In rather worrying news, The Trump administration are considering defining transgender people out of existence, in a move that has caused a real panic across the United States.
During the Obama administration, a number of federal programmes were initiated that loosened the legal concept of gender in education and healthcare, basically making it a choice, and not restricting it to what you were born as. This led to many arguments about dormitories and bathrooms, amongst many other things.
Under Attack
Now that move could be about to come under attack. The Department of Health and Human Services is leading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex which restricts self-identification, and instead goes for a biological version grounded in science, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times. To put it simply, you will be either male or female, the way you were born.
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the department proposed in the memo, which was drafted and has been circulating since last spring.
“The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.”
If this goes through, it will eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have changed gender, be it surgically or otherwise,
“This takes a position that what the medical community understands about their patients — what people understand about themselves — is irrelevant because the government disagrees,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, who led the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights under Obama.
“Transgender people are frightened,” said Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, which presses for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “At every step where the administration has had the choice, they’ve opted to turn their back on transgender people.”
The move isn’t without its backers though. Roger Severino, the director of the Office for Civil Rights, has previously made his opposition to the Obama moves known.
In one commentary piece, he called the policies a “culmination of a series of unilateral, and frequently lawless, administration attempts to impose a new definition of what it means to be a man or a woman on the entire nation.”
Upsetting
I have never been one to get involved in politics. The American’s can vote for who they want. They don’t want or need my counsel. However, what I do care about are the rights of minorities such as the trans community.
When a group has, after years of struggle, gained rights that mean so much to them, to take them away is an act of wanton cruelty.
We all know this is just a bit of red meat to throw at Trump’s conservative base. However, what is seen in Washington as a good political move has awful effects for the communities affected. This is something that the Republican’s either don’t realise, or just don’t care about.
I would say that the only hope is would be the courts, but with Trump loading the Supreme Court with the hard right, I won’t hold my breath there either.
In the end, the question will be, how much to the government want to face the backlash? Hopefully, this just won’t be seen as a priority.
We send our solidarity to the trans community in the USA. No matter what happens, there are millions across that great country who love and respect the person you are. The more poisonous the policies are, the more they ensure they will be temporary.
Since then, he has specialised in articles on the battle for equal rights for sex workers, sexual health, as well as bringing the readers fun news from around the world. He also has a major interest in LGBT rights, and is an active campaigner in this field.
When he isn't fighting the good fight, he enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, and young daughter. He also enjoys reading and taking long walks.
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