The LGBTQ community is moving into action as news spreads that the Trump administration is working to strip all protections from transgender people nationwide.
A New York Times bombshell revealed Trump’s Dept. of Health and Human Services is working across the administration to redefine the word “sex” to a narrow and strict definition, one that goes against years of court rulings and Obama administration policy.
“The agency’s proposed definition would define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with, according to a draft reviewed by The Times. Any dispute about one’s sex would have to be clarified using genetic testing,” The Times reported Sunday in an article titled, “‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration.”
People took to the streets immediately.
“Several hundred protesters gathered at Washington Square Park in New York on Sunday evening to oppose the proposals,” The Guardian reports.
There is a rally at the White House organized by the National Center for Transgender Equality starting at 12:30 Monday afternoon.
The Human Rights Campaign says the Trump administration’s proposed policy changes will affect all LGBTQ people, offering these examples:
- Same-sex couples and their families could be turned away from emergency shelters
- A transgender person could have their insurance deny them coverage for transition related care
- A gay man could be harassed about being gay at a job skills training
- An elderly same-sex couple could be denied in home meal service
- A transgender woman could be turned away from a hospital for a broken ankle
Threatening lawsuits, the ACLU says, “Transgender people have the right to not only exist, but to fully participate in public life. Transgender people are real and transgender lives have meaning.”
Across social media the hashtags #WontBeErased, #hellnotothememo, and #TransRightsAreHumanRights are being used to highlight the Trump administration’s attack on the LGBTQ community.
Some examples:
From the National Policy Director for Equality California:
The Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality:
The Leadership Conference, headed by former head of President Obama’s US Dept.of Justice Civil Rights Division:
Lambda Legal:
More:
On Sunday the Human Rights Campaign posted this explorer video:
Image by torbakhopper via Flickr and a CC license