In a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), it was revealed that the Trump administration is seeking to redefine gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,”completely erasing transgender and intersex individuals. To do so would put over five million trans and intersex people in a gray zone of existence.
This attempt to quash non-cisgender identities is not the Trump administration’s first attempt at reducing transgender rights. In March, transgender people were banned from enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces. In July, the Trump administration attempted to roll back health care nondiscrimination regulation by legally challenging Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in health coverage and care on the basis of sex (as well as other criteria) in health programs that receive federal funding.
If the government wants to judge by “biological basis,” where do intersex people stand in this criteria? Even biological sex isn’t necessarily binary, so to only define gender, an abstract social construct, as male and female is severely inadequate.
Transgender people already face harsh hatreds during their daily lives; lack of government protections only exacerbates problems. 2018 has seen record highs in violence against transgender people; just this year, 22 people have been murdered for being trans. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, one in four transgender individuals have been assaulted for simply being trans.
The Trump administration’s attempt at erasing transgender and intersex people as a whole is a disgusting move that blatantly disregards human rights. The narrow definition of gender (which has been disputed numerous times across human history) provided by the DHHS is just one of many steps that the government has attempted to remove recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights laws. Under Title IX, which protects against discrimination on the basis of sex, transgender people would no longer be protected.
It isn’t science, it isn’t objective. It’s bigotry.