Trump Administration Eyes Defining Transgender Out Of Existence - NYT, Sunday, October 21, 2018
This is the headline I woke up to.
As the mother of a transgender child, the gut punch feels almost literal. The rage, however, IS literal.
This abhorrent sham of an administration, led by a craven, intellectually dim, religion exploiting carnival barker is now actively working towards narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.
Hear me now - anyone who still wonders why I dropped your ass at election time because you voted third party, didn't vote, or tried to plead the "she's as bad as he is" bullshit - THIS IS IT.
To anyone who emails me or troll tweets at me asking just how is my child endangered by Trump and Coven? THIS IS IT.
From the article:
Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.
The department argued in its memo that key government agencies needed to adopt an explicit and uniform definition of gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” 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.
I literally want to vomit.
It is no secret that the entire cadre of "best people" surrounding Trump is an intellectual wasteland. A collection of grifters, religious zealots, and science deniers. Their ignorance of all things cultural, scientific, global is held up by their equally wetbrained MAGAts as virtue. That they target entire groups of people different from themselves is their hallmark; they take pride in hurting others. They laugh at anything they do not understand because laughing is easier than trying to learn, to comprehend.
Transgender people became a red meat issue for conservatives over a year ago - Holy hell! They want to use the bathroom! There was rending of garments, boycotts of stores that made their nondiscrimination stance public. Then, like with their pants shitting over ebola, they were shown another shiny object, and off they went with their situational umbrage. (Warning: Red Starbucks cups right ahead!) Now, with the midterms just around the corner, Trump is pulling out all the stops to remind his dullardly base of all the things they do not understand, yet irrationally fear.
So my child is targeted for erasure.
My child, one of the most amazing human beings it has ever been my privilege to know; a young man who has always championed the underdogs; a young man who is loyal, fiercely so; a young man who is excelling at art school; a young man who is setting a positive example for others who do not fall onto society's "acceptable" spot on the spectrum; a young man who simply wishes to live his life happily, safely, fully - is waking up to a new target on his back.
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the department proposed in the memo, which was drafted and has been circulating since last spring. “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 takes a position that what the medical community understands about their patients — what people understand about themselves — is irrelevant because the government disagrees,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, who led the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in the Obama administration and helped write transgender guidance that is being undone.
Hear me now - my child is not an opinion. And unless you have known him for 22 years, been there for every day, every step of his life, seen the struggle and can now understand it with the blinding clarity of 20/20 hindsight? SHUT THE FUCK UP.
To all of these administration and societal imbeciles - my child's genitalia are none of your business.
You know what is society's business? Business that would necessitate governmental interference? If my child were a criminal. Off committing crimes - stealing cars, robbing banks, grabbing them by the pussy sexually assaulting people, kidnapping, murdering, etc. Then, and only then, does society get a say. But his gender identification - the result of deep personal understanding; of years spent with a therapist? None of your goddamned business. AT ALL.
He is not skulking around in bathrooms waiting for you. Actually he avoids public bathrooms because of you. Because you are dangerous. He is not a pervert. He is not a monster. He is not some bogeyman like you conjure up in your little heads.
He is a human being, born into more of a challenge and struggle than you will ever understand, appreciate. He is a young adult and a full citizen of this country who is not seeking MORE protections than you. He is seeking EQUAL PROTECTIONS. If I cannot ask the government to discriminate against you for being a fullblown asshole, or having blue eyes, or a beer gut, or webbed feet, or bad taste in food, TV, fashion, or for juggling snakes in your church? Then you do not get to ask them to discriminate against him for simply being who he is.
And who he is, is ZERO threat to you and yours. But you? YOU are a total and complete threat to him.
“Transgender people are frightened,” said Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, which presses for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “At every step where the administration has had the choice, they’ve opted to turn their back on transgender people.”
I have been with my child every step of the way. Every moment of his life, I KNOW. I have been in the emotional trenches with him for years, from when he first bravely came out to me, through the darkest days of therapy, anger, fear, depression. And I have been here for every step as clarity and support brought his smile back. As understanding who he is and not being cast out for it chased away the clouds of depression. As love and forward motion gave him the courage to re-engage with life. And yes, as hormones and surgery helped align his body with his soul.
I have seen who he is. Just as I have more than seen who YOU are.
You are craven, you are pathetic, you are ugly right down to your most microscopic molecule, you are small, you are ignorant, you are shallow, you are mean.
All the things my son is not. My son is humane, decent, kind, loving, intelligent, compassionate, caring, uplifting, big hearted, open, accepting, funny, talented, and more than anything else? My son is something you will never be.
My son is brave.
As am I. As is every loving, decent, accepting parent, friend, and relative of a transgender person.
And you cowards will get to erase them over our dead fucking bodies.
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