22.04.2025, ITI Event
Interdisciplinary conference on gender theory analyzes that the experience of bisexuality in the maturation process and in society is a reality and by no means a problem - politicians form cross-party and cross-worldview alliances against transgender lobbying
Mary Menanno
International Theological Institute was privileged to host a conference entitled Man and Woman He Created Them: A Critical Analysis of Gender Ideology. This topic is a key element contained in the ITI’s own mission of exploring and teaching the significance of marriage and family in a broken world.
Throughout the two-day conference held from April 4 to 5, various speakers, including parents, professors, psychologists, politicians, and lawyers, converged at the ITI to take those in attendance on an in-depth exploration of the very roots of the gender agenda, its philosophies, scandals, and the social and political factors which have paved the way to our current situation.
Among the many speakers on Friday was Mag. Susanne Kummer, director of Vienna’s Institute for Medical Anthropology and Bioethics who delved into the roots of gender ideology. She described how its philosophy was shaped through the years by nominalist, marxist, feminist, and constructivist thought, which have all together led to the current wholesale rejection of reality itself.
Yet, despite society’s wholehearted rejection of facts for feelings, Kummer explained the need for language to be tied to reality, and how it was 13th-century philosopher William von Ockham’s rejection of universal essences which later developed into nominalism that gave later philosophies a basis upon which to reject entirely the idea of womanhood and manhood. Kummer emphasized the importance of a Christian understanding of biology, reminding those present that no person is self-made, but made thoughtfully and purposefully by God, and how it is these differences which give men and women the beautiful ability to create life together. She explained the importance of a holistic understanding of man as body and soul, and that it is only through living in accordance to the truth that one can ever experience true freedom.
Another noteworthy presentation was by Dr. Gudrun Kugler, member of the Austrian People’s Party and former ITI graduate. Presenting with her was former Green party politician, feminist, and political activist Mag. Faika El-Nagashi. Both women, while differing in certain values (Kugler a Catholic mother of four, El-Nagashi a lesbian, co-parenting with her female partner), highlighted the importance of focusing on commonalities instead of differences. This allows us to more effectively fight the rise of a gender identity ideology which increasingly target children, and attack the right to freedom of speech, the rights of women, and the rights of parents.
They spoke on the dangers of cancel culture, and the danger of false charity, where love is seen as always affirming, instead of reproving people when necessary.
They also strongly emphasized the importance of language as being connected to reality, with Kugler pointing out the inherent hypocrisy contained in gender ideology with her question: “Why do your genitalia not define your gender, but their removal does?”
In the afternoon, psychologist Dr. Bettina Reiter discussed the rise of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), a phenomenon which has only just come to the forefront in the past twenty years. Reiter pointed out how in the past, the only time one would see any sort of trans behaviour was in grown men who identified or dressed as women, for one reason or another. Now, contrary to this previously consistent occurrence associated mostly with men, teen girls are the most likely to experience discomfort in their bodies - with rates of girls wishing to become boys growing at alarming rates.
Reiter showed statistics demonstrating how this growing phenomenon is very likely linked to social pressure, with peaks occurring after the 2008 introduction of the iPhone, again with the rise of social media, and once more during the Covid lockdowns, when school closures and social isolation created a perfect environment for online manipulation and the targeting of lonely children.
Reiter also discussed the overall problem in “gender-affirming care,” explaining that the “care” offered does not actually help individuals, but instead serves only as a bandaid over deeper underlying issues. At the same time, the puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries involved with these transitions have not only been proven to be extremely dangerous and damaging, but they also leave their victims reliant upon the medical system for the rest of their lives - once having undergone transition, a person is forced to keep taking drugs for the rest of their lives to upkeep their results.
Friday evening fittingly ended with a showing and discussion of Matt Walsh’s funny but tragically insightful 2022 documentary, What is a Woman?, a movie that exposes the horrors of the gender ideology movement, and its victimization of vulnerable people while at the same time finding humour in the ridiculousness of certain scenarios.
Saturday morning, Dr. Anthony McCarthy, founder and director of the Bios Center and part-time professor of moral philosophy at the ITI, kickstarted the conference with his talk on Authenticity and Gender Identity, in which he explored the gender agenda’s connections to liberalism, and emphasized the importance of the belief that sexuality is inherently connected to procreation. McCarthy explained how previously, there was an understanding (as we see in St Thomas Aquinas) of the world as created by God, and all things having their proper teleology. This included the sexual act, the end of which was procreation. Without this understanding, the sexual act is quickly reduced to something that is merely for pleasure, and which, in turn, implies that sexual differences are really not that important.
When one has a teleological understanding of the world, McCarthy explained, it makes sense to condemn certain sexual acts, sterilization, sex changes, or the mutilation of one’s body as intrinsically contrary to natural law, because our sex characteristics themselves are expressions of goodness and are ordered to an end. However, when John Locke rejected the idea of the intelligible nature of all things in his philosophy of liberalism, rejecting the metaphysical nature of man, this meant that even gender was a mere social construct, no longer tied to reality. As such, what people feel themselves to be becomes more important than what they truly are. Dr. McCarthy reminded the audience that men and women will always be creatures who are based on reality, and that we must, as such, always “align ourselves to the splendour of truth.”
ITI’s own Professor Gintautas Vaitoška, a practicing psychiatrist of many years, also spoke at the conference, pointing out that there are many weaknesses in the philosophy of gender ideology, including the very fact that women always transition into men and men into women itself proves that gender is binary. From the view of psychotherapy, he discussed how it makes no sense to affirm a person’s gender dysphoria since underlying issues must be addressed first. Likewise, he pointed out that, as is proven by countless detransitioners, such care is not actually beneficial to the individual’s healing. Acknowledging the dangers of modern society’s acceptance and promotion of the gender agenda, he advised young people to consider homeschooling their future children, or even founding their own schools to properly protect their children from these evils. He also advised parents to frequently check in with their children in order to detect any developing mental illness, to speak highly of marriage, to emphasize that masculinity and femininity can look different for different people, to know the virtual crowd their child interacts with, to tell their children about the irrevocable dangers of transitioning, to respect procreation and to live by the teachings of Humanae Vitae.
The last event of the conference, and perhaps the most stirring, was a panel discussion between Prof. Vaitoska, ADF lawyer Dr. Guillermo Morales Sancho, and two mothers whose children have fallen prey to the gender ideology movement. These mothers spoke about how the system itself has failed parents, with social media full of uncensored trans activists, so-called “medical professionals” lying to parents about the steps they need to take to ensure their child is taken care of, schools and teachers helping children to socially transition often behind the very backs of the parents themselves, and even social services, who are supposed to protect children, will take the children away if their parents refuse to affirm them in their “new identity”.
The mothers ended with a plea to the Catholic Church, to remove gender ideology from schools and hospitals that ought to be promoting a scientific understanding of biology and the sanctity of the human body.