1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

H.R. 9218, the “Defining Male and Female Act”, is perhaps the most brazen national challenge to transgender personhood yet. It decrees sex as a “biological truth” which cannot be determined by self-identification. Those whose bodies cannot fall into these two categories must be rejected as disordered and forced into one. This is regardless of what the science says about the well-being of transgender and intersex individuals. Requires adherence to these definitions is known to negatively impact our physical and mental health. Allowing us to determine our presentation and extent of medical care improves both of these outcomes significantly. Bills like this do not “reduce confusion” on the definition of gender; they punish people for existing in ways the legal framework does not account for. They do not protect or uphold the right for men and women to exist or to “enjoy equal rights”; in fact, insistence upon a divide between them only worsens marginalization for women. I sincerely hope that this bill does not pass the House; in the event that it does, it must not pass the Senate. For the sake of all transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming Americans, you must vote “NO” on H.R. 9218.