STORY BY JOHN CARTER JR
Transgender people are those who do not identify with the gender they were attributed at birth merely based on the trait of sex. Gender is a continuum of traits that encompass the masculine and feminine spectrums across all people. This could also encompass Non-masculine or non-feminine traits. Some Transgender people feel such dysphoria with their own bodies that they will pursue sexual reassignment surgery to resolve this dysphoria. It is a long and rigorous process, and it takes multiple evaluations. These reassignment surgeries are extremely hard to go through. The rights of these people have always seemingly been thrown to the wayside and when it comes to the modern people in power, president Donald Trump has no trouble kicking a group when they are down.
According to the New York Times, “ The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth” this would be a major step back for not only Transgender people but also anymore who doesn’t fit the predetermine inborn gender assignment. Social and Behavioral For generations, sex and gender have been defined as separate concepts both socially and behaviorally. For the Trump administration to take such a stance would be damaging to the perception the nation has of its wide gender diverse population and would cause an even further divide between the nation and its own scientific communities.
The Trump administration through the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to define “sex” under Title IX. This would include the archaic perspective that gender is determined at birth, that it is inherent to sex, and that the two traits (sex and gender) are simply one and the same. The American Psychological Association has this to say concerning gender:
“Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics.”
Although we still use sex terms to describe gender, this is just one example of a massively important American institution has made progress for an oppressed group of people.
Allowing the Trump administration or any succeeding administration to attempt reversing the previously established progress towards a more free and liberating society is an act of hate toward these communities. It damages the oppressed’s ability and strength in these times. Trans people are suffering and their progress is being regressed, through this, we should be fighting for our fellow people.
We need to help each other in our times of need and it will take sacrifice but it is important not only for the aforementioned Trans people but also for every other oppressed group of people in the US and the rest of the world. This is of the utmost importance because while this is going on, all we are doing is thinking “Which group will it be next?”.