandmother, 18:14 in my case, started cross-dressing me, 18:16 there's a seed of depression that starts. 18:18 I mean, there's two things happening here. 18:22 Grandma's saying, "You're not really a boy, 18:25 you're a girl." 18:26 And so you become unaware at the time 18:29 that you're becoming depressed 18:31 about the fact that you weren't born correctly, 18:33 that's a depression. 18:34 Exactly. I mean, that's... 18:35 And that depression frankly never gets addressed, 18:40 it never gets treated, 18:41 changing genders does not change that depression. 18:44 Wouldn't it complicate it? 18:46 Oh, absolutely complicates it 18:48 because you're actually adding to the depression, 18:51 you're trying to, you know, 18:53 live through this in this gender 18:55 that you've created out of surgery, 18:57 and makeup, and clothing, which is nothing more 19:00 than you're acting out of the depression 19:04 and not acting out of reality. 19:06 Yeah, you know, if for no one else, 19:08 this program is for me. 19:09 So while, you know, I gained so much insight just by, 19:12 you know, listening to you 19:14 because I finally identify with some of that, for me, 19:17 and I'm hoping that people that are watching this program 19:19 that are struggling also with transgenderism 19:22 or gender dysphoria 19:24 that they're going to gain insights as well. 19:25 But what I really want to talk about now 19:27 is how Jesus came into your life 19:30 and the incredible changes that it made? 19:32 So if you can, let's address that part 19:35 'cause that's the best part. 19:36 Yeah, it is. 19:37 You know, and once I finally started working a program, 19:41 a recovery, and not drinking, 19:43 and during that time at the recovery house, 19:45 there was a church close by, 19:47 and after going to several churches 19:49 and them not really being too open 19:51 to transgenders in the church, 19:53 I found this one church and I went to the pastor 19:56 and he said, I asked him, 19:58 "Are you going to try to change me?" 20:00 You know, basically, 20:01 "Are you going to try to change me back to a boy?" 20:03 Right. So here you are, Laura, right? 20:05 I'm Laura, and I was sitting before him 20:07 and he kind of rolled back in his chair 20:09 and he says, "No, my job's to love you, 20:11 it's God's job to change you." 20:12 And I think that moment for me was so powerful 20:16 because it sort of planted another seed in me 20:18 about the fact that this was between God and I 20:22 and His love that could recreate my life in the way 20:26 that He had intended it to be. 20:28 So I began to pray and work through these issues. 20:32 And I did start going to see a psychologist 20:34 and dealing with that and found out that, 20:36 you know, going through this gender change 20:39 is actually a dissociation. 20:41 I mean, it's not a very complicated thing, 20:44 you're dissociating from who you really are 20:45 to become someone who you're not. 20:47 And you're trying to make 20:48 that who you're not real when, in fact, it's not. 20:52 And so once you begin to understand 20:55 that you're living out this delusional idea 20:59 of who you are and that it is not real 21:01 because it's categorically impossible, biologically, 21:04 to change a man into a woman. 21:06 You can't do that. All right. 21:07 So what I really want to know, 21:09 I want to know from your perspective, 21:11 like I recognize that this wasn't who I was, 21:14 how was that? 21:16 Make it personal for me 21:17 because I really want to get inside your head. 21:18 I think once I realized that I was living out something 21:23 that wasn't real, I just had... 21:25 I knew that the Lord was there, I knew that He wanted me to be 21:29 the man that I was supposed to be, 21:31 and I began working diligently to that end, 21:35 and it was very hard to disconnect 21:37 from all that had gone on. 21:38 It wasn't quick and easy. 21:40 So... Wow. 21:42 So, well, now this is getting even more complicated. 21:45 So now here's a man 21:47 that transitioned out of his masculinity 21:50 into this artificial femininity, 21:52 and now you've got to make this whole switch again. 21:55 Right. 21:56 And so you've got to push through that. 21:58 Yeah. You had to push through that. 22:02 And so what was really the most amazing thing 22:05 was I began to pray a lot. 22:07 I was not a person who prayed much. 22:09 And so I began praying a lot, and I was praying with a guy 22:14 who I had worked on my program recovery with, 22:17 he's a psychologist, and we were praying 22:19 kind of just like we are here in a little setting. 22:22 And he started praying, and all of a sudden, 22:26 during this prayer, I don't remember what he said, 22:29 you know, but he was praying and I was praying. 22:32 And I looked up 22:33 and I could actually see the Lord coming to me, 22:37 He was in a white robe, I could see His face, 22:40 I couldn't see His feet, 22:41 and He was coming down toward me 22:43 with His hands like this. 22:45 And He was reaching out to me, and at that moment, 22:48 I saw myself as a little baby wrapped in cloth. 22:51 And He picked me up and held me in His arms, 22:54 and the words He spoke were, 22:56 "You'll now be safe with Me forever." 22:59 And then He went away. 23:02 And I realized at that very moment 23:04 my life had been transformed, 23:06 I had been redeemed and restored to the gender 23:10 that God had made me to be, 23:12 and then I never looked back since that time. 23:14 Wow, that's amazing. 23:18 I love how God is such a personal intimate God 23:20 that He even revealed Himself to you in an intimate way, 23:24 and that in itself was healing. 23:26 So now, Walt, you're now healed and redeemed, 23:29 but you still have this mutilation to your body, 23:32 talk about that transition in just a minute or two. 23:35 Yeah, well, there's only a few things 23:37 you can do to bring things back to normal. 23:40 So you stop taking hormones, you re-identify who you are, 23:44 you take out some of the implants, 23:46 but there are some surgeries that you can't... 23:48 you just can't repair. 23:50 And that's kind of the unfortunate thing. 23:52 But it's not that bad because one of the things that I love 23:56 is that Jesus says when it comes to take us home that 23:59 that we're changed in the twinkling of an eye. 24:01 And so there are many things, Walt, not just, 24:03 you know, people that have attempted, 24:05 you know, gender identity changes, 24:07 but, you know, people that are covered in tattoos or piercings 24:10 or whatever that is, 24:11 you know, no matter what we've done to our bodies here, 24:13 what's so wonderful is that when Jesus comes 24:15 that all of this 24:17 is all changed in the twinkling of an eye 24:18 and He restores us back to what we were intended to be. 24:21 Absolutely. Isn't that powerful? 24:22 It's powerful and it's so freeing. 24:25 And it just... Finally, when that came, 24:28 I was finally free after 50 years of life. 24:32 I finally was living the life that God had intended me to be. 24:35 What I find so amazing is that most people, 24:38 when they have this gender change, 24:40 when they have the sex change, that's when they say that 24:42 they're at their true freedom, their true liberty, 24:45 and yet, for you, it wasn't after the first one 24:47 but the second one 24:48 that the liberty actually came through 24:50 a relationship with Jesus Christ. 24:52 Is that right? Yes, absolutely. 24:54 And those people 24:55 who haven't had that relationship with Christ 24:58 will never know true freedom. 24:59 Wow, wow, that's a beautiful statement. 25:02 So Walt, if there's anything that you would recommend 25:04 or that you would like to say 25:06 to somebody that's struggling with gender dysphoria, 25:09 what would you like to say? 25:10 Well, I'd like for them to understand 25:12 that gender dysphoria itself 25:14 is only a symptom of something much deeper, 25:18 something much more troubling 25:19 that actually needs psychotherapy 25:21 or to be addressed properly, 25:22 whether it's depression 25:24 or whether it's separation anxiety 25:25 or dissociative disorder, bipolar 25:28 'cause there are so many different disorders 25:30 that the term is called comorbid disorders 25:34 that link themselves 25:36 and attach themselves to gender dysphoria. 25:38 And today, unfortunately, 25:40 most of the people are not getting treated 25:41 for the comorbid disorders, 25:43 they're only dealing with the gender dysphoria. 25:45 Okay, so comorbid disorder, 25:47 could you just kind of define that again? 25:49 Comorbid disorder is this secondary disorder 25:52 that's under gender dysphoria. 25:54 In other words, gender dysphoria only tells you 25:57 that there is something else going on underneath. 26:01 Dysphoria itself is not a disorder, 26:04 but it is the result of a disorder. 26:08 Absolutely, so that really helped me 26:11 to understand more what had happened. 26:13 I thought that I was born in the wrong gender 26:15 and because of my misunderstanding 26:17 of who God was, 26:18 I thought that He was either playing a cruel joke or that, 26:22 you know, it just didn't matter. 26:24 And I remember, as a little kid, 26:26 not knowing how to fix it 26:27 but identifying with what the problem was. 26:30 And there was a depression that I was, I think, 26:33 used to denying 26:34 because, you know, I was getting the wrong toys 26:36 for Christmas and birthdays and I wanted the pretty dresses 26:39 like my sisters got and their toys. 26:41 So when I got a GI Joe and a Tonka Truck, 26:43 that just wasn't cutting it. 26:45 So, you know, there's a lot of times 26:47 that I didn't realize until I actually found your website, 26:50 you know, and I have actually dialogued with you 26:53 that I realize some of the things 26:55 that I had repressed for so long. 26:58 So thank you for this opportunity 26:59 to talk with you once again. 27:02 There's still so much more, 27:03 you know, to discuss on this topic. 27:05 How is your life now? 27:07 What's your life like now? 27:09 Well, I'm sober for almost 30 years, 27:11 married for almost 19 years, 27:13 and I get to travel around the world 27:15 spreading the Word about redemption 27:17 and restoration through Jesus Christ. 27:19 So it can't get much better than that. 27:21 Right, right. 27:22 So how busy are you now with the transgender issue 27:24 being at the height? 27:26 Well, I'm very busy, and that's really great. 27:29 The more I get to do 27:31 and the more I can get the word out, 27:33 I know that I'm serving Christ in this way. 27:36 And so that is really exciting. 27:38 But we're going around the world, 27:39 we've been to Italy and Australia 27:41 and many other places spreading the Word. 27:43 Wonderful, thank you again, Walt. 27:45 Thank you for coming and talking with me 27:48 and with all of our viewers. 27:50 We want to welcome you back 27:51 to view all of our programs here on Pure Choices. 27:54 And thanks again, Walt, for being with us. 27:56 My pleasure. |
Revised 2018-05-09