To co-opt the words of old Kanye, “Donald Trump doesn’t care about transgender people.” This president of the United States has put a target on the backs of our trans-kin, and we cannot be silent about it.
According to the New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” The article is based on a leaked HHS memo that is clear in its intention to erase the existence of the more than 1.4 million people who identify as transgender in the U.S.
This proposed definition is an abomination and further demonstration of the complete disregard that the Trump administration has for the humanity of transgender people. It also runs counter to the many court decisions upholding the Obama Administration interpretation that “sex” includes gender identity in Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
Since his inauguration, Trump has been chipping away at the rights of transgender people with his policies, such as the ban on transgender people in the military and attempts to eliminate protections for transgender people in the Affordable Care Act. This administration’s desire to render transgender people invisible is so insidious that it has attempted to remove gender identity from the 2020 US Census questionnaire and the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants.
Apparently, Trump thinks transgender people in this country can be “disappeared” by simply denying their existence. Not on our watch! Transgender people #WontBeErased.
Pride Action Tank, like many of you, is appalled by this latest step back into the Dark Ages by the Trump administration. We bear witness to the reality of the transgender identity and to the humanness of transgender people throughout this country. We send our love to the local grassroots leaders, groups and organizations that are fighting for trans visibility and justice. We see you, Brave Space Alliance, Trans Liberation Collective, Transformative Justice Law Project, Chicago BTGNC Collective and others. Please support these groups.
On November 6, we have an opportunity to impede Trump’s ongoing attempts the deny the existence of transgender people and other marginalized groups. Let’s show Trump what America really looks like by voting.
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