Donald Trump is attacking the transgender community again. This time, instead of his usual tweets on Twitter, it was through a leaked memo, which suggests that the Trump Administration wants to create the legal definition of sex as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth. Another part of the memo added that 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.
This new definition would erase all of the 1.4 million Americans who identify with something that is not listed on their original birth certificate, according to the New York Times.
First, a little background. According to CNN, “The American medical community currently recognizes a distinction between sex — a classification based on bodily characteristics, internal and external — and gender, the socially constructed roles and behaviors typically ascribed to men and women.” It also recognizes that no single aspect of sex defines a person’s gender identity, which is defined as their internal sense of gender. This may not match the sex assigned to them at birth.
In recent years, the American medical community has also called for protections for those whose gender does not fit exactly into the binary of a man or a woman, such as transgender people and gender-nonconforming people.
If this were to be implemented, this would be a setback from the Obama administration policies that allowed people to decide how they want to be identified rather than their assigned birth sex.
This memo comes only a year after Trump tried to ban transgender individuals from the military. This ban was struck down by many high courts in the United States and as of now transgender people can still actively serve in the US military.
Many people have come out in opposition to Trump’s leaked memo, including many celebrities, such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner, who have spoken out publicly about the issue. Even at a game during the MLB World Series, there were people protesting Trump’s attempt at doing this by lowering the trans flag saying “TRANS PEOPLE DESERVE TO LIVE.”
It is uncertain about whether or not this will go into effect, but for now, many people are just hoping for the best, whatever their opinion may be
Information for this article came from CNN and The New York Times
