Republicans in Utah have introduced a bill in the state legislature which would effectively ban trans people from being able to change their gender markers on their birth certificates by enshrining in law that sex and gender are things that are "defined" at conception. This bill served no other purpose than to make things harder for trans folks. There is literally no actual reason to do this.
This legislation, known as the Utah Vital Statistics Act Amendments, cloaks itself in science but in reality it ignores the true breadth of human sexual and gender characteristics in favor of a dangerous anti-trans ideology.
The wording exposes how based in sexism and misogyny it is. It's all about reproduction as though the only thing that matters is whether someone can reproduce in a certain way. This doesn't make any sense given that reproduction is not even something everyone wants to do and doesn't actually matter in terms of gender identity.
Female is defined as "anatomical characteristics that appear to have the purpose of performing the natural reproductive function of providing eggs and receiving sperm from a male donor."
"Male" means an individual with testes who is confirmed before or at birth to have external anatomical characteristics that appear to have the purpose of performing the natural reproductive function of providing and delivering sperm to a female recipient.
So it's all about appearance of biological capacity? This ignores all intersex people, all trans folks and non binary folks and proves how obsessed Utah is with reproduction.
This is textbook government overreach that is as unscientific as it is unconstitutional. We stand with trans and gender variant people in Utah and call on Utah's House and Senate to reject this legislation now!
