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How to Understand the Debate Over Transgender Rights: QuickTake

Transgender Rights

At birth, a person is usually assigned a gender – male or female – based largely on anatomy. But for some people, their innate sense of gender identity growing up differs from what was written on the birth certificate. Most describe themselves as a transgender man or transgender woman; some identify as both genders or neither. Transgender people have long been subjected to discrimination or worse, but in recent years efforts to gain equality have advanced in some countries. The United Nations calls for equal treatment of transgender people as a human right. Battles persist, however, reflecting political and cultural divides in the U.S. and beyond.

The Situation

Swings in U.S. policy regarding military service illustrate the tug of war. In 2016, under President Barack Obama, the Pentagon said for the first time that transgender people could serve openly. President Donald Trump reversed the policy, then, within days of his inauguration, President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s ban. Biden also picked the first openly trans person for a Senate-confirmed post. In a watershed 2020 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law protects gay and transgender workers from job discrimination. In 2021 it declined to question the right of transgender students to use school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Nevertheless, bills proposed by social conservatives in several U.S. states seek to impose new restrictions in areas such as school athletics or medical care. Europe’s record is also mixed. The European Court of Human Rights has backed transgender rights in several rulings. Still, Hungary banned trans people in 2020 from changing their gender on identity documents, and dozens of Polish towns and cities declared themselves free of LBGTQ “ideology.” Elsewhere, things are more dire. In Malaysia, where gender-reassignment surgery or dressing contrary to one’s sex recorded at birth have long been forbidden for Muslims, Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad proposed Islamic authorities arrest and “educate” transgender people “back to the right path.” Worldwide, more than 3,600 were killed in apparent hate crimes from 2008 through September 2020.

How to Understand the Debate Over Transgender Rights: QuickTake

The Background

Transgender people appear throughout history and across the world. Plato’s Symposium references a third sex, both male and female “in common.” Ancient Greek priests born male would sometimes refer to themselves as women and castrate themselves. India has a long tradition of male to female transgender people, or Kinnars, who are recognized in law but face considerable social ostracization. In the 20th century, trans people were influential in the gay rights movement and their causes grew in tandem. Some transgender people undergo hormone treatment to change their physical characteristics, and some undergo surgery. The first such operation is thought to have been performed in 1930 in Germany on Danish painter Lili Elbe, subject of the 2015 film “The Danish Girl.” Some people who identify as a third gender or as non-binary may also identify as transgender. They often ask to be referred to as “they” or use pronouns like “zie” and “ey.” Gender identity is separate from sexual orientation. Researchers have found some evidence suggesting a biological basis for transgender identity. The World Health Organization stopped listing “gender incongruence” as a mental disorder in 2019.

The Argument

Trans people want their gender identity to be accepted and affirmed by law – ideally without requiring a doctor’s certificate or a physical transition, which for many is unaffordable. If and when to use puberty blockers or hormones to treat children with gender dysphoria, a medical diagnosis, is a difficult issue. A landmark ruling in the U.K. in December said children under 16 would need court approval to access them, with the judges citing in part a paucity of evidence about long-term health effects. Activists say that denying treatment can lead to mental or physical harm. Medicare, the U.S. health-care program for the elderly, has extended coverage to sex-reassignment surgery if deemed “medically necessary”; private insurance plans vary. Openly transgender individuals have been elected to public office, appointed judge and featured on the covers of Time and Vanity Fair magazines as well as on stage and screen. Sports remains a contested arena. The International Olympic Committee has allowed some trans women to compete in women’s events since 2004, but World Rugby decided to bar them from the international women’s game on what it said were safety grounds. Another flashpoint is access to traditionally sex-segregated spaces such as public bathrooms or locker rooms. Activists say compelling transgender people to use facilities that don’t match the gender they present is discriminatory and exposes them to potential violence. Critics such as “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling have argued that allowing a physiologically male transgender person into a women’s space is an invasion of privacy. Some non-trans women say that understanding their particular hardships is impossible for someone raised male. In the midst of such a debate in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon decried “transphobia,” which she said should be treated with the same “zero tolerance we treat racism or homophobia.”

The Reference Shelf

  • More companies, including Apple and Facebook, are backing transgender rights.
  • Businessweek published a trans person’s guide to job-hunting, insurance and retirement.
  • A Bloomberg Westminster podcast examines the “culture war” in the U.K., including trans rights.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for “gender-affirmative care.”
  • The Human Rights Campaign’s overview of the transgender community.
  • The Endocrine Society’s position paper on transgender health and treatment guidelines.
  • The New Yorker has an archive of its articles on transgender issues.

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