by Alex McEwin
Transgender people have already been allowed to change their legal sex designation and many had legal documents changed to reflect this. If the USA decides to redefine sex as being strictly the genitalia observed at birth, has terrifying implications. This suggests that the government intends to nullify or invalidate this change that has already been permitted, and there is no way trans people won’t fight tooth and nail to prevent these changes from being reversed. Newsflash- the requirements to get your legal sex designation may differ from state to state, but even the loosest requirements still include a medical professional getting involved and providing a confirmation letter.
Redefining sex in this specific way means that those who have their designation changed, will be affected in some way. If the US were to try to force those transgender people to change back all of their documents, it would put them at risk in a lot of situations. The identifying information used in a lot of situations still display a sex designation. Having an ID with the original designation can out somebody as trans in many scenarios that aren’t ideal. This is a matter of making transgender people clearly identify themselves to the public at every turn, with no care what others do to them as result of knowing they are transgender.
I don’t prefer to come forward as transgendered now that I have been out and transitioning for some time, unless I consider it necessary or context appropriate. Unfortunately, a context like this one deems it necessary to do so. I’m tired of the constant stream of never-ending garbage. Seeing the word ‘transgender’ online from major news sources is an instant headache, because I know it’s going to come with the knee-jerk reactions in the comments from people who only have a caricature representation of transgendered people in their minds. People who don’t have close relationships of any kind with transgender people, don’t necessarily get to see us as more than that caricature. That’s the most exhausting part of this all -constantly fighting a straw transgender.
