Remember, erasure of visibly Trans people and of Trans existence under the law are both critical components to the current active genocide of Trans, gender expansive, and intersex Americans. This is not a drill. We are being eradicated visibly, socially, legally, medically, epistemologically, and psychologically, RIGHT NOW. This is not a cautionary tale.
THIS IS WHAT GENOCIDE LOOKS LIKE WHILE IT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.
So are there going to be any consequences for the administration for their having done this? Can this be litigated? It seems they will do whatever they can get away with.
AFAIK it has been litigated and these are the consequences. Since these were official acts by the Administration, it's up to Congress to add further consequences, and the only real consequence they could impose would be impeachment, which, I regret to say, I don't think is likely to happen.
Thank you Erin, for keeping me updated on the shitstorm of hate that this administration keeps creating. Every word that comes out of his orange mouth makes me want to vomit. But you are one of the few ethical journalists out there that covers all of the ways that His Nastiness tries to erase and eradicate. I am grateful for you.
I'm still trying to think of WHAT ARGUMENT one could make to shake these anti-trans militants out of their imaginary framework and get them to see things a little differently.
Just to get this off my chest and try out some arguments, the way I would argue it is something along the lines of what I've written below. I want the argument to be able to speak to people with very conservative views about gender and sexuality, but not to disparage or diminish trans people in doing so. Please let me know if you have any suggestions/additions that would make this better!
Of course there are men and women: No one is arguing against the “immutable fact” that there are PRIMARILY two sexes, male and female. That said, not EVERYONE neatly fits into those two categories
Gender is different than sex: However, while for years the terms “gender” and “sex” were used more or less interchangeably, modern use of the term “gender” refers to the socially constructed characteristics that are associated with women, men, girls, and boys, rather than to the biologically evident markers of sex that one has at birth.
Gender expression is NOT immutable: Even among cisgender people, the expressions of typical “male” and “female” characteristics and signifiers change with time. In the Victorian era, the color pink was associated with boys (as people thought it was too “hot” or “energetic” for girls, who were associated with the “cooler” color blue). The “Founding Fathers” of America wore wigs and heels. Almost all of the men in the Bible are portrayed as wearing gowns, not pants. And so on.
People who don’t fit gender “norms” are not new: Throughout history, many cultures have recognized that in addition to the many people whose gender expression aligns with the current cultural “norms” for men and women, there have also been people who defied those “norms,” expressing their gender in different ways than their culture assigns them.
Even “biological” sex is on a spectrum: While people who are intersex are different than people who are transgender, it is important to recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of people alive in the world right now who have variations of chromosomes, genitalia, and other characteristics that makes it impossible to clearly identify them as simply “male” or “female.”
If the physical characteristics of sex are not binary, why would we expect the mental and emotional aspects to be? If there are naturally occurring variations in human physicality that make it clear that not ALL human beings fit neatly into the male/female binary, would it not also be expected that among the billions of varied humans around the world, that from a mental and emotional aspect (which are not disconnected from the physical in the first place), there would also be many people who think of themselves or feel themselves to be a different gender than they were identified as being associated with at birth?
Lived experience tells us that trans people DO exist: No matter what a person believes about the relationship between sex and gender, or the complex social and biological factors that go into developing a person’s gender identity, the fact that there are millions of people in the US alone who report being transgender means that YES TRANS PEOPLE ARE REAL AND DO EXIST, despite the Republican administrations own “Gender Ideology” that tries to deny the immutable existence of trans people to support an imaginary view of a binary reality.
YOU CANNOT ERASE TRANS PEOPLE BY DELETING THEM FROM THE WEBSITE: There are groups in this country who hate trans people, who think trans people have a mental illness or are morally sinful, and who are afraid that schools and other institutions can somehow “turn” their children trans, just by educating them about the fact that trans people exist. Trans people are already one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, subject to hate, violence, even murder. Denying their existence and shutting off access to education will only create more danger, and will drive more trans people toward depression, isolation, and self-harm.
(Also, your child’s 6th-grade teacher can’t “make” your child trans if that child isn’t already. That teacher, unfortunately, can’t even make your child do their math homework.)
Trans people deserve CARE and EMPATHY, not OSTRACIZATION AND EXTERMINATION. If anyone is promoting a false Gender Ideology, it’s people who deny the existence of real, living, breathing, feeling human beings around them and base their reality on wishful thinking or the narrow interpretation of a Bible verse.
Ok, that’s what I’ve got so far. Thanks for giving me a space to express that. I’m sure I’ve probably said a few things in there insensitively in my haste, but I say it with the greatest love and support for trans people who are afraid, angry, and wondering what to do next. I will do whatever I can to help fight for you.
Thanks for writing this up! I think what you wrote is very good. I think the second half seems like an advanced class but the first half was great beginner material, in particularly the part describing sex and gender differently may be a good angle with conservatively minded people and the part talking about how sex organ development isn't binary and relating that to gender, etc.
As a trans women, I am not offended by the notion of sex and gender being different. Essentially what you've described is what, in trans parlance, would be AMAB or AFAB (sex in your writeup) versus gender identity (gender in your writeup).
The only rub is, if the term sex is used in the way you describe it, I would argue that sex can be changed through a sex change operation. But, walk-before-we-run. If people could get on board with what you described, that would be a monumentously good start.
Interesting that they did not put this disgusting warning on the DOS site regarding "sex markers on passports." (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/sex-marker.html) I was amazed, last week, to see that they had actually reinstated information regarding gender markers on passports. After the initial EO on 1/20 "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," they wiped all mention of X markers—as well as mention of all changed gender markers—on passports from the DOS site. We were told by the press secretary and Rubio that X markers—as well as markers not in line with assigned-at-birth sex—would continue to be valid on passports that already had them until those passports expired. But until sometime last week, there was NOTHING on the DOS web page to verify that information. Apparently there are still some good people at DOS, who are risking their jobs to include pertinent legal information for trans people on the DOS site. I'm sure they will be fired any minute.
I suppose having a government website clearly emblazoned with a Trump temper tantrum might increase the credibility of the information on it to anyone who isn't part of his gender cult.
This has all the energy of a petulant spoiled brat breaking a toy because they didn't want to share it, even though they weren't playing with it before the other kid picked it up.
"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female,"
I literally see the prices of eggs going down. lol
The anti-trans header is basically a tantrum that they can’t just be anti-trans fascists without getting punished. Womp womp
They still left off the T
… I still haven’t figured out how politicians have say in medical procedures, it just boggles my mind.
Which means that they are in violation of the court order.
nobody is enforcing laws against that asshole, everyone that could is obviously complicit.
Politicians or insurance companies. If my doctor says I need it that should be it.
When did legislators decide to take away my parental rights, medical rights and physician rights. Like you it is so boggling.
"Perhaps Trump's day one EO had some truth to it after all. "Gender ideology," it declared, "is internally inconsistent.""
Solid deep cut.
What a bunch of petty , cruel children.
Insult upon injury. Injury upon insult, I wish it would just end.
Agreed. I'm so exhausted by the ignorance and hate. 😔
Remember, erasure of visibly Trans people and of Trans existence under the law are both critical components to the current active genocide of Trans, gender expansive, and intersex Americans. This is not a drill. We are being eradicated visibly, socially, legally, medically, epistemologically, and psychologically, RIGHT NOW. This is not a cautionary tale.
THIS IS WHAT GENOCIDE LOOKS LIKE WHILE IT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.
That reminds me of the way a 5 year old reacts when forced to apologize for something. "I'm sorry, but..."
Total lack of maturity.
So are there going to be any consequences for the administration for their having done this? Can this be litigated? It seems they will do whatever they can get away with.
AFAIK it has been litigated and these are the consequences. Since these were official acts by the Administration, it's up to Congress to add further consequences, and the only real consequence they could impose would be impeachment, which, I regret to say, I don't think is likely to happen.
Thank you Erin, for keeping me updated on the shitstorm of hate that this administration keeps creating. Every word that comes out of his orange mouth makes me want to vomit. But you are one of the few ethical journalists out there that covers all of the ways that His Nastiness tries to erase and eradicate. I am grateful for you.
Totally agree 💯
I'm still trying to think of WHAT ARGUMENT one could make to shake these anti-trans militants out of their imaginary framework and get them to see things a little differently.
Just to get this off my chest and try out some arguments, the way I would argue it is something along the lines of what I've written below. I want the argument to be able to speak to people with very conservative views about gender and sexuality, but not to disparage or diminish trans people in doing so. Please let me know if you have any suggestions/additions that would make this better!
Of course there are men and women: No one is arguing against the “immutable fact” that there are PRIMARILY two sexes, male and female. That said, not EVERYONE neatly fits into those two categories
Gender is different than sex: However, while for years the terms “gender” and “sex” were used more or less interchangeably, modern use of the term “gender” refers to the socially constructed characteristics that are associated with women, men, girls, and boys, rather than to the biologically evident markers of sex that one has at birth.
Gender expression is NOT immutable: Even among cisgender people, the expressions of typical “male” and “female” characteristics and signifiers change with time. In the Victorian era, the color pink was associated with boys (as people thought it was too “hot” or “energetic” for girls, who were associated with the “cooler” color blue). The “Founding Fathers” of America wore wigs and heels. Almost all of the men in the Bible are portrayed as wearing gowns, not pants. And so on.
People who don’t fit gender “norms” are not new: Throughout history, many cultures have recognized that in addition to the many people whose gender expression aligns with the current cultural “norms” for men and women, there have also been people who defied those “norms,” expressing their gender in different ways than their culture assigns them.
Even “biological” sex is on a spectrum: While people who are intersex are different than people who are transgender, it is important to recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of people alive in the world right now who have variations of chromosomes, genitalia, and other characteristics that makes it impossible to clearly identify them as simply “male” or “female.”
If the physical characteristics of sex are not binary, why would we expect the mental and emotional aspects to be? If there are naturally occurring variations in human physicality that make it clear that not ALL human beings fit neatly into the male/female binary, would it not also be expected that among the billions of varied humans around the world, that from a mental and emotional aspect (which are not disconnected from the physical in the first place), there would also be many people who think of themselves or feel themselves to be a different gender than they were identified as being associated with at birth?
Lived experience tells us that trans people DO exist: No matter what a person believes about the relationship between sex and gender, or the complex social and biological factors that go into developing a person’s gender identity, the fact that there are millions of people in the US alone who report being transgender means that YES TRANS PEOPLE ARE REAL AND DO EXIST, despite the Republican administrations own “Gender Ideology” that tries to deny the immutable existence of trans people to support an imaginary view of a binary reality.
YOU CANNOT ERASE TRANS PEOPLE BY DELETING THEM FROM THE WEBSITE: There are groups in this country who hate trans people, who think trans people have a mental illness or are morally sinful, and who are afraid that schools and other institutions can somehow “turn” their children trans, just by educating them about the fact that trans people exist. Trans people are already one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, subject to hate, violence, even murder. Denying their existence and shutting off access to education will only create more danger, and will drive more trans people toward depression, isolation, and self-harm.
(Also, your child’s 6th-grade teacher can’t “make” your child trans if that child isn’t already. That teacher, unfortunately, can’t even make your child do their math homework.)
Trans people deserve CARE and EMPATHY, not OSTRACIZATION AND EXTERMINATION. If anyone is promoting a false Gender Ideology, it’s people who deny the existence of real, living, breathing, feeling human beings around them and base their reality on wishful thinking or the narrow interpretation of a Bible verse.
Ok, that’s what I’ve got so far. Thanks for giving me a space to express that. I’m sure I’ve probably said a few things in there insensitively in my haste, but I say it with the greatest love and support for trans people who are afraid, angry, and wondering what to do next. I will do whatever I can to help fight for you.
Thanks for writing this up! I think what you wrote is very good. I think the second half seems like an advanced class but the first half was great beginner material, in particularly the part describing sex and gender differently may be a good angle with conservatively minded people and the part talking about how sex organ development isn't binary and relating that to gender, etc.
As a trans women, I am not offended by the notion of sex and gender being different. Essentially what you've described is what, in trans parlance, would be AMAB or AFAB (sex in your writeup) versus gender identity (gender in your writeup).
The only rub is, if the term sex is used in the way you describe it, I would argue that sex can be changed through a sex change operation. But, walk-before-we-run. If people could get on board with what you described, that would be a monumentously good start.
Interesting that they did not put this disgusting warning on the DOS site regarding "sex markers on passports." (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/sex-marker.html) I was amazed, last week, to see that they had actually reinstated information regarding gender markers on passports. After the initial EO on 1/20 "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," they wiped all mention of X markers—as well as mention of all changed gender markers—on passports from the DOS site. We were told by the press secretary and Rubio that X markers—as well as markers not in line with assigned-at-birth sex—would continue to be valid on passports that already had them until those passports expired. But until sometime last week, there was NOTHING on the DOS web page to verify that information. Apparently there are still some good people at DOS, who are risking their jobs to include pertinent legal information for trans people on the DOS site. I'm sure they will be fired any minute.
Thanks for sharing that page! Like you said, it's really great to have confirmation of the policy in writing on an official page.
It's literally impossible to roll my eyes hard enough to express how dumb and petty those headers are. 🙄
I suppose having a government website clearly emblazoned with a Trump temper tantrum might increase the credibility of the information on it to anyone who isn't part of his gender cult.
Oh the petty! Such a large man to be so small.
This has all the energy of a petulant spoiled brat breaking a toy because they didn't want to share it, even though they weren't playing with it before the other kid picked it up.
"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female,"
I literally see the prices of eggs going down. lol