Texas Republicans Push to Define Biological Sex in Statute 

Representative Andy Hopper played biologist on the House floor claiming with certainty that there are only two sexes during a debate in early April He made this point when presenting a budget amendment that would reduce establishment funding to the University of Texas at Austin in part because a few programs deny the unchangeable biological reality that there are only two sexes In the ensuing debate State Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons a Houston Democrat requested him where intersex people fit into his message His argument promptly fell apart as he admitted he didn t know what intersex meant but doubled down anyway Those intersex individuals are still XX or XY so you can t change that It took his ally Representative Valoree Swanson who has authored bills focused on biological sex herself to correct him whispering That s not true Hopper along with several other right-wing legislators have leaned on the concept of biological reality to propose dozens of bills that seek to categorize people in the law or in masses spaces through binary definitions of sex Despite claiming to have science on their side these legislators often eschew scientific facts leaving intersex transgender and non-binary people in limbo when they do not fit into neatly legislated boxes If biological sex were as obvious as lawmakers keep insisting that biological sex is we wouldn t be here explained Erika Slaymaker with the Texas Freedom Organization a progressive advocacy group You wouldn t have to try so hard to legislate the gender binary into existence One such bill House Bill was passed by the House last week on an - vote Authored by Republican state Representative Ellen Troxclair the bill would codify the terms male and female and require governing body agencies to abide by these definitions in sex-based statistics collection Per the bill a female is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova and a male is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female The bill notes that Separate is not inherently unequal and that males are on average bigger stronger and faster than females Troxclair noted the bill was straightforward and necessary to ensure bills are grounded in biological reality During the floor debate on the bill Dallas state Representative Jessica Gonz lez criticized the bill for its attacks on trans Texans This bill is rooted in ignorance Gonz lez reported It s abhorrent to abuse the power of this Legislature to target Texans who dare to defy your counterfeit standards of gender Other bills like Senate Bill filed by Senator Mayes Middleton apply binary definitions of biological sex to legal documents SB would prevent people from changing the sex marker on their birth certificate except for instances of clerical errors and would require people to display sex markers on their birth certificates Middleton announced this will ensure birth certificates remain reflective of biological reality as it states god-given sex either XX or XY The Senate passed that bill in early April Opponents of the bill raised concerns that SB could pose challenges for people who don t identify with their sex assigned at birth as birth certificates are often used for identification When trans and gender expansive and intersex folks cannot make necessary and reasonable changes to their birth certificates while other demographics of people are still afforded the ability to do so through clerical changes not only does the cabinet violate equal protection under the law but it sanctions transphobic violence stated Landon Richie program coordinator of the Transgender Coaching Infrastructure of Texas It encourages a sick fixation on trans people s bodies and lives and mandating cruelty through bureaucracy SB follows directives from the Department of Masses Safety and Department of State Vitality Services this summer that blocked trans people from updating gender markers on their driver s licenses and birth certificates respectively HB defines biological sex based on reproductive systems but other bills use different definitions House Bill defines males as individuals with a Y chromosome while Senate Bill says sex is defined by an individual s sex organs chromosomes and endogenous profiles These different biological elements sex organs chromosomes and other characteristics make defining one singular definition of biological sex impossible reported Anne Fausto-Sterling a professor emerita of biology and gender studies at Brown University There is no simple out of context accurate way to define it Sterling mentioned It s a practical question not an existential or permanent biological question Sterling explained sex and gender are a layered system with different layers working independently of each other Each layer doesn t invariably align allowing for natural variation The effort to try to make a single definition that accurately applies to everyone in an either or way is a futile thing You ll never do it These scientific definitions and a few legislators like Hopper ignore the reality of intersex individuals Koomah a co-founder of The Houston Intersex Society mentioned intersex people are born with anatomical hormonal chromosomal or gonadal traits between what is considered typical for males or females Though statistics vary about percent of the population is intersex according to a evaluation published in the American Journal of Human Biology Over conditions are classified as differences in sexual expansion including Klinefelter Syndrome in which a male has an additional X chromosome according to the Cleveland Clinic a nonprofit academic physiological center Koomah commented stopping at binary understandings of biological sex is similar to having an elementary school understanding of math Just because you decide to stop learning after addition and subtraction doesn t mean that negative numbers and calculus and algebra doesn t exist Koomah stated The existence of intersex people is inconvenient to legislators Koomah reported The scapegoat of choice right now is transgender people At the same time we are also a target for erasure because our existence really challenges a lot of things To contend with this inconvenience rule typically has exemptions for intersex people which can ultimately cause more harm Koomah commented as multiple intersex youth undergo non-medically necessary surgeries to assign them a sex Intersex advocates like Koomah work to educate people against these unnecessary surgeries something at odds with an increasing legislative insistence on a gender binary In their instruction and advocacy work Koomah reported they are cautious to make space for the transgender public A lot of the targeting of the trans society targets us also We get caught in the crossfire Koomah disclosed We don t want our liberation to come at the oppression of another group Sean Saifa Wall helped create the Strategy Lab for Intersex Movements in to try to understand the origins of increasing healthcare bans targeting trans and intersex youth He attributed the prevalence of these bans to a coalescence of Christian nationalism in the United States In the grand scheme of this political project Wall revealed trans and intersex people have become collateral damage Upholding the gender binary through a rationale of biological sex is particularly effective Wall commented because of people s ignorance of biology and comfort with the gender binary Legislators can capitalize on these misunderstandings and present their views as common sense They portray people who are really opening the conversation around biological sex and gender as crazy Wall mentioned It s just like Oh those are the woke people Those are those people who are pushing gender ideology You can t listen to them They re the ones who are coming for your kids At a hearing for HB Jonathan Covey framework director for the social conservative advocacy group Texas Values reported the bill would inject a strong dose of common sense into an increasingly absurd social debate about who is considered a man and who is considered a woman Wall revealed these legislators also connect their science-based explanations to religion They have been able to say God created the science and the science is male and female Wall announced They know that they have to have a handle on the science they have to look and sound competent in order to veil their religious bias Though legislators have taken a religion-infused scientific approach to biology Bishop Sue Briner brought a different perspective to the HB committee hearing The world God created doesn t operate in such sharp categories Briner noted Genesis tells us that God created day and night yet we know that the beauty of creation lies not in light and darkness but also in dusk and dawn In the in-between places that are sacred in their own right The post Texas Republicans Push to Define Biological Sex in Statute appeared first on The Texas Observer