Tag Archives: Gender identity
States protecting sex segregation and gender identity at the same time!
Using the chart of state gender identity laws that I posted on this site in 2013,* I am highlighting here the states in which gender identity laws have been passed and, at the same time, protection for certain forms of sex-segregation is explicitly allowed by the same or a related statute. (To see the full […]
Direct replacement of ‘sex’ with ‘gender’ in U.S. passport and Social Security policies
At the federal level, it is possible to change the sex on both your Social Security card and United States passport documents. The policies currently in effect require only a physician or psychiatrist’s attestation of “appropriate clinical treatment” (Social Security Administration) or “gender-related care” (U.S. passports). In both cases, gender is used in direct replacement […]
If “transwomen are women”…then what does being a woman mean?
The maxim “trans women are women” is a false equivalency that means at least three things. First, it means that being raised as girl from birth is not an important or relevant aspect of being a “woman” because one can be a woman without these formative experiences. Second, it means that having a female body is not an important or relevant aspect of being […]
A disparate impact analysis of gender’s social liability
A lot of people think gender is really cool. They might celebrate gender “diversity.” Or they might believe that legal protection for “gender identity” and “gender expression” is a fundamental human right because it is a shortcut for deconstructing sex stereotypes–it’s not. But at the very least, most people view gender as neutral. Harmless, really. […]
CHART! “Gender Identity” laws by state: definitions, citations, contexts
I made this excel spreadsheet of “gender identity” anti-discrimination legislation almost a year ago. I have hesitated to share it on the internet because there are surely errors (in the weblinks and citations if nothing else) and because IT SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR LEGAL RESEARCH. But still, it’s pretty sweet and helps frame […]
DELAWARE joins MA and CT with “improper purpose” limitation on “gender identity” protections
Delaware joined 16 other US states this week by passing anti-discrimination protections for “gender identity.” The good news is that some reasonable limitations were added by eleventh hour amendment to the legislation. The central problem with “gender identity” legislation is still implicated by the definition itself because it directly overrides sex and is self-referential (gender is gender). Let’s take […]
Sex discrimination as legal strategy
Sex discrimination demands particular kinds of behavior from one sex, but prohibits the same behavior from the other sex.[i] For example, wearing dresses is ok, but only for females; engaging in sexual relations with females is ok, but only for males. Legal prohibition against sex discrimination encompasses the social policing of both homosexuality[ii] and sex-role (or gender) […]
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS? SEX, RELIGION, AND TRANSGENDER IDENTITY UNDER TITLE VII (excerpt)
This is an excerpt of Sue Landsittel’s article Strange Bedfellows? Sex, Religion, and Transgender Identity Under Title VII, 104 NW. U. L. REV. 1147 (2010). The full article can be read here. ____________________________________________________ IV. TALKING ABOUT “SEX” LIKE RELIGION Cases like Smith and Schroer demonstrate that courts are beginning to read Title VII in a more transgender-protective way. In doing so, […]
Advanced topics in “gender identity:” improper purpose, male nudity, and basic fraud prevention
Popular progressive political discourse, fueled by the sloppy legal strategy of LGBT organizations, insists that adding “gender identity” to existing anti-discrimination statutes by legislative amendment is an urgent and necessary legal protection for transgendered and other gender non-conforming people. In fact, however, judicial interpretation of sex discrimination law already prohibits gender-related sex-stereotyping. More than being benignly redundant, […]
Sex matters. 