Republicans in Montana are moving forward with legislation that supporters say would eliminate the legal existence of trans, nonbinary, two spirits and intersex people in that country by codifying the definition of sex based on a person’s reproductive system.
61 page bill, SB 458it is part of a torrent of anti-LGBTQ legislation which the Republic seeks to implement nationwide. According to experts, the bill would leave trans, non-binary and two-spirit people out of anti-discrimination policies and would ban same-sex marriage, among many other legal implications. (Same-sex marriage now protected by federal law.)
“I think that this bill is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, and by doing this, they’re using the wrong understanding of biology to try to change the legal code in a way that I don’t think has been fully thought out,” said Dr. Lauren Wilson of the American Academy of Pediatrics told HuffPost.
Introduced in late February by Montana state Sen. Carl Glimm and through early voting in the state Senate, the bill would define sex as “the organization of the body and gametes for reproduction in humans and other organisms” and state that among humans, “there are exactly two sexes, male and female, with two corresponding gametes. .”
To be considered female, the bill says, a person must produce “relatively large, relatively immobile gametes, or eggs, during their life cycle” and have “reproductive and endocrine systems oriented toward the production of these gametes.” For males, a person must produce “cellular gametes, or small sperm, throughout their life cycle” and have “reproductive and endocrine systems that direct the production of these gametes.”
After some debate, the bill passed modified including some exceptions for intersex individuals, those born with anatomy or chromosomes that do not fit the male or female binary. However, the bill forces these people to conform to either male or female gender, ignoring years of biological research that acknowledges the existence Dozens of variations on the intersex spectrum.
Wilson added that some intersex people do not easily or simply fit into the bill’s definition of male or female.
“Some intersex people, they identify themselves as a third category,” Wilson said. “Having a definition that really focuses on a person’s reproductive capacity means that there are certain people who will not be able to be categorized as such. And this bill does not seem to give it any legal status,” he added.
“This type of misdefining has huge implications for everyone in the state of Montana.”
– Shawn Reagor, Montana Human Rights Network
Experts say the bill would make it nearly impossible for people who are not included in the bill’s strict gender to live in Montana without misgendering themselves, coming out or facing daily blocks.
“This type of misdefining has huge implications for everyone in the state of Montana,” Shawn Reagor, director of equality at the Montana Human Rights Network, told HuffPost. “The bill is 61 pages long and touches on more than 41 pieces of code and includes an inaccurate and frankly disturbing definition of sex which is a definition that takes us back hundreds of years of biological understanding and removes all intersex people and tries to miscategorize trans people.”
Kyndra Nevin, a volunteer at the Montana Gender Alliance, told HuffPost that the bill is the “worst” she’s seen in the nationwide anti-trans legislation effort.
“It seems like the point is cruelty, and as hard as we can do to make trans people in this state better, it’s what they want. Basically, it seems like it’s just a campaign to drive trans people out of public life in Montana, and maybe even out of the state.” ,” said Nevin. “Because this bill is so expensive, it will be very difficult for all of us to navigate public life, everywhere from finding a job, trying to go to school, things like that. Basically, they cut us out of, I guess, existence, as far as being defined as a people in Montana.
Montana lawmakers have passed another anti-LGBTQ law, such as SB 99, The bill aimed at limiting gender-affirming care for minors is awaiting a vote in the state House. There is also an attempt, by the way HB 359, to ban minors from attending drag shows. House approved on February 24, and the bill now sits in the Senate.
According to Movement Progress Projectapproximately 30,000 people in the state 13 and older identified as LGBTQ in 2020. But Montana Republicans obsession outsized with the implementation of policies to muzzle LGBTQ expression and identity in the culture war remains.
“I think it’s really important that people know, especially people in the trans, non-binary and two-spirit communities, that there are people fighting for them and we’re going to do everything we can to prevent this bill from happening,” Reagor told HuffPost. .” And whether it’s in Montana or Louisiana, trans people in this country. We have been here for thousands of years, and we will continue to be.
Glimm, the bill’s author, did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.