The Trump administration is considering narrowing the definition of gender in an effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under the federal civil rights law, The New York Times reports.
The new definition would define gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, excluding more than 1.5 million people in the United States that identify as transgender, or not as the same gender they were born into.
According to a memo obtained by the New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services is launching an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX. This is the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance.
But Steph Perkins, the executive director of PROMO, said it will not have as big of an impact as everyone may think. Missouri is one of 26 states that does not protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in its civil rights law.
PROMO advocates for LGBTQ equality in Missouri. Perkins said if the proposal does move forward and a new definition of gender is adopted in federal government agencies, it is up to the states to decide which protections to ultimately give to their transgender residents. Missouri does not give formal protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity, but Perkins said the state still has the power to set up protections.
“[The proposal] sends a message that transgender people shouldn’t be included, and that is something we work really hard to change and defeat anyway,” Perkins said. “It does attempt to change a lot of things, like equal access to healthcare, equal housing, education and fair treatment under the law, but Missouri still has a lot of authority to still include transgender people within the protections at our state level.”
Perkins said while Missouri has not legally included transgender people in its civil rights act, protections have been upheld in court before, and they can be again.
“Right now it is based in a memo and a lot of rumor, and we have seen this time and time again with the Trump administration,” Perkins said. “It is scary and we have to be aware and ready, but it is still a proposal.”
Trump administration officials say the Department of Health and Human Services are preparing to present the new definition to the Justice Department before the end of the year. The New York Times reports if it is legalized, the new definition can be approved and enforced in Title IX statues and adopted across government agencies.
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the department said in the memo. “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.”