More than a dozen Republican-led states are pushing bills that could deny legal recognition to transgender people.
The laws say that there are only two sexes, male and female, which are defined based on the genitals with which the person was born.
Kansas enacted a law last year that ended legal recognition of trans identities, meaning people cannot change the sex on their birth certificates or passports.
A law in Florida last month prevented transgender people from changing the sex on their state driver’s license.
But 11 other states, including West Virginia, Alabama and South Carolina, are considering similar measures, which LGBTQ groups have described as a “spit in the face.”
Measures to strictly define sex as male or female, or to combine the terms gender and sex, are emerging in more than a dozen U.S. states this year.
The latest proposal comes from Alabama, where lawmakers are pushing legislation to define a man and a woman based on sperm and eggs.
The measures do not prohibit social transition or the use of drugs that help their bodies align with their preferred gender.
But activists warn there could be unintended consequences, such as trans people being incarcerated with inmates of a particular gender they do not identify with.
Trans people in states where bans are moving forward have described the feeling that comes with turning in a license with their old name and sex or hearing incorrect pronouns in government offices as “disgusting” and “frustrating.”
Other states proposing the legislation include Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
The most recent proposal came from Alabama, where lawmakers have pushed legislation defining sex based on reproductive anatomy.
According to the text of the bill, a woman is someone who has a “reproductive system that at some point produces eggs,” and a man is someone who has a “reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.”
Based on those definitions, the bill also says that schools and local governments can establish single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms.
It requires any state-sponsored agency that collects sex-related information to “identify each individual as male or female at birth.”
The Alabama senator behind that bill, April Weaver, said in introducing the legislature that the definitions will guide courts in interpreting existing laws and “codifies the traditional definitions of man, woman, female, male, child , girl, mother, father, and sex.’
And state Rep. Susan DuBose, author of the House version of that bill, told DailyMail.com that the purpose of the bill is “purely definitional” and would not affect driver’s licenses or other documents issued by the state.
An opinion poll found that at least 8 percent of trans adults have already left their neighborhood or state because of new rules affecting them, and another 43 percent are thinking about taking the step.
But in practice, trans advocates say this will mean that a person’s formal state-issued ID will not accurately represent who they are at the present moment.
This is happening to many trans people living in these states. One of them is Mack Allen, an 18-year-old high school senior from Kansas whose driver’s license still identifies him as female, despite having transitioned to male.
He described sidelong glances and sarcastic comments from police officers and how staff at doctors’ offices called him the wrong name and pronouns, telling the Associated Press: “It feels disgusting because I’ve worked so hard to get there.” to where I am now.” my transition, and I obviously don’t look like a woman or sound like a woman.’
Transgender advocates argue that politicians in Republican-led states are making their basic rights a political wedge issue.
Tori Cooper, community engagement director for the Human Rights Campaign’s Trans Justice Initiative, said voice: ‘These legislators want to homogenize the lives that people live, and they have a very narrow idea of ​​who people are and how they should look, live their lives, and think.
“There is an intentional effort to use misinformation and disinformation to mislead people who do not personally know any trans, non-binary or queer people to perpetuate harm and deter people from living honest, true and accurate lives.”
The proposals also throw into legal limbo those Americans who are “intersex,” meaning they were born with physical traits that do not fit typical definitions of male or female.
Some of them create vague exemptions for this population. For example, West Virginia’s proposal says someone who is intersex “is not considered a third sex,” although the measure says people with a “medically verifiable” diagnosis should be admitted.
And Alabama lawmakers added language saying sex can be designated as “unknown” in state records “when sex cannot be determined medically for developmental or other reasons.”
Lawmakers behind efforts to codify a binary definition of sex into law have said their goal is to recognize fundamental biological differences between men and women.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who introduced a proposal for her state that would require transgender people’s gender at birth to be listed alongside their current gender on driver’s licenses, said: ‘Women and men are not identical; They have unique biological differences. That’s not controversial, it’s common sense.’
Critics say those definitions are simply too narrow and deprive trans people of the ability to live authentically with legal documentation that reflects who they are.
According to the United Nations: ‘Trans people are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations when their name and gender information appearing on official documents do not match their gender identity or expression. Today, however, the vast majority of trans and gender diverse people in the world do not have access to gender recognition by the State.
“That scenario creates a legal vacuum and a climate that tacitly fosters stigma and prejudice against them.”