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According to The New York Times, the Trump administration is considering legally defining gender as a category determined by genitalia at birth. The Department of Health and Human Services would alter the Title IX definitions of gender, only recognizing male and female sex, which must be DNA tested to be determined. It would also define gender as “unchangeable.” This would effectively erase federal recognition of transgender and nonbinary identities. The effects of this policy would be devastating for over 1.4 million Americans across the country — resulting in a loss of access to health care, housing, education, and other public services.
On a scientific and cultural level, it is clear that humans have never fit neatly into the gender binary — just female and male — in nature. Up to 1.7 percent of people are born intersex, which means that their chromosomes, genitalia, or sex hormones do not fit the typical definitions for male and female bodies. There are as many intersex people as there are redheads — if you know somebody with red hair, you likely know somebody who was born intersex. Other cultures have various forms of non-binary genders, including the two-spirit people of some Native American cultures and the Mahu of Tahitian culture. In the U.S., non-binary identities are not always accepted, but they are beginning to be recognized on a level that they never have been before.
The failure of the Trump administration to acknowledge the fluidity and nuance that accompanies our understanding of sex and gender only serves to expose the underlying ideological motivation behind the leaked memo. These changes are politically charged and have a clear purpose: reversing the most recent social changes to support Trump’s notorious slogan, “Make America Great Again.” These policies fulfill the promise that our country will return to the past — one where dominant ideologies maintain their control over society.
For transgender people, having their legal support stripped away from them is not just a return to the past. It also creates a hostile environment, one in which their state-issued identity documents will not be recognized by the government, leaving people exposed because there is not even a closet for them to return to.
This does not just represent a conservative “opinion” on the definitions of sex and gender. It is a proposal that the government impose a rigid binary expectation. Everyone must look and act in one of two ways, and anything that falls in between is both an aberration from the societal norm and a flaw. The proposed policy reflects an undercurrent to the Trump administration as a whole. It promotes a world where things are simplistic, ordered, and easy. A place where you’re shielded from making room for those whose experience in this world is radically different from your own.
It does more than just impose a restrictive ideology — it effectively defines people out of their own personhood. In many sense it is perpetuating the ideology of “us vs. them” that Trump is known for. We must resist this labeling process.
This process does not just apply to transgender individuals. It is also seen in the politics of immigration, where people are defined out of legal residence, out of asylum,
and even out of citizenship. For those whose gender identity or expression falls outside of these newly redefined boxes for male and female, the same will occur. They will be removed from full personhood under the law and in the eyes of society.
Fortunately, changing the laws does not alter reality or the lived experiences of transgender individuals, both of which confirm the fact that gender is much more complex than these policies suggest. The Trump administration may be able to take their rights away as human beings, but they will never be able to “define” something out of existence. Transgender people will still exist, regardless of the administration’s attempts to pretend as if they do not.
Many in the trans community are already pushing back against this new definition with the hashtag #WeWontBeErased, but it is not just up to transgender activists to fight this battle. As cisgendered people, it’s our responsibility to demand an end to this bigotry. With staggeringly high murder and suicide rates in the transgender community, it’s crucial that we don’t remain complicit — lives may depend on it.
