The Trump Administration is preparing to rollout a new legal definition for sex, completely consistent with science. The Department of Health and Human Services seeks to define sex, by law, by what sex a person is at birth:
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth...The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence,” the department said in a memo.
As to be expected, left-wing interest groups are erupting in outrage, with Planned Parenthood being no exception.
This is horrifying. These inhumane, cruel, and discriminatory policies are dangerous and do not represent the needs of our diverse communities. https://t.co/qQaVwnGamI
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) October 21, 2018
This policy move, if enacted by the Trump Administration, is not nearly as controversial as these groups wish the public to believe. This policy would implement a solid definition of gender on a biological basis, in order to clarify the ambiguity of Obama-era policies on gender. The Obama Administration widened the definition of gender, and allowed for different interpretations under the law; this lead to policy fights on dormitories on college campuses, public bathrooms and other single-sex activities.
The policy, if put in place, would remove any and all gray area with regard to gender, and define sex under the law through Title IX. A person’s sex at birth would be noted as their sex on their birth certificate, unless clear and compelling genetic evidence is present. This policy would not prevent any person from identifying as any gender they please; despite the outrage-filled headline put forth by the New York Times, this policy would not write transgenderism out of existence. This potential law would cement protections for biological sex under the law; gender identity would not be protected under the law, as it never has been.
This outrage seems to not account for the fact that sex and gender are, indeed, vastly different. Gender has never been a protected class under the law, and defining sex by biology and birth is not a radical policy change.
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