SW News: Last week, a Catholic diocese in USA’s Iowa released official guidelines for its schools, including a ban on preferred pronoun use by kids who are uncertain of their sex and a prohibition on boys doubtful of their gender from accessing girls' locker rooms and restrooms.

Regarding "gender dysphoria" persons and circumstances, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines asserted that "unjust discrimination and harsh treatment must be actively avoided and addressed."

Given this, the diocese condemned the use of experimental medications, cross-sex hormones, or body-mutilating procedures to present the opposite sex, as well as the use of particular pronouns, since these practices are seen as detrimental to the "common good" of society.

It was mentioned that the first objective for parents of a child with gender dysphoria was to sincerely aid the child by recognizing the pain involved and guiding him or her down the road to personal healing, self-acceptance, integration, and serenity.

The diocese cited the Holy Father's concerns, noting that they were based on divine revelation and the Church's teaching that our identities as male and female are set as part of God's providential plan for mankind. The mystery of human sexuality as an essential component of our identity is received as a "gift from God", which we are "not authorized to seek to change".

In addition to students, the guide specified that its rules applied to "all Church employees, personnel, volunteers, and those devoted to the care of the Church."

However, the guidelines did not apply to occasional vendors and other individuals who may be present on the church-related property but are not acting in an official capacity on behalf of the church.

Democratic state senator Claire Celsi and other progressives have denounced the sexual identification recommendations. The diocese was "attempting to reject and exclude folks on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity," Celsi said on Facebook earlier this month.