Trans Lives Will Not Be Erased: A message from the LGBTQ+ Director
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that a draft memo by the Department of Health and Human Services proposes to define sex as unchangeable and determined by a person’s genitalia at birth. Legal and bureaucratic regulation of sex and gender identity are not new. But the broad and aggressive scope of the HHS proposal, and its utter refusal to recognize the reality of transgender people’s existence and our basic humanity, are deeply concerning.
While legal recognition and documentation do not dictate our humanity, they can be important to safety, particularly for trans people who experience increased vulnerability due to racism, anti-immigrant bias, ableism, and classism. For those of us who are transgender, who have trans family members and friends, and who care about the trans students and colleagues in our learning and working communities, the draft memo may feel threatening, dangerous, and cruel.
No memo can take away what we know is true about ourselves, our families, and our communities. Trans people, especially trans people of color, are no strangers to attempts at legal erasure. Trans people carry rich legacies of resilience. Our lives will not be erased. Trans people are beautifully, powerfully here.
With love,
L.K. Langley
LGBTQ+ Director