[Editorial]
This morning I wrote about the legal battle that is just over the horizon, and now I want to write about another one that we, as the trans community, will inevitably face.
Many conservatives believe that being trans or LGBTQ+ is a choice. Science, however, shows that it is not a choice—it is an inherent trait, shaped by biology and development.
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no one may be discriminated against, and courts have consistently ruled that it protects people based on race, gender, and other protected classes. Unfortunately, for the trans community, those protections are not yet fully recognized at the highest level. Lower courts have begun ruling that we are covered under the 14th Amendment—but the Supreme Court has yet to make a definitive ruling.
One of the key sticking points in these legal battles is whether being LGBTQ+ is a choice or an inherent trait. Until the Supreme Court addresses this question directly, our rights remain vulnerable.
There is a growing research that shows that it is not choice but we were “Born this way!”
Endocrine PracticeVolume 21, Issue 2, February 2015Aruna Saraswat MD, Jamie D. Weinand BA, BS, & Joshua D. Safer MDINTRODUCTIONGender identity is a fundamental human attribute that has a profound impact on personal well-being. Transgender individuals are those whose lived and identified gender identity differs from their natal sex. Various etiologies for transgender identity have been proposed, but misconceptions that gender identity can be altered persist. However, clinical experience with treatment of transgender persons has clearly demonstrated that the best outcomes for these individuals are achieved with their …[…]CONCLUSIONCurrent data suggest a biologic etiology for transgender identity. Studies of DSD patients and neuroanatomical studies provide the strongest evidence for the organic basis of transgender identity. Because the sample sizes of most studies on this subject were small, the conclusions must be interpreted with caution. Further research is required to assign specific biologic mechanisms for gender identity...
There is a growing body of evidence that support us.
*** Note: Just because there might be a biological cause to being trans, it does not mean it is the only way we are trans. It is just one of many ways. ***
Science Daily:
Date:February 5, 2020Source:Medical College of Georgia at Augusta UniversitySummary:Some of the first biological evidence of the incongruence transgender individuals experience, because their brain indicates they are one sex and their body another, may have been found in estrogen receptor pathways in the brain of 30 transgender individuals.
Journal of Clinical Medicine:AbstractTransgender people report discomfort with their birth sex and a strong identification with the opposite sex. The current study was designed to shed further light on the question of whether the brains of transgender people resemble their birth sex or their gender identity. For this purpose, we analyzed a sample of 24 cisgender men, 24 cisgender women, and 24 transgender women before gender-affirming hormone therapy. We employed a recently developed multivariate classifier that yields a continuous probabilistic (rather than a binary) estimate for brains to be male or female. The brains of transgender women ranged between cisgender men and cisgender women (albeit still closer to cisgender men), and the differences to both cisgender men and to cisgender women were significant (p = 0.016 and p < 0.001, respectively). These findings add support to the notion that the underlying brain anatomy in transgender people is shifted away from their biological sex towards their gender identity.
PubMed
Natalia S Fernández 1, Rosa Fernández 2, Marcelino Gómez-Balaguer 3, Mireia Mora 4, Julio Guerrero-Fernández 5, Amadora Moral-Martos 6AbstractIntroduction: Gender identity is each person's internal sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum, which may (cisgender) or may not (transgender) coincide with the sex assigned at birth. The multiple difficulties experienced by transgender individuals constitutes a risk factor for mood disorders and self-harming behaviors. However, knowledge about biological influences on gender identity development has the potential to reduce the stigmatization of gender minorities.
Okay, what does all this mean? Absolutely nothing! Scientifically, it strongly suggests that gender identity is not a choice—but in legal terms, the only authority that ultimately matters is the nine justices sitting on the bench of the Supreme Court.
If they rule that being trans is an inborn trait, then we may be protected under the 14th Amendment. Notice I said “may be protected”—because, from my experience working with lawyers at CHRO and legal nonprofits, there is never a definite “yes” or “no” but rather “In my opinion.” At the end of the day, the Supreme Court justices could decide to ignore all the medical data and declare, “It’s a choice.”
And "We're screwed!"