The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth and reportedly wants to define gender as either male or female and unchangeable, a move that would roll back recognition of transgender people.

A series of decisions by the Obama administration loosened the legal concept of gender in federal programs, including in education and health care, recognizing gender largely as an individual’s choice and not determined by the sex assigned at birth.

The policy prompted fights over bathrooms, dormitories, single-sex programs and other arenas where gender was once seen as a simple concept. Conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, were incensed.

Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.

A man holds up a sign supporting North Carolina’s anti-transgender bathroom law following Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’ campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., August 18, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

The department argued in its memo that key government agencies needed to adopt an explicit and uniform definition of gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” according to a draft reviewed by The Times. Any dispute about one’s sex would have to be clarified using genetic testing.

The agency’s proposed definition would define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with.

For the last year, the Department of Health and Human Services has privately argued that the term “sex” was never meant to include gender identity or even homosexuality, and that the lack of clarity allowed the Obama administration to wrongfully extend civil rights protections to people who should not have them.

Source:  nytimes.com