The Anti-Trans Memo Ignores Science and Biology, Hurting Everyone

The Trump administration is trying to define transgender people out of existence. Last Sunday, The New York Times reported on a memo describing a plan by the Department of Health and Human Services to create a legal definition of gender. This definition would be implemented under Title IX, a law that bans discrimination based on sex in education programs funded by the federal government.

The memo, spearheaded by anti-LGBTQ conservative Roger Severino, would define gender "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable." The memo proposed, "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."

This definition is dangerous for both transgender and cisgender people. In the above video, Advocate video producer Jessie Earl breaks down how the memo ignores biology and science, while harboring disturbing implications for everyone's future.