“What happens when sex is defined as gender identity, and gender identity is terribly vague?” Gaetz asked at the hearing on Tuesday night. “Will all sex-based distinctions be erased? … Would grants for female-led businesses or programs for women in STEM fields suddenly be open to all persons, whether they believe or not that they identify as a woman?”
Ah, yes. Pretending to care about women in the name of renouncing the rights of trans people … many of whom are women, too. Anyone else recognize this rhetoric from the bathroom debate?Exhausting.
“Consider this possibility: If President Trump were to say, ‘I am now the first female president,’ who would celebrate that?” Gaetz suggested at the hearing. “Would those who support the legislation think that’s a good thing or would they be dismayed? Bad actors have already weaponized some ostensible equality laws for their own benefit.”
Gaetz’s argument is disrespectful and offensive for a number of obvious reasons. Perhaps what is most dangerous, however, is that it plays on an old stereotype that trans people “choose” their gender identity as a means of manipulation, getting ahead, or being otherwise deceptive.
While there’s no saying whether or not Trump would call himself the “first female president” as a joke, that’s a far cry from someone actually identifying as a trans woman, trans man, or non-binary person. Gaetz makes a mockery of the real violence the trans community faces in a way that is, frankly, unforgivable (albeit not surprising).
Here’s a clip from the hearing: