U.S. Joins Guatamela, Hungary, Mongolia In LGBTQ Hall Of Shame
It’s not illegal to be a transgender person in the U.S., not yet, but a study finds that transgender protections in the U.S. are about as strong as in Guatemala, Hungary, and Mongolia, and are steadily eroding.
A report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) also found that 14 countries outright ban people from being transgender.
A burst of recent actions shows that protections for transgender people are taking giant steps backward in the U.S. and many other countries.
In Texas, the order went out last week that state workers must dress based on “biological gender” because, according to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, it’s unprofessional when a man comes “dressed in drag, or vice versa.”
Trans women working for the Texas Agriculture Commission may not wear dresses but only longsleeved shirts, ties, sport coats, trousers and dress shoes or boots. Trans men must put on their tailored pantsuits, “businesslike” dresses and coordinated “dressy separates” worn with or without a blazer and conservative closed-toe shoes or boots.
The new dress code comes at a time when Texas lawmakers have introduced 52 anti-LGBTQ bills during this year’s legislative session, according to ACLU data. As of Friday, 49 of those were anti-transgender — the most in the country. So far, none has been enacted.
In Nashville, Tenn., B Hayes, a trans student at Nashville Christian School, was banned from attending his senior prom because he dressed in a suit. Students at the school also “may not attend (the prom) with a student of the same gender/sex.” The student handbook’s “dress expectations” include: “All students should choose Banquet (prom) attire that is appropriate for modesty and consistent with the Biblical principles to guide student behavior and the statement of faith of Nashville Christian School. Students who do not adhere to these expectations may be asked to leave the event.”
Last month, six people, including three children, were shot and killed at a private Christian school in Nashville. After the killing, the Republican-led Tennessee House voted to oust two Democratic lawmakers who halted proceedings to take part in a protest in support of gun-control legislation. Both expelled Democrats have since been reappointed.
The ILGA found that the U.S. is one of 15 countries that have legal bans on wearing clothes that don’t conform to one’s sex assigned at birth, including Brunei, Gambia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, South Sudan, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates. That’s not exactly good company to keep if you are transgender.
Meanwhile, in Montana, Republicans voted to bar Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr after she “violated decorum rules” when she criticized colleagues who supported a ban on gender-affirming care for children. Zephyr said that those who support banning gender-affirming care for transgender children would have “blood on your hands.” Democrats and LGBTQ advocates have strongly condemned the action, including evangelical Gov. Gregory Gianforte’s non-binary, 32-year-old son, David, who called the bill “immoral and unjust.”
Zephyr can vote remotely and cannot debate on the House floor for the rest of the legislative session, which ends next month. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who opposes same-sex marriage, said it was Zephyr’s responsibility “to be civil and to avoid extreme rhetoric and violence.”
In Florida, where counties and streets are named after NBA legend Dwyane Wade, he’s taking his family, including his transgender daughter, and moving out of the Sunshine State because of ominous laws against the LGBTQ community.
In Kansas, a drastic, Republican anti-trans bill will threaten the safety of trans people. Kansas House of Representatives Speaker Dan Hawkins said the new bill made him feel “just giddy.” The bill bans trans people from using the bathroom associated with their gender in schools, prisons, women’s shelters, rape crisis centers and locker room. It also prohibits trans people from updating the gender marker on their driver’s licenses.
Hawkins said the bill, with the misleading title of “Women’s Bill of Rights,” is “the icing on the cake.” Republicans were able to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
The bill says that “a female” is someone whose “biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova” and “a male” is someone whose “biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.”
And throughout Republican country, Budd Light no longer “tastes great and is less filling” at least not to those who were appalled when the company featured a transgender woman on a commemorative can of the beer.
The latest draconian attack on the transgender community is Montana Senate Bill 99, which Republicans euphemistically the “Youth Health Protection Act.” It would ban several types of gender-affirming care for transgender children, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery to treat minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Treatments such as puberty blockers would still be available for cisgender children. If the bill is signed into law, health-care providers who administer those treatments to transgender minors could face a year-long suspension and potential legal liability.
The bill would also prohibit the state’s Medicaid program from paying for any surgical procedures or medication needed for transgender children.
In another assault on the LBGTQ community, Tennessee became the first state to explicitly ban drag shows in public spaces after Gov. Bill Lee signed the new law. Anti-drag bills have been introduced in at least 14 other states — including Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and others. Language is similar to the Tennessee bill, which prohibits “adult cabaret performances” in public places where minors could watch. In Tennessee’s bill, “adult cabaret” is defined as “adult-oriented performances” that include “male or female impersonators.” A federal judge has temporarily halted enforcement of the new law, saying it was too broad.
Protections for the LGBTQ community and transgenders in particular have come under constant fire by Republicans who claim such support is part of a destructive “woke” culture. Most recently ex-president trump grunted and moaned to a cheering throng at a campaign rally in New Hampshire as he ranted and pretended to be a transgender woman lifting weights.
The ILGA report noted that few countries expressly criminalize trans people’s identity or behavior. Instead, countries have passed so-called “cross dressing” laws which “explicitly prohibit a ‘male person posing as a woman’ or vice versa. In those states, legal gender recognition is also not available, which then leaves trans people, or those perceived to be, at risk of arrest and prosecution.”
The assault against transgendered people and the LGBTQ community is often disguised by laws that are tantamount to criminalizing transgender people “including laws against public nuisance, indecency, good manners and morality, drug related offenses, vagrancy, loitering, begging, impersonation, sex work related offenses, and consensual same-sex activity.”
The ILGA report cites several countries that have made progress when it comes to fighting discrimination against transgender people, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Pakistan. The U.S. is not on the list.
And while legislative progress has been made in protecting transgender people, they remain as frequent victims of violence. Transgender Europe documented 2,264 reported killings of trans and gender-diverse people worldwide between Jan. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2016. In 2016, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reported the deaths of 27 transgender people in the United States, the deadliest year on record, at the time.
Among the positive steps taken to protect transgender people, India’s high court has granted transgender people the right to self-identify their gender. Denmark allows transgender people to self-determine identity without medical intervention.
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law noted that 20 countries have passed some form of legislation recognizing transgender rights. However, 34 countries still do not allow a trans person to change their name and registered gender without surgery or some sort of medical procedure, according to Transgender Europe, a network of organizations working to combat discrimination against trans people and support trans people rights.
Transgender Europe found that Argentina and Denmark are leading the way toward gender recognition reform.
Argentina’s Senate unanimously approved the Gender Identity Law making sex-change surgery a legal right. The procedure is included in both public and private health care plans.
The Danish Parliament allowed legal gender recognition for transgender people over the age of 18, solely based on their self-determination without any medical intervention. Denmark is the only European country that does not require any psychiatric diagnoses or any certificate by a medical professional, according to Transgender Europe.
In Malta, the government adopted the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, which is intended “[to provide] a simplified procedure which respects the privacy of the person requesting that one’s official documents be changed to reflect the person’s gender” and acknowledges that “gender identity is considered to be an inherent part of a person which may or may not need surgical or hormonal treatment or therapy” and “sex characteristics of a person vary in nature and all persons must be empowered to make their decisions affecting their own bodily integrity and physical autonomy.”
Iran’s religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa in 1987 allowing sexual reassignment surgery. In order to be recognized as transgender, a person must undergo medical intervention.