In late October, the Trump administration put forth efforts to restrict gender to the sex one is born as. This would mean confining individuals to the assigned sex at birth according to their genetics or physical external genitalia. This would prevent anyone from identifying as a gender other than their sex at birth. This is a huge threat to the transgender and gender-nonconforming community. Enforcing this would mean eliminating transgender as a medical, legal gender identity or option. This would prevent transgender individuals from having their true gender respected and protected.
Obama’s policies put forth to support transgender rights would be in jeopardy. Transgender individuals’ right to use the correct school bathrooms and locker rooms would be in danger. This would allow large civil rights violations against transgender people. Title IX in schools currently protects students from gender discrimination, but stripping transgender individuals of their rights would be a monumental Title IX violation in schools.
Transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals and the LGBTQ community have been protesting these attempts since the administration expressed their intentions.
At City Hall, near Pace University’s campus in downtown New York City, there was a large trans rights protest not long after the administration confirmed their intentions. The trans and the LGBTQ community will resist this administration and fight for their rights as they always have. They will not allow their rights to be taken by the Trump administration.