Trump released over 70 executive orders on Monday. While orders on immigration and climate got a lot of attention, his anti-transgender order could have sweeping impacts as well.
Appreciate that callout; I was thinking of the ACLU and hadn't thought of LL. Here is an encouraging link. My judgment is that the eventual outcome of such lawsuits remains very much uncertain given the court situation. But it *likely* (not certainly!) gives us months to move.
This is LL returning to its roots. Decades before anyone thought of marriage equality, Lambda Legal did most of their work defending gay men who had been the targets of police sting operations. They used to publish their "little black book" which all gay men were encouraged to carry. It talked about peoples' rights, who to contact, and what to do or not do when placed under arrest.
It's so sad to see us starting to turn back toward those days. But if we do, I'm glad Lambda Legal and GLAAD are still around.
I have a longer comment down below, but this order in itself is rife with sex-based discrimination that would violate Title IX.
If we follow their logic about transgender women being "men," then it follows that FTM transgender men are "women." As such the order is extremely lopsided, and does pretty much nothing to "protect" FTM transgender men.
Also, Bostock was Gorsuch's first big decision that he authored since joining SCOTUS. We need to make it impossible for them to recant.
I think they'd argue (with spurious logic) that they're not recanting but rather that the logic applied to Title VII in the Bostock decision does not apply to Title IX. Because Gorsuch remained silent throughout the entirety of oral arguments in Skrmetti, it's not entirely clear how he views the issue himself. It would certainly seem ideologically inconsistent, but that has not stopped conservative SC justices in the past. I worry that Gorsuch not speaking up (including when other conservative justices claimed Bostock didn't apply to the case) and the nature of the language here about "misapplication" of the decision could stem from some kind of awareness about Gorsuch's views re: Bostock application, and the court''s upcoming ruling on Skrmetti. But it's also entirely possible the Trump administration is just asserting the position as if it's fact while assuming the court will side with them.
I think what we really need now is a deep understanding - preferably on a state-by-state basis - of how state-level protections may hopefully blunt or counteract at least some of these executive orders. These state protections are pretty much all we have left now. I’m thinking particularly of deep blue states that have protections for gender identity and GAC written into their laws and/or state constitutions. Like most people, most trans individuals live locally in their communities and states, not within the federal government.
Thirding this! As a mom of a trans college student in a bluish state I'd still like to plan for the worst. Do I need to move her to a bluer state, make plans to move her abroad? How shielded is she if her documents are already changed.
I'm wondering this, too--I also have a trans daughter, who's about to head to college. We live in a bluish state, but I wonder if that will be enough protection.
It's harder to predict now, given the uncertainty from this EO and potential changes to federal law may impact the issue, but Erin's Legislative Risk Map is a good resource for assessing the relative legislative safety of individual states
It's harder to predict now, given the uncertainty from this EO and potential changes to federal law may impact the issue, but Erin's Legislative Risk Map is a good resource for assessing the relative legislative safety of individual states. It's hard to say just from the EO how it will or won't be enforced in the future, but at the very least having made document changes already has the potential to provide some protection compared to those attempting to make new changes.
Seconding this. I've been holding onto hope that trans protections will function similar to marijuana legality in that technically it's federally illegal, but individual states have legalized it and the federal government (and I know this sounds like a cope) won't crack down because they know it's unpopular and a losing battle.
NY State has excellent protections, starting with Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act (aka GENDA) which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in all areas covered by the Human Rights Law. A NY Education Law prohibits discrimination based on GE/GI including teams in public schools, we also have a Safe Haven law and a gay and transgender panic defense ban, and Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) which provides protections in schools. Proposition 1, which passed in Nov. enshrined rights for transgender, nonbinary individuals in our state constitution.
I love how Trump has signed an EO to counteract the "weaponization of government" under Biden, then signs an EO showing that he's weaponizing government against an entire class of people that he doesn't like. I just wish it wasn't so bloody expected of him.
Erin, what is your suggestion for those of us who have a passport matching our gender in regards to international travel at this point? Will our passports be revoked without issuing a new “wrong” one? Will we need to change our sex on any airline tickets booked with our correct gender if they even allow you to do that? Is there a chance our passport will be invalidated while traveling? And how safe is it really to travel with documents that out us?
Will the document clause of this EO be challenged legally and under what grounds?
If half our documents are sex at fucking birth and the rest are our accurate gender and both are regardless of how we physically present, won’t this just make sex and gender on ID’s completely irrelevant?
My daughter has just corrected her birth certificate, and her driver's license already has her correct gender. It is ... not clear to me how she can get a passport at all, if all of her documentation says "female" but she becomes legally liable for fraud with a female passport. I mean--how on earth will her identity be verified under her dead name or with the wrong gender marker???
I know it's not a "good" solution, but your daughter can still get a "male" passport, probably under her correct name. The State Dept. requires a long-form birth certificate, which should list her amendment history. In some states, though, the original birth cert is sealed, in which case I don't really know what you'd do. (Approach a judge to have it unsealed, I guess?)
Thanks! Ohio does seal the original birth certificate, though IIRC the subject can request access. Still leaves the mess of conflicting documents (grrrrr).
I have a passport with my correct gender but my deadname. My state documents still have wrong gender and deadname. I had just started the process when Trump was elected.
The state documents I can change once I get a letter from my surgeon after my bottom surgery in a few months, but traveling to get there is now in question.
i.e. will my female sex passport with a male sounding name get confiscated. And, I don't "pass" perfectly from a physical standpoint.
I realize that nobody really knows the answer at this point, but I'm writing this out because I assume there are others in a simular situation.
For me, Trump’s Executive Action on Day One left me literally shaking as I read his official declaration seeking to erase who I am. I had feared this was coming and here it is.
But, then, sitting back to think this through and to remeasure the very nature of my existence, I found new strength in the undeniable (and unchangeable) Truth that I know to be true: I am who I am.
And despite any declaration from a tyrant or his bigoted henchmen, I am who I am with or without official federal recognition and protection.
For this is the essential Truth: I know who I am from the inside out. THEY DO NOT.
So, let’s be clear at the outset of this dark era: at its very core and most fundamentally - what this Order is in its most naked and rawest form - is hate.
Fascist-driven hate.
And hate of the "other" is essential to fascist belief and action and power.
Do not be deceived.
This IS fascism.
Nuremberg now has its 21st century corollary.
Hate is easy.
Hate is unifying.
Hate is empowering.
Hate wins entry-point fascist elections.
Hate is essential to the forceful instillation of a fascist state.
But hate is still an evil.
Yet be assured. History teaches us that we will overcome this evil in due time.
Long ago, before Obergefell, I was contemplating the meaning of marriage, and I came to a similar conclusion: Two people are married if they marry. It's as simple as that. The state can confer certain legal rights and privileges associated with marriage, but they cannot prevent two people from marrying. People do what they do, and they are what they are. State recognition is something else entirely.
Thank you Erin. Their inability to describe what they pretend is real in "scientific" terms which are not self contradictory is obvious -- and that inability will see much of what they want nullified for being confusing and confounding of what they say they want.
Yeah I love the claim that only two sexes is science when it’s intersex erasure. They can scream about “gender ideology” all they want but that doesn’t change anyone’s DNA, sex characteristics, or hormonal makeup. Also as a sociologist, gender is indeed a spectrum that may not have anything to do with sex characteristics. Also science. I can’t with this crap.
With their definition, it's not just intersex people who are no longer people, but also anyone infertile from birth. What are infertile people within this definition, if there are only two sexes, defined by what reproductive cells your body produces?
That's how this is invalidated by the courts. Social Conservatives say, "Shut up this is simple you know what we mean!", and the person says, "Yet I do not meet any of your definitions and I still exist."
Well, to be clear, they are defining sex on what gametes you produced when you were CONCEIVED. So their definitions don't apply to anyone of the human species (or any creature on this planet). I suppose Trump could just shoot off another EO with corrected definitions, though.
Actually, rereading it, we're all female! Clumps of human cells don't start aligning to make until 6 weeks. Hmm. Dang I guess the lines for the women's rooms are about to get longer.
Nah, it's even weirder than that. Since we don't produce either "small" OR "large" "reproductive cells" as zygotes, that means nobody is male, and nobody is female. I think we are all X. (This would align, humorously, with their scripture - Galatians something'nuther: "We are neither male nor female before the lord" (or words to that effect). LOL!
It's Galatians 3:28, which reads (NIV) "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Which, to be honest, doesn't really help in this context, as it's about status within in the local congregation, not in "God's eyes."
(Is it true that atheists often know more about the Bible than Christians?)
I feel like I do, which doesn't really say much. I'm hardly a biblical scholar! I just study certain aspects of the bible like I'm studying legal opinions, and entirely for self-defense. ;-)
The irony is that the action's title (Defending Women) ignores the simple fact that the action's authors and signer have clearly demonstrated a much larger threat to women than has anyone in the Transgender community.
At the risk of being melodramatic, I keep hearing the voices of holocaust survivors saying "We didn't think that it would go any further. We thought "These are our friends and neighbors" surely THEY won't stand by and watch."
Thanks, Erin! Hard to read but priceless as an explainer!
Did anyone find this jarring and maybe (as I did) laughable? Are "ova" and "sperm" just too sciency for the right? I did a quick search and didn't find references to these terms anywhere:
"(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.
(e) “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
And does it then mean that trans girls who never went through testosterone based puberty and don’t produce sperm or ova are then not either gender? Their “science” reveals a lack of basic knowledge of how bodies work.
YES! I've seen this language popping up among anti-trans activists of "large gametes" and "small gametes". I've heard it so much that I thought I must be losing my mind. (This is literally my field.) So I did a search for "large vs. small gametes," and I found a strange little online lab textbook (incomplete, oddly) about the "Evolution and Biology of Sex." It comes out of the University of Minnesota. However, the authors do seem to prefer the words "sperm" and "egg"/"ovum," which is comforting. See here
The lead author is Sehoya Cotner, who seems to be an LGBTQ ally (has awards). Coauthor is Deena Wassenberg, who is on the Equity, Access, and Diversity board of UMN. So perhaps this is just a generational thing. Nothing nefarious. All the same, it sounds to me like the dumbing down of biology, which doesn't make me particularly happy.
It will also affect any forms you sign and send to federal agencies (e.g., tax returns), as submitting “false” information to the feds is generally a felony. So when the rules hit, we need to pay attention.
Federal tax returns don’t ask for sex/gender. As for your name, if it’s been legally changed I can’t see how you would get in trouble for using that. Name changes are handled by judges at the local level, and I would think any name reversals (which seems an extreme concept anyway) would need to be done similarly.
This is one of my huge fears. Also voting. Regarding tax returns, our SSN is tagged with a gender marker. Not everyone knows this or changes it, but I have. I don't know if I have to change it back to file a tax return non-fraudulently. (Perhaps I could just stop filing returns until they can resolve my gender. They're probably defunding the IRS anyway, right?)
Unless for some reason the feds want to go after you personally, tax forms in particular are not likely to be a huge problem because on the whole the IRS doesn't care about such matters so long as you pay up. (Insert "not a lawyer" warning here.)
During the original forever war (Indochina), the only war tax resisters I can recall who got into legal (as in go to jail) trouble were those who did things like refuse to obey a subpoena for records and the like. Those who said "Yeah, according to you, I own such-and-such but I ain't payin'" would experience having their bank accounts and sometimes personal property seized (plus interest and penalties) but not arrest and jail. The point is, we would tell people thinking about resisting "They don't want you. They want your money."
As expected, the Trump Regime has gone full nuclear against the trans community. Because as history has taught us, this is what fascists DO. They cannot stand that people exist outside of their strictly defined box of what they call "normal" and would rather eliminate us than tolerate us. We have been warned about these people since the end of WW2 yet Americans failed to listen. And we will ALL suffer as a result.
And these people say they're totally not fascists... They just want to literally dictate the definition of words (which aren't even the real definitions) and just erase intersex people from legal existence. I'm to a point into questioning whether violence will become the only example at this point as I just want to live my life in peice, not worry what some small d*ck wannabe dictator going to do to me because I had the audacity to be me.
Thank you for this. Hard to imagine what awaits...
One thing: I am not a biologist, but I don't believe there are any physiological features "at conception." We're talking a couple of cells, right? The idiocy would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.
So it begins. It is time for those of us who have been sitting on the sidelines (myself included) to get involved in any way possible to fight these attacks on our community. Communicate with your representatives in all levels of government, become involved in groups that support us and our allies. Most importantly... VOTE! Let's send a message to these bigots that we will not disappear quietly.
Vote?!?! In WHAT? Vote in 2 years for a bunch of Democrats who have literally already decided we don't matter and have started voting against us??? We have to be prepared to do A LOT MORE than just call representatives and vote. We need to organize, create support groups to access missing services, help trans people find jobs, fund programs to help them escape red states, become or help lawyers, volunteer in charities, organize marches and protests, prepare for non-violent civil disobedience if necessary... and yes, voting is good too, but it's too late for that to make any change for years to come. Now is the time we get in there and do the hard work for clawing back our rights from the fascists who want to take them.
This comment is not meant to be an attack, it's meant to be a clarion call, a perspective shift. Because voting as the primary means of change didn't help the in US or the UK.
Yes, VOTE. Vote especially in the primaries. (Hardly anyone does, so your vote is quite powerful there.) We need to be supporting Democratic candidates in the primaries who will unseat incumbent Democrats who don't support us. And we need to work our asses off for the challengers' campaigns. We will be remembered and appreciated, I promise.
No need to choose. Do both: vote AND everything else.
Someone, I don't recall who, said once we need to be in "the suites and the streets" - meaning both lobbying legislators and and publicly protesting. We need to stand up in the public forums and sit-in in the offices of those who will not listen. And all that outside support organizing - including an idea I've seen for a sort of underground railroad complete with safe houses for those who in jeopardy of legal proceedings - should be an on-going project.
I live in a trans-friendly state but that is by virtue of gubernatorial order, not law, so my first move is to look to join with others to solidify that status into law.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: The issue isn't what you are doing. It's are you doing what you can. No one can expect more of us - but we should expect nothing less of ourselves.
Yes, everything that you mentioned and then some. I was shooting for brevity with my comment (serious back pain today) but my sentiment is right there with you.
Those sound like great things, and we need leaders. For example. I want to help and have skills that may be useful but, I don't know anything about organizing.
I understand completely. The county where I reside has zero LGBTQ+ support or resources. I would love to start organizing something, anything to get things rolling but I haven't a clue how to begin.
Just this past weekend I attended the inaugural meeting of a PFLAG chapter that was just organized in my county. I am hoping that this will provide a spark to get things moving. I am attending the first official virtual meeting next week and I hope to make lots of new contacts.
I also had a brief conversation with the mayor of a local town with the idea of starting an LGBTQ+ community center. She promised that we could have a follow up conversation after the new year.
I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this small start will turn into something that will be a service to our local community.
Hi Joanne, I posted before that I want to help but don't have any experience with organizing. But I had an idea and it seems to be working so I'll share what I did -
I'm from Wisconsin and I started a TransMidwest Discord server. This kind of community, in addition to a support resources, I think can also me a platform to mobilize (i.e. get word out about critical local votes, protests etc.), and be more effective for local events than the larger national/wordwide trans forums.
This could be done, if not done already, in other states/regions of the country. The way I got in touch with some people to get it going was accidental. I made a post to a trans reddit group asking how often women were skirts in northern states and mentioned I'm from Wisconsin. Lots of Wisconsin and midwest gals replied. The light bulb came on for me and I asked each of them if they'd be interested in joining a TransMidwest discord server if I set one up.
Most said yes, so I created the server and people are joining and some had said they'll share with their trans friends.
To add more value I created a local resource channel for sharing trans friendly providers and a trans info channel where I'm maintaining a list of links to local info, such as a legal guide for name and gender marker changing in Wisconsin (hopefully others will share that info for their midwestern states).
I posted before that I want to help but don't have any experience with organizing. But I had an idea and it seems to be working so I'll share what I did -
I'm from Wisconsin and I started a TransMidwest Discord server. This kind of community, in addition to a support resources, I think can also me a platform to mobilize (i.e. get word out about critical local votes, protests etc.)
This could be done, if not done already, in other states/regions of the country. The way I got in touch with some people to get it going was accidental. I made a post to a trans reddit group asking how often women were skirts in northern states and mentioned I'm from Wisconsin. Lots of Wisconsin and midwest gals replied. The light bulb came on for me and I asked each of them if they'd be interested in joining a TransMidwest discord server if I set one up.
Most said yes, so I created the server and people are joining and some had said they'll share with their trans friends.
To add more value I created a local resource channel for sharing trans friendly providers and a trans info channel where I'm maintaining a list of links to local info, such as a legal guide for name and gender marker changing in Wisconsin (hopefully others will share that info for their midwestern states).
Thanks you Erin. If you haven’t seen it Lambda Legal is going to go full force against these Nazi like Orders
Appreciate that callout; I was thinking of the ACLU and hadn't thought of LL. Here is an encouraging link. My judgment is that the eventual outcome of such lawsuits remains very much uncertain given the court situation. But it *likely* (not certainly!) gives us months to move.
https://lambdalegal.org/newsroom/us_20250120_ll-condemns-anti-lgbtq-xecutive-orders-vows-legal-action/
This is LL returning to its roots. Decades before anyone thought of marriage equality, Lambda Legal did most of their work defending gay men who had been the targets of police sting operations. They used to publish their "little black book" which all gay men were encouraged to carry. It talked about peoples' rights, who to contact, and what to do or not do when placed under arrest.
It's so sad to see us starting to turn back toward those days. But if we do, I'm glad Lambda Legal and GLAAD are still around.
Thank you Erin. If you haven’t seen it Lambda Legal is going to go full force against these Nazi like Orders
I have a longer comment down below, but this order in itself is rife with sex-based discrimination that would violate Title IX.
If we follow their logic about transgender women being "men," then it follows that FTM transgender men are "women." As such the order is extremely lopsided, and does pretty much nothing to "protect" FTM transgender men.
Also, Bostock was Gorsuch's first big decision that he authored since joining SCOTUS. We need to make it impossible for them to recant.
I think they'd argue (with spurious logic) that they're not recanting but rather that the logic applied to Title VII in the Bostock decision does not apply to Title IX. Because Gorsuch remained silent throughout the entirety of oral arguments in Skrmetti, it's not entirely clear how he views the issue himself. It would certainly seem ideologically inconsistent, but that has not stopped conservative SC justices in the past. I worry that Gorsuch not speaking up (including when other conservative justices claimed Bostock didn't apply to the case) and the nature of the language here about "misapplication" of the decision could stem from some kind of awareness about Gorsuch's views re: Bostock application, and the court''s upcoming ruling on Skrmetti. But it's also entirely possible the Trump administration is just asserting the position as if it's fact while assuming the court will side with them.
I think what we really need now is a deep understanding - preferably on a state-by-state basis - of how state-level protections may hopefully blunt or counteract at least some of these executive orders. These state protections are pretty much all we have left now. I’m thinking particularly of deep blue states that have protections for gender identity and GAC written into their laws and/or state constitutions. Like most people, most trans individuals live locally in their communities and states, not within the federal government.
Thirding this! As a mom of a trans college student in a bluish state I'd still like to plan for the worst. Do I need to move her to a bluer state, make plans to move her abroad? How shielded is she if her documents are already changed.
I'm wondering this, too--I also have a trans daughter, who's about to head to college. We live in a bluish state, but I wonder if that will be enough protection.
It's harder to predict now, given the uncertainty from this EO and potential changes to federal law may impact the issue, but Erin's Legislative Risk Map is a good resource for assessing the relative legislative safety of individual states
It's harder to predict now, given the uncertainty from this EO and potential changes to federal law may impact the issue, but Erin's Legislative Risk Map is a good resource for assessing the relative legislative safety of individual states. It's hard to say just from the EO how it will or won't be enforced in the future, but at the very least having made document changes already has the potential to provide some protection compared to those attempting to make new changes.
Seconding this. I've been holding onto hope that trans protections will function similar to marijuana legality in that technically it's federally illegal, but individual states have legalized it and the federal government (and I know this sounds like a cope) won't crack down because they know it's unpopular and a losing battle.
NY State has excellent protections, starting with Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act (aka GENDA) which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in all areas covered by the Human Rights Law. A NY Education Law prohibits discrimination based on GE/GI including teams in public schools, we also have a Safe Haven law and a gay and transgender panic defense ban, and Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) which provides protections in schools. Proposition 1, which passed in Nov. enshrined rights for transgender, nonbinary individuals in our state constitution.
I love how Trump has signed an EO to counteract the "weaponization of government" under Biden, then signs an EO showing that he's weaponizing government against an entire class of people that he doesn't like. I just wish it wasn't so bloody expected of him.
Erin, what is your suggestion for those of us who have a passport matching our gender in regards to international travel at this point? Will our passports be revoked without issuing a new “wrong” one? Will we need to change our sex on any airline tickets booked with our correct gender if they even allow you to do that? Is there a chance our passport will be invalidated while traveling? And how safe is it really to travel with documents that out us?
Will the document clause of this EO be challenged legally and under what grounds?
If half our documents are sex at fucking birth and the rest are our accurate gender and both are regardless of how we physically present, won’t this just make sex and gender on ID’s completely irrelevant?
My daughter has just corrected her birth certificate, and her driver's license already has her correct gender. It is ... not clear to me how she can get a passport at all, if all of her documentation says "female" but she becomes legally liable for fraud with a female passport. I mean--how on earth will her identity be verified under her dead name or with the wrong gender marker???
I know it's not a "good" solution, but your daughter can still get a "male" passport, probably under her correct name. The State Dept. requires a long-form birth certificate, which should list her amendment history. In some states, though, the original birth cert is sealed, in which case I don't really know what you'd do. (Approach a judge to have it unsealed, I guess?)
Thanks! Ohio does seal the original birth certificate, though IIRC the subject can request access. Still leaves the mess of conflicting documents (grrrrr).
I 2nd these questions!
A specific scenario -
I have a passport with my correct gender but my deadname. My state documents still have wrong gender and deadname. I had just started the process when Trump was elected.
The state documents I can change once I get a letter from my surgeon after my bottom surgery in a few months, but traveling to get there is now in question.
i.e. will my female sex passport with a male sounding name get confiscated. And, I don't "pass" perfectly from a physical standpoint.
I realize that nobody really knows the answer at this point, but I'm writing this out because I assume there are others in a simular situation.
So here we are on Day Two.
The darkness descends.
For me, Trump’s Executive Action on Day One left me literally shaking as I read his official declaration seeking to erase who I am. I had feared this was coming and here it is.
But, then, sitting back to think this through and to remeasure the very nature of my existence, I found new strength in the undeniable (and unchangeable) Truth that I know to be true: I am who I am.
And despite any declaration from a tyrant or his bigoted henchmen, I am who I am with or without official federal recognition and protection.
For this is the essential Truth: I know who I am from the inside out. THEY DO NOT.
So, let’s be clear at the outset of this dark era: at its very core and most fundamentally - what this Order is in its most naked and rawest form - is hate.
Fascist-driven hate.
And hate of the "other" is essential to fascist belief and action and power.
Do not be deceived.
This IS fascism.
Nuremberg now has its 21st century corollary.
Hate is easy.
Hate is unifying.
Hate is empowering.
Hate wins entry-point fascist elections.
Hate is essential to the forceful instillation of a fascist state.
But hate is still an evil.
Yet be assured. History teaches us that we will overcome this evil in due time.
But resistance is necessary; in fact, obligatory.
We must resist.
I knew this was coming.
The darkness envelops.
I have prepared for this.
And now my personal resistance begins.
Vive ma résistance.
Vive la Résistance.
Long ago, before Obergefell, I was contemplating the meaning of marriage, and I came to a similar conclusion: Two people are married if they marry. It's as simple as that. The state can confer certain legal rights and privileges associated with marriage, but they cannot prevent two people from marrying. People do what they do, and they are what they are. State recognition is something else entirely.
Thank you Erin. Their inability to describe what they pretend is real in "scientific" terms which are not self contradictory is obvious -- and that inability will see much of what they want nullified for being confusing and confounding of what they say they want.
Yeah I love the claim that only two sexes is science when it’s intersex erasure. They can scream about “gender ideology” all they want but that doesn’t change anyone’s DNA, sex characteristics, or hormonal makeup. Also as a sociologist, gender is indeed a spectrum that may not have anything to do with sex characteristics. Also science. I can’t with this crap.
Scientific American published a fantastic issue a number of years back with charts depicting all of the ways in which biological sex is a spectrum 👑
Yes, I’ve used it in my classes. I have a whole folder of SA articles for students with parents or relatives who need science based info.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyond-xx-and-xy-the-extraordinary-complexity-of-sex-determination/
Thank you!
Could you share the doi or issue date for the article D. Buck referenced?
Can you link us to it please?
It was a fantastic chart, but at most covered 5% of the ways sex develops in an other than typical manner.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/
Thanks for the links. Much appreciated.
With their definition, it's not just intersex people who are no longer people, but also anyone infertile from birth. What are infertile people within this definition, if there are only two sexes, defined by what reproductive cells your body produces?
That's how this is invalidated by the courts. Social Conservatives say, "Shut up this is simple you know what we mean!", and the person says, "Yet I do not meet any of your definitions and I still exist."
Moments like this always remind me of Edwina, by Mo Willems.
Well, to be clear, they are defining sex on what gametes you produced when you were CONCEIVED. So their definitions don't apply to anyone of the human species (or any creature on this planet). I suppose Trump could just shoot off another EO with corrected definitions, though.
Actually, rereading it, we're all female! Clumps of human cells don't start aligning to make until 6 weeks. Hmm. Dang I guess the lines for the women's rooms are about to get longer.
Nah, it's even weirder than that. Since we don't produce either "small" OR "large" "reproductive cells" as zygotes, that means nobody is male, and nobody is female. I think we are all X. (This would align, humorously, with their scripture - Galatians something'nuther: "We are neither male nor female before the lord" (or words to that effect). LOL!
It's Galatians 3:28, which reads (NIV) "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Which, to be honest, doesn't really help in this context, as it's about status within in the local congregation, not in "God's eyes."
(Is it true that atheists often know more about the Bible than Christians?)
I feel like I do, which doesn't really say much. I'm hardly a biblical scholar! I just study certain aspects of the bible like I'm studying legal opinions, and entirely for self-defense. ;-)
The irony is that the action's title (Defending Women) ignores the simple fact that the action's authors and signer have clearly demonstrated a much larger threat to women than has anyone in the Transgender community.
At the risk of being melodramatic, I keep hearing the voices of holocaust survivors saying "We didn't think that it would go any further. We thought "These are our friends and neighbors" surely THEY won't stand by and watch."
Erin, you glorious important woman, I thank you for all you are doing.
Thanks, Erin! Hard to read but priceless as an explainer!
Did anyone find this jarring and maybe (as I did) laughable? Are "ova" and "sperm" just too sciency for the right? I did a quick search and didn't find references to these terms anywhere:
"(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.
(e) “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
Also at conception is insane? That's a single cell you're talking about, it does not produce sperm or eggs.
Hmm does that mean I stopped being "female" when I stopped menstruating? (I'm a trans guy.) Do men with no sperm count stop being men?
And does it then mean that trans girls who never went through testosterone based puberty and don’t produce sperm or ova are then not either gender? Their “science” reveals a lack of basic knowledge of how bodies work.
YES! I've seen this language popping up among anti-trans activists of "large gametes" and "small gametes". I've heard it so much that I thought I must be losing my mind. (This is literally my field.) So I did a search for "large vs. small gametes," and I found a strange little online lab textbook (incomplete, oddly) about the "Evolution and Biology of Sex." It comes out of the University of Minnesota. However, the authors do seem to prefer the words "sperm" and "egg"/"ovum," which is comforting. See here
https://open.lib.umn.edu/evolutionbiology/
The lead author is Sehoya Cotner, who seems to be an LGBTQ ally (has awards). Coauthor is Deena Wassenberg, who is on the Equity, Access, and Diversity board of UMN. So perhaps this is just a generational thing. Nothing nefarious. All the same, it sounds to me like the dumbing down of biology, which doesn't make me particularly happy.
That's exactly it. The transphobes will be like "trans people don't exists, it's basic biology"
Exactly, BASIC biology. As in simplified and generalized to be accessible to a novice. VS the ADVANCED biology you've got going on
It will also affect any forms you sign and send to federal agencies (e.g., tax returns), as submitting “false” information to the feds is generally a felony. So when the rules hit, we need to pay attention.
Federal tax returns don’t ask for sex/gender. As for your name, if it’s been legally changed I can’t see how you would get in trouble for using that. Name changes are handled by judges at the local level, and I would think any name reversals (which seems an extreme concept anyway) would need to be done similarly.
This is one of my huge fears. Also voting. Regarding tax returns, our SSN is tagged with a gender marker. Not everyone knows this or changes it, but I have. I don't know if I have to change it back to file a tax return non-fraudulently. (Perhaps I could just stop filing returns until they can resolve my gender. They're probably defunding the IRS anyway, right?)
Unless for some reason the feds want to go after you personally, tax forms in particular are not likely to be a huge problem because on the whole the IRS doesn't care about such matters so long as you pay up. (Insert "not a lawyer" warning here.)
During the original forever war (Indochina), the only war tax resisters I can recall who got into legal (as in go to jail) trouble were those who did things like refuse to obey a subpoena for records and the like. Those who said "Yeah, according to you, I own such-and-such but I ain't payin'" would experience having their bank accounts and sometimes personal property seized (plus interest and penalties) but not arrest and jail. The point is, we would tell people thinking about resisting "They don't want you. They want your money."
I expect that's still true.
As expected, the Trump Regime has gone full nuclear against the trans community. Because as history has taught us, this is what fascists DO. They cannot stand that people exist outside of their strictly defined box of what they call "normal" and would rather eliminate us than tolerate us. We have been warned about these people since the end of WW2 yet Americans failed to listen. And we will ALL suffer as a result.
And these people say they're totally not fascists... They just want to literally dictate the definition of words (which aren't even the real definitions) and just erase intersex people from legal existence. I'm to a point into questioning whether violence will become the only example at this point as I just want to live my life in peice, not worry what some small d*ck wannabe dictator going to do to me because I had the audacity to be me.
Fascists never actually admit they're fascists until they gain power then they're throwing Nazi salutes like your typical Elon Muskrat.
I call most Trump supporters, “Sixth Sense Fascists”; that is, they are fascists, but don’t know that they are fascists.
I'm really fucking tired of this shit. These nazis better pray that they won't be at my mercy in the afterlife. They won't enjoy it.
Thank you for this. Hard to imagine what awaits...
One thing: I am not a biologist, but I don't believe there are any physiological features "at conception." We're talking a couple of cells, right? The idiocy would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.
So it begins. It is time for those of us who have been sitting on the sidelines (myself included) to get involved in any way possible to fight these attacks on our community. Communicate with your representatives in all levels of government, become involved in groups that support us and our allies. Most importantly... VOTE! Let's send a message to these bigots that we will not disappear quietly.
Vote?!?! In WHAT? Vote in 2 years for a bunch of Democrats who have literally already decided we don't matter and have started voting against us??? We have to be prepared to do A LOT MORE than just call representatives and vote. We need to organize, create support groups to access missing services, help trans people find jobs, fund programs to help them escape red states, become or help lawyers, volunteer in charities, organize marches and protests, prepare for non-violent civil disobedience if necessary... and yes, voting is good too, but it's too late for that to make any change for years to come. Now is the time we get in there and do the hard work for clawing back our rights from the fascists who want to take them.
This comment is not meant to be an attack, it's meant to be a clarion call, a perspective shift. Because voting as the primary means of change didn't help the in US or the UK.
Yes, VOTE. Vote especially in the primaries. (Hardly anyone does, so your vote is quite powerful there.) We need to be supporting Democratic candidates in the primaries who will unseat incumbent Democrats who don't support us. And we need to work our asses off for the challengers' campaigns. We will be remembered and appreciated, I promise.
Agreed!
No need to choose. Do both: vote AND everything else.
Someone, I don't recall who, said once we need to be in "the suites and the streets" - meaning both lobbying legislators and and publicly protesting. We need to stand up in the public forums and sit-in in the offices of those who will not listen. And all that outside support organizing - including an idea I've seen for a sort of underground railroad complete with safe houses for those who in jeopardy of legal proceedings - should be an on-going project.
I live in a trans-friendly state but that is by virtue of gubernatorial order, not law, so my first move is to look to join with others to solidify that status into law.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: The issue isn't what you are doing. It's are you doing what you can. No one can expect more of us - but we should expect nothing less of ourselves.
Yes, everything that you mentioned and then some. I was shooting for brevity with my comment (serious back pain today) but my sentiment is right there with you.
Those sound like great things, and we need leaders. For example. I want to help and have skills that may be useful but, I don't know anything about organizing.
I understand completely. The county where I reside has zero LGBTQ+ support or resources. I would love to start organizing something, anything to get things rolling but I haven't a clue how to begin.
Just this past weekend I attended the inaugural meeting of a PFLAG chapter that was just organized in my county. I am hoping that this will provide a spark to get things moving. I am attending the first official virtual meeting next week and I hope to make lots of new contacts.
I also had a brief conversation with the mayor of a local town with the idea of starting an LGBTQ+ community center. She promised that we could have a follow up conversation after the new year.
I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this small start will turn into something that will be a service to our local community.
Hi Joanne, I posted before that I want to help but don't have any experience with organizing. But I had an idea and it seems to be working so I'll share what I did -
I'm from Wisconsin and I started a TransMidwest Discord server. This kind of community, in addition to a support resources, I think can also me a platform to mobilize (i.e. get word out about critical local votes, protests etc.), and be more effective for local events than the larger national/wordwide trans forums.
This could be done, if not done already, in other states/regions of the country. The way I got in touch with some people to get it going was accidental. I made a post to a trans reddit group asking how often women were skirts in northern states and mentioned I'm from Wisconsin. Lots of Wisconsin and midwest gals replied. The light bulb came on for me and I asked each of them if they'd be interested in joining a TransMidwest discord server if I set one up.
Most said yes, so I created the server and people are joining and some had said they'll share with their trans friends.
To add more value I created a local resource channel for sharing trans friendly providers and a trans info channel where I'm maintaining a list of links to local info, such as a legal guide for name and gender marker changing in Wisconsin (hopefully others will share that info for their midwestern states).
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a start!
I posted before that I want to help but don't have any experience with organizing. But I had an idea and it seems to be working so I'll share what I did -
I'm from Wisconsin and I started a TransMidwest Discord server. This kind of community, in addition to a support resources, I think can also me a platform to mobilize (i.e. get word out about critical local votes, protests etc.)
This could be done, if not done already, in other states/regions of the country. The way I got in touch with some people to get it going was accidental. I made a post to a trans reddit group asking how often women were skirts in northern states and mentioned I'm from Wisconsin. Lots of Wisconsin and midwest gals replied. The light bulb came on for me and I asked each of them if they'd be interested in joining a TransMidwest discord server if I set one up.
Most said yes, so I created the server and people are joining and some had said they'll share with their trans friends.
To add more value I created a local resource channel for sharing trans friendly providers and a trans info channel where I'm maintaining a list of links to local info, such as a legal guide for name and gender marker changing in Wisconsin (hopefully others will share that info for their midwestern states).