GENDER

This comprehensive compilation of information on the topic of gender is organized as follows (clicking on the term will take you to the information on that topic):

 

• Gender: General Outline
• Gender Analysis
• Gender-Based Violence
• Gender Equality
• Gender Identity
• Gender Norms
• Gender Responsive
• Gender Role
• Gender Sensitive
• Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Transformative
• Gender Variance

 

GENDER
OVERVIEW

 

Gender terms are some of the most confusing and dangerous terms used in laws and policies worldwide. Increasingly, gender terms are intentionally inserted into UN policies to bring in a controversial transgender agenda without many Member States realizing it (see “Transgender” section).

 

For example, an LGBT-allied government may propose a provision on “gender equality,” knowing that most Member States will believe the term only means equality between males and females. However, their true intent is to have “gender equality” implemented in a way that also ensures “equality” and “rights” for LGBT individuals.

 

Therefore, gender terms in policy documents should always be either deleted, replaced with “sex” or other acceptable terms, defined as “male or female only,” or reserved on.

 

[Note: Family Watch supports the basic human rights of all individuals including LGBT individuals. However, we oppose the creation of special rights granted to persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.] 

 

Deceptive Definition for Gender by the World Health Organization

 

The following are the two main ways the term “gender” is used and interpreted:[1]

 

“Gender” Definition #1 (common male/female definition) – The term “gender” is commonly used synonymously with “sex,” indicating either male or female.

 

Most people generally understand “gender” as in definition #1, as in male and female only. For example, in some countries, expectant parents may host a “gender reveal” party to reveal their baby’s biological sex as either male or female to friends and family. The term “gender” also often appears on medical forms and job applications to indicate one’s male or female sex.

 

However, in policy documents, using “gender” interchangeably with “sex” without defining it in the text to mean “sex” is highly problematic. This is because, by default, unless “gender” is clearly defined in the document in which it appears as male and female only, the term “gender” will also encompass the controversial World Health Organization definition for “gender” below.

 

“Gender” Definition #2 (social construct/transgender definition) – According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “‘gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes, that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.”[2]

 

If a government subscribes only to the first noncontroversial male/female definition, it won’t matter if the implementers of the policy (such as UN agencies and NGOs) interpret “gender” to also encompass the second transgender-inclusive definition, which is often the case.

 

How could this WHO gender definition be applied, for example, in the context of a “gender” non-discrimination policy that prohibits discrimination based on age, race, religion or “gender?”

 

Suppose a society prohibits men from engaging in the same “activities” or “behaviors” as women, like dressing as women, or using women’s bathrooms and showering facilities, or playing on a women’s sports team. What if a society considers that those “behaviors” are only “appropriate” for women? A gender non-discrimination policy, according to this WHO definition, would require those governments to allow men into these spaces. Under the WHO definition, men would have a right to behave exactly as women and engage in the same “activities” as women and vice versa for women engaging in the same “activities” as men.

 

And since the WHO definition also includes “attributes,” a “gender” non-discrimination policy would also require governments to not deny men the “attributes” of women. It could require governments or health insurance companies to provide cross-sex surgeries in a misguided attempt to alleviate a person’s gender confusion so that they could more fully have the “attributes” and “behaviors” of the opposite sex. (See the “Gender Identity” section for examples.)

 

Therefore, the WHO social construct/transgender definition, which is becoming much more widely used than the male/female definition, makes the term “gender” highly problematic indeed. This is especially so since the WHO definition for “gender” is being used by many Western governments, UN agencies, medical and mental health associations, university “gender” studies departments, and, of course, by the wider LGBT community.

 

WHO’s agenda to have the term “gender” be the Trojan horse term to bring in the transgender agenda becomes abundantly clear in the following text found on the WHO website:

 

“Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed. While most people are born either male or female, they are taught appropriate norms and behaviours – including how they should interact with others of the same or opposite sex within households, communities and work places. When individuals or groups do not “fit” established gender norms they often face stigma, discriminatory practices or social exclusion – all of which adversely affect health. It is important to be sensitive to different identities that do not necessarily fit into binary male or female sex categories.”[3]

 

A clearer definition for “gender” that openly reveals what is intended by the WHO definitions above is as follows:

 

Gender: Gender refers to either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones and is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not conform to established ideas of male and female.

 

Further, the World Health Organization clearly differentiates “gender” from “sex” as follows:

 

“‘[s]ex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women,” and “‘gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.”

 

Thus, according to WHO, “gender” is socially constructed, therefore, can be completely disconnected from the person’s physical body (i.e., their male or female biological sex) and can refer to one’s self-perception or self-identification with being either male, female, both (bigender), having no gender (agender), having multiple genders within a person (polygender), or self-identifying as any of a number of the more than 100 genders which have been conceptualized. (See “Additional Resources” at the end of the “Gender Identity” section for a complete list.)

 

In sum, no Member State can anticipate what will actually be legalized when they adopt laws or polices or enter into international agreements that guarantee “gender equality” or that protect the concept of “gender” unless it is narrowly defined.

 

[Note: While the following “gender” terms may also have other definitions relating to the advancement of women, if not defined otherwise, they are often interpreted to encompass the following definitions.]

 

 

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

 

“Gender-based violence” has been defined to encompass denial of abortion and violence against LGBT people, as follows:

 

• In General Comment 35 on gender-based violence, the CEDAW Committee declared the “criminalization of abortion” to be a form of “gender-based violence that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”[5]

 

• USAID’s Bureau of Global Health’s online learning module, Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health 101, provides this definition:

 

“Gender Based Violence (GBV) is an umbrella term for any harmful threat or act directed toward an individual or group based on actual or perceived biological sex, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, and/or lack of adherence to socially constructed norms around masculinities and femininities.”

 

• UNESCO’s 2018 Revised International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, (co-published by UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and UN Women) defines “gender-based violence” as “violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, also referred to as homophobic and transphobic violence, [which] is a form of school related gender-based violence.”
• The UN Women website contains frequently asked questions on types of violence against women and girls and says this: “The term [gender-based violence] is also sometimes used to describe targeted violence against LGBTQI+ populations, when referencing violence related to norms of masculinity/femininity and/or gender norms.”[6]

 

GENDER EQUALITY – (See full “Gender Equality” section below.)

GENDER IDENTITY – (See full “Gender Identity” section below.)

GENDER NORMS

“Gender norms” are “the socially prescribed attributes and behaviors that are considered the generally accepted ‘norm’ (the normal situation) based on a person’s real or perceived gender identity and expression, and/or biological sex.” (Definition from Choice for Youth, a youth group funded by the government of the Netherlands that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights at the United Nations. See ChoiceforYouth.org.)

GENDER PERSPECTIVE

While traditionally a “gender perspective” has been understood to be a women’s equality perspective, increasingly it is being used to promote an LGBT perspective, especially by UN Special Rapporteurs as follows:

• “In accordance with his mandate defined by the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur has integrated a gender perspective throughout his work. This report expands upon earlier reports of the Special Rapporteur to provide a comprehensive overview of the frequency and nature of gender-based human rights abuses in counter-terrorism measures and to explore the complex relationship between gender equality and countering terrorism. Gender is not synonymous with women, but rather it encompasses the social constructions that underlie how women’s and men’s roles, functions and responsibilities, including in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, are defined and understood. Moreover, the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals have required particular attention in the context of a human rights assessment of gender and counterterrorism.”[7]
• “The importance of the sexual diversity approach, which is linked to the gender perspective, should be emphasized. Regrettably, few sexual education programmes and curricula include this approach. The aforementioned Yogyakarta Principles are a fundamental tool for inclusion of the diversity perspective in the public policies that have to be taken into account in education.”[8]
• “Of additional value is the inclusion of individuals with a gender perspective to better understand the specific ways in which vulnerable persons, including, women, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, persons with disabilities and persons belonging to a minority or indigenous group suffer from gross violations, including torture and other forms of ill-treatment and how they affect their communities.”[9]
• In accordance with the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to integrate a gender perspective throughout her work, the present report refers to the specificities of the situation of women human rights defenders and the particular challenges they face. Women defenders are more at risk of being subjected to certain forms of violence, prejudices, exclusion, repudiation and other violations, than their male counterparts. This is often due to the fact that women defenders are perceived as challenging accepted socio-cultural norms, traditions, perceptions and stereotypes about femininity, sexual orientation and the role and status of women in society.[10]

GENDER RESPONSIVE

“Gender-responsive health policies” have been defined as interventions that require a thorough analysis of barriers to women’s health, including other inequalities based on ethnicity, class, geographic location and “sexual orientation or gender identity.” (ChoiceforYouth.org)

 

 

 

GENDER ROLE

 

“Gender role” has been defined as the socially prescribed behaviors that are considered normal based on a person’s real or perceived gender identity and expression, and/or biological sex.” (ChoiceforYouth.org)

GENDER SENSITIVE

 

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.a calls for “education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive.”

 

Most governments might understand this to mean schools that are sensitive to the needs of women and girls. However, the term “gender sensitive” can also be interpreted as “LGBT sensitive,” which can give a completely new meaning to the interpretation of “gender sensitive” educational facilities in SDG Target 4a. In other words, Target 4a calling for “gender sensitive” facilities may be interpreted to require schools to permit cross-sex or cross-gender use of student bathrooms and showers based on a student’s “gender identity.”

 

For example, the state of Oregon in the U.S. defines “gender sensitive” this way:

 

“Gender sensitive” – Materials and instruction strategies that is [sic] sensitive to individual’s similarities and differences regarding gender role, gender identity and/or sexual orientation.”^[11]

 

In addition, a publication with contributions from WHO and UNESCO called Building a Gender Friendly School Environment uses a broader definition of “gender”:

 

“in discussing gender issues in relation to learning institutions, it is important to consider all gender and sexual identities in order to foster the development of all learners … [and] promotion of the rights of all people regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”^[12]

 

[Note: See also the “Inclusion/Inclusive” section for information regarding “inclusive schools,” which are also called for under SDG Goal 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

 

GENDER STEREOTYPES

 

The phrase “gender stereotypes” is a controversial term that is used to advance radical feminism and LGBT rights. For example, the UN CEDAW Committee has criticized Belarus for “the continuing prevalence of sex-role stereotypes, as also exemplified by the reintroduction of such symbols as a Mothers’ Day and a Mothers’ Award, which [the Committee] sees as encouraging women’s traditional roles.”  According to radical feminists, motherhood is an undesirable vocation for women, so depicting women as mothers or in a traditional female role is to engage in negative stereotyping. Further, depicting only heterosexual couples, without also showing LGBT couples is now considered to be negative “gender” stereotyping in advertising and films.

 

A flyer produced by the OHCHR’s “Free and Equal: United Nations for LGBT Equality” campaign titled “Bullying and Violence in the Schools” states:

 

“Violence in schools and other educational settings is a worldwide problem and students who do not conform to prevailing sexual and gender stereotypes, including lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) and intersex students, are significantly more vulnerable.”

 

This shows that the OHCHR considers “gender” in the term “gender stereotypes” to encompass “lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT).”

 

When trying to remove “gender stereotypes” from a document a delegation might ask the following talking points:

 

1. We are not sure what is meant by “stereotype” in the proposed language. Exactly what kind of stereotype are we trying to eliminate? The CEDAW Committee criticized Belarus for introducing a Mothers’ Day that it saw as “encouraging women’s traditional roles.” If motherhood could be considered a negative stereotype for women by a UN committee, then this language is not so simple and needs to be clearly defined.
2. Are all stereotypes or gender stereotypes bad? How about depicting men as fathers and women as mothers? Is that bad? We need to specify what kind of stereotypes this is referring to.

GENDER TRANSFORMATIVE

“‘Gender-transformative’” approaches seek to reshape gender relations to be more equitable regardless of their gender identity or sexuality. Gender-transformative approaches thus seek to free everyone from the impact of harmful gender and sexual norms.” (See ChoiceforYouth.org) This term is also used to describe approaches that transform programs or societies to be more accepting of diverse gender identities and diverse gender expressions.

GENDER VARIANCE

According to UNESCO’s 2018 Revised International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, the term “gender variance” is understood to mean “expressions of gender that do not match those predicted by one’s assigned sex at birth.”

 

NEGOTIATING STRATEGIES

Gender

Five Strategies for Addressing Gender Terms

When analyzing a document under negotiation, a helpful way to look at the term “gender” and any “gender”-based terms is to think of those terms as meaning “transgender” or LGBT as you read it. This is recommended because many, if not all, “gender” terms are being used to encompass and advance LGBT rights by stealth. This is not to say that “gender” terms are not used in relation to women and men in their common usage. But the way these terms are being interpreted in policy documents has become much more expansive. Here are a few examples:

How “Gender” Terms are Often Used or Interpreted

“gender analysis” = LGBT analysis

“gender-sensitive” = LGBT-sensitive

“gender-based violence” = LGBT-based violence

“based on gender” = based on LGBT status

“gender-sensitive schools” = LGBT-sensitive schools

The following five strategies will prove crucial in negotiations:

1. Delete all “gender” terms from the text.

Talking Points for Deleting “Gender”:

1. We are concerned that the term “gender” is being interpreted in different ways. How can we be sure which definition is intended in this text? Will “gender” be defined as male and female? Will it encompass identities other than male and female? There is an online list of over 100 claimed genders. (See “Gender Identity” section.) Until the term “gender” is clearly defined in a consensus document in a manner that is acceptable to our delegation, we can no longer accept “gender” terms moving forward.

 

2. The World Health Organizations states that “‘gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.” If this is the definition being used in this document, we cannot accept “gender” or “gender”-related terms. For example, what kind of “behaviors” or “activities” should men be able to do, according to this definition? Should they be able to play on women’s sports teams? Enter into the women’s bathroom or showers? In light of us not having any consensus definition on “gender,” this expanded definition would most likely be the default definition that is used. This is unacceptable.

 

3. If your delegation has ever issued a reservation on “gender,” make that known and then state that your position on “gender” and “gender” terms has not changed.

 

4. If your government is a new administration for your country, state that fact and that under your new administration, “gender” terms are unacceptable because they have not been defined.
5. Replace with terms that can’t be interpreted in controversial ways. For example, replace “gender” with “sex” and replace “gender equality” with “women’s equality” throughout the text. (See multiple suggestions for replacement language for “gender” terms in the chart below.

Talking Points for Replacing “Gender”:

1. If we are trying to safeguard and protect women, shouldn’t our language be more specific about women rather than using the more expansive term “gender?” (Suggest women-specific replacement terms from the “Navigating Gender Terms” chart below.)

 

2. Increasingly, women’s issues are being co-opted by transgender issues and transgender “women” (men who identify as women) who are entering women’s spaces and seeking to claim women’s rights. Our delegation wants to make it clear that this document is about women and not men who identify as women. There can be other documents that address transgender issues, but this one should be directed towards women’s rights and needs.

 

3. If we use the more expansive term “gender” instead of using terms that are specific to women only, could this impact budgeting for women’s issues that might be instead diverted to LGBT “gender” issues?

 

III. Change the context so that “gender” can only be defined as male or female. (See “Navigating Gender Terms” chart below.)

1. Define “gender” specifically as biological male or female only in the text or in a footnote.

The same talking points for the “Delete” strategy above can also be adapted for the “Define” strategy.

Sometimes delegations refuse to believe that an ulterior LGBT agenda is intended or encompassed in “gender” terms, especially since not all delegations that use these terms have an ulterior agenda. But you can be certain that the European Union countries and Canada do have such an agenda.

Case Study: During a CSW negotiation on an African resolution on HIV/AIDS, the lead African Group negotiator did not believe that “gender” in the text was intended to mean anything other than male and female. As an experiment, he was therefore challenged to propose a footnote defining gender as male and female, only to see the shocking, almost violent reactions of the LGBT-allied countries.

This is because defining “gender” clearly as male and female only completely undercuts their core agenda to advance LGBT rights using the term “gender.” The final result of the experiment was that the Africans could clearly see from the reactions to their proposal that there truly was a hidden ulterior motive. As a result, the LGBT allied countries refused to budge, and the entire document was thrown out.

The lesson here is that proposing that “gender” be defined either in the text of a document or in a footnote is a powerful nuclear option that can completely change the negotiation dynamics. It forces LGBT activists to reveal their agenda. LGBT-allied countries will NEVER accept a male/female definition for gender, but if they care enough about the topic at hand, they may be willing to remove references to gender as a compromise.

A delegation may want to try this experiment also as a diversion tactic if they are losing on other important issues. It certainly will draw everyone’s attention away from other topics, especially if you have enough delegations on board to make a credible threat that “gender” could be specifically defined.

1. Reserve on all “gender” terms

In the SDG negotiation, only a few countries recognized the potential for deliberate and controversial misinterpretations of “gender” and “gender equality” and filed reservations on the term “gender.” Their SDG reservations stated that “gender” is to be understood to refer to male and female only, and the term “gender equality” refers only to equality between the two sexes, male and female.

However, the majority of countries did NOT reserve on “gender,” and the reservations that were issued by some countries are nearly impossible to find as they are not attached to the 2030 Agenda.

It should be a standard practice to reserve on “gender” terms in any documents where you are unable to remove or modify the term “gender” to ensure a male/female definition.

Suggestions for Modifying “Gender” to Exclude an LGBT-inclusive Interpretation

 

The following chart contains suggestions for replacing or modifying highly problematic “gender” terms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHART FOR NAVIGATING GENDER TERMS

 

PROBLEMATIC TERMS	SUGGESTED REPLACEMENT TERMS OR RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
“gender”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “sex” or “male or female status.”
“sex, gender, age, race, etc.”	DELETE: “sex.” Lists that include both “gender” and “sex” will encompass gender identity. See “Gender Identity” section.
“gender analysis”	REPLACE WITH: “an analysis based on sex”
“gender-based approaches”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “approaches that address the needs of women ” or “approaches that promote women’s equality.”
“gender-based violence”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “violence against women” or “violence based on a person’s sex.”
“gender bias”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “bias against women or men” or “bias based on a person’s sex.”
“gender dimensions”	DELETE: Too vague.
“gender diverse”	DELETE: There are only two sexes.
“gender equality”	REPLACE WITH: “women’s equality” or “equality between the sexes” or “equality between women and men.”
“gender identity”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “male or female status.”
“gender identities”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “male or female status.” (There are only two sexes.)
“gender inequality”	REPLACE WITH: “women’s inequality” or “inequality between the sexes” or “inequality between women and men.”
“gender mainstreaming”	REPLACE WITH: “mainstreaming equal opportunities for women and girls” or ADD: “to eliminate inequalities between women and men” or “to ensure equality between women and men” or “to ensure the equal/equitable treatment of women and men (or between women and men).”
“gender nonconformity”	DELETE
“gender norms” or “harmful gender norms”	REPLACE WITH: “norms for males or females” or REPLACE WITH: “norms that perpetuate unjust discrimination against women” or “norms that promote inequality for women/girls.”
“gender perspectives”	REPLACE WITH: “women’s perspectives” or “perspectives that promote the equal treatment of women and men” or “that ensure women and men and girls and boys are treated equitably” or “perspectives that are sensitive to the needs of women/girls.”
“gender-responsive budgeting” or “gender-sensitive budgeting”	ADD: “that ensures equal access to resources for women.”
“gender roles”	REPLACE WITH: “roles of women or men.”
“gender sensitive”	REPLACE WITH: “effective”
“gender-sensitive education”	REPLACE WITH: “equal education for women/girls” or “education sensitive to the needs of women/girls” or “equal education for girls and boys.”
“gender-sensitive legislation/policies”	REPLACE WITH: “legislation/policies sensitive to the needs of women” or “legislation/policies that promotes equality between women and men.”
“gender-sensitive measures/indicators”	DELETE: “gender-sensitive” or REPLACE WITH: “measures/indicators that focus on women.”
“gender-sensitive services”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “services that take into account the different needs of women/girls.”
“gender statistics”	REPLACE WITH: “sex disaggregated.”
“gender stereotypes”	DELETE or ADD: “that promote inequalities between women and men.”
“gender transformative policies”	REPLACE WITH: “policies that empower women and girls” or “policies that ensure equality between women and men” or “policies to ensure the equal/equitable treatment of women and men.”
“gender variance”	DELETE: There are only two sexes.
“transgender”	DELETE
“transgender female”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “a male who identifies as a female.”
“transgender male”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “a female who identifies as a male.”
“gender reassignment surgery” or “sex change” or “sex reassignment surgery” or “gender affirming/confirming surgery”	DELETE or REPLACE WITH: “cross-sex surgery” (a “sex change” is a biological impossibility. One cannot change one’s sex).

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENDER EQUALITY
(See also “Gender,” “Gender Analysis,” “Gender-Based Violence,” “Gender Identity,” “Gender Norms,” “Gender Responsive,” “Gender Roles,” “Gender Sensitive,” “Gender Stereotypes,” “Gender Variance,” “Gender Transformative,” “Sexual Orientation,”  “Transgender”)

 

 

OVERVIEW

Gender Equality

 

As explained in the “Gender” section, the term “gender” is often used instead of “sex” to promote the recognition of diverse genders beyond male and female. Therefore, the term “gender equality,” in addition to being defined as equality between women and men, is often defined as LGBT equality.

 

For examples of how to negotiate language so “gender equality” cannot be used to promote transgenderism or a multitude of controversial genders, see “Negotiating Strategies” in the “Gender” section.

 

In this overview, you will find multiple examples showing how UN agencies and certain countries interpret “gender equality” to encompass LGBT equality:

 

Gender Equality and the UN 2030 Agenda

 

The term “gender equality” is used throughout the 2030 Agenda. Although in most cases “gender” in the 2030 Agenda refers to male and female, the terms “gender” or “gender equality” are also used to deceptively bring transgender “rights” into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

One of the most problematic references to “gender” in the 2030 Agenda is target 17.18, which calls for “high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by … gender.” During the SDG negotiations, proposals to use the term “sex” instead of “gender” in this target were adamantly rejected by the countries most active in promoting LGBT rights. This was because they planned to interpret “gender” to have a more expansive meaning beyond just “sex.” In other words, if they could gather data on “gender” rather than “sex,” then “gender” could encompass various sexual orientations and “gender identities” other than male or female. Then they could use that data to drive LGBT policies since many policies are data driven.

 

Moreover, consider the following references to “gender equality” in the 2030 Agenda:

 

• Goal 5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

 

• Target 5.c under this goal calls upon governments to adopt policies and “enforceable legislation” for the promotion of “gender equality.”

 

Those countries and UN agencies that consistently seek to advance transgender rights will likely interpret the term “gender equality” in SDG policies to encompass equality between diverse “gender identities,” including any of the 112 genders listed in the “Gender Identity” section. “Gender sensitive” will likely be interpreted to mean LGBT sensitive. (See “Gender Sensitive” section.)

 

UN Agencies and State Governments

 

Indeed, UN agencies and governments are already interpreting “gender” and “gender equality” to promote diverse genders, sexual orientations, and/or LGBT equality in policies throughout the world. Consider the following examples:

• UNESCO’s 2018 publication Revised International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, which was co-published by UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and UN Women, reveals how UN agencies are now defining “gender equality” to mean transgender equality. It asserts that “[Comprehensive Sexuality Education] contributes to gender equality by building awareness of the centrality and diversity of gender in people’s lives.”^[13]

 

• The UN website on a page titled “United Nations Gender-Inclusive Language” states, “Using gender-inclusive language means speaking and writing in a way that does not discriminate against a particular sex, social gender or gender identity, and does not perpetuate gender stereotypes.”[14]

 

• United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) claims: “…LGBTI people’s inclusion in economic and human development and the full realization of their human rights are strong imperatives for UN Women’s engagement within the context of its mandate on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. Therefore, UN Women works across its normative, UN coordination and operational roles to develop programming and advocacy that integrate LGBTI people’s rights and perspectives, and has continued to expand its work on LGBTI issues.”[15]

 

• The EU recently decided to promote transgender rights as part of their “Gender Equality Strategy.” In announcing this change, the chair of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee stated: “I’m convinced that gender equality should not only be considered as a goal but as the golden key which opens all closed doors and invites us to an inclusive society for all—regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or economic background. All these factors are still grounds of discrimination, and surely we need stronger and more comprehensive EU legislation in this field.”^[16]

 

• The Netherlands’ “LGBT and Gender Equality Plan” combines LGBT equality with “gender equality.” The Netherlands government also funds a youth group that lobbies at the United Nations called, Choice for Youth, that defines “gender equality” as “a situation whereby everyone, regardless of their real or perceived gender identity and gender expression, has equal conditions for realizing their full potential.”^[17]

 

• An enforceable “Gender Equity Act” in Taiwan mandates that “gender equity” education curricula shall include “sex education, and gay and lesbian education.”[18]

 

 

 

 

 

NEGOTIATING STRATEGIES

Gender Equality

 

1. One of the best ways to address the term “gender equality” is to propose replacing it with “women’s equality.” Most nations understand the term to mean “women’s equality” anyway, so if other delegations oppose such a proposal, it reveals their true intention to define “gender equality” differently (i.e., likely to encompass LGBT equality). If they refuse to replace it, probe for an explanation for what “gender equality” means and how it is different than “women’s equality.” It will be difficult for them to answer that question honestly without revealing their LGBT agenda.

 

A talking point to accomplish this would be: Since we are focusing on the needs and rights of women, why aren’t we using the term “women” to make this stronger?

 

2. A second strategy would be to add “between the sexes” or “between women and men” so it would read “gender equality between the sexes,” which limits its definition appropriately.

 

3. See “Negotiating Strategies” in the “Gender” section for multiple effective strategies and talking points for addressing “gender” terms.

 

4. If your country has ever issued a reservation on “gender,” state so and inform other delegations that your position has not changed. A few countries filed reservations on the term “gender” in the SDGs, stating:

 

“gender” is to be understood to refer to male and female only, and the term “gender equality” refers only to equality between the two sexes, male and female.

 

This is a good model for a reservation and can be used as a standard reservation for both “gender” and “gender equality.”

 

GENDER IDENTITY

(See also “Discrimination, Multiple and Intersecting Forms of,” “Diversity, Women in All Their,”  “Gender,” “LGBT,” “Sexual Minorities,” “Sexual Orientation,” “Sexuality,”
“Transgender,” “Vulnerable Groups,” “Yogyakarta Principles”)

 

OVERVIEW

Gender Identity

 

Battles over non-discrimination policies based on “gender identity” are emerging around the world with the following harms to businesses, employees, women, children and families.

 

• Despite parental protests, children are being taught they may have been born in the wrong body and that they can “change” their “gender,” without their parents’ knowledge or consent.[19] California law also now prevents parents from opting their children out of instruction on gender identity.[20]

• Transgenderism (see “Transgender” section) is taught in some schools as healthy and normal, and educational materials are being reformed to depict transgender lifestyles as acceptable. ^[21] (See “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” section.)

 

• Schools, businesses and public facilities are allowing boys and men who identify as females to shower and change clothes in girls’ locker rooms, which has led to reports of boys and men exposing their genitals and, in some cases, sexually assaulting women and girls in locker rooms.

 

• Athletic teams are allowing biological boys to play on girls’ teams as girls, which means boys are being allowed to impersonate girls, to compete as girls, and to dominate in girls’ sports competitions.

 

• Businesses are being assessed fines or forced through lawsuits to allow cross-gender bathroom use or to build special bathrooms for transgenders.

 

• Children are being given cross-sex hormones and genital-mutilating surgeries that can not only leave them infertile for life but can set them up for a lifetime of dependency on expensive sex hormones.

 

• Gendered pronouns like “he” and “she,” or “him” and “her,” are considered offensive and politically incorrect when used in connection with transgenders. Teachers are being fired if they fail to use gender-confused students’ “preferred pronouns.”^[22]

 

• Governments are pressured to pay for cross-sex surgery and other medical treatments to fulfill the fantasies of transgenders.

 

• Those who believe that “sex change” is impossible are considered bigots, hateful, and are sometimes prosecuted.

 

• Long-held cultural understandings of the terms “wife,” “husband,” “mother,” “father,” “brother,” “sister,” “granddaughter,” “grandson,” “aunt,” “uncle,” “niece,” “nephew,” etc., are undermined and changed.

 

• Clear lines between who is male and who is female are being erased, which changes the very foundations of societies.

 

Gender Ideology

 

Gender identity ideology, the belief system that drives “gender identity” politics and policies, is a toxic blend of misinformation, political correctness, deception, irrational reasoning, unscientific claims, zealotry, and harmful practices that has emerged in recent years as a major and growing threat to children and the family.

 

Radical gender identity ideology challenges the scientific basis of being either male or female, and in the process, undermines the socially important biological realities associated with the two sexes. It promotes the fantasy that a person can be born into the wrong body and that people can change their sex with hormones and mutilating surgeries that amputate or otherwise alter healthy organs.

 

Gender identity policies are based on an unproven theory that holds that a person’s sex and/or gender identity is determined by their mind and not by the biological makeup of their body—that sex and/or gender identity is fluid and can be changed at will. For example, a boy should be considered to be a girl if he believes he is a girl and vice versa. According to this theory, a person’s sex is whatever a person declares it to be, sex is not binary (i.e., male and female only), sex can be nonexistent or neutral, can be neither male or female, can be on a continuum between male and female, can be one of multiple self-defined “genders” or a combination of “genders.”

 

Certainly, policies based on “gender identity” create confusion about the essential uniqueness of men and women and the relationships that define the family, which, in turn, pose a serious threat to the health of societies.

 

How “Gender Identity” Policies Violate Parental Rights

 

“Gender identity” non-discrimination policies are one of the greatest threats to parental rights and are putting children and families at risk everywhere. Consider these troubling developments:

 

CANADA: Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, passed a law that could allow the government to remove children from their parents if the parents refuse to affirm their children in the opposite gender.

 

UNITED KINGDOM: Christian Concern in the UK is defending four sets of parents who are challenging actions taken by schools and social workers to enable their children to “transition” from female to male, or vice versa.

 

CHILE: A law was passed allowing children as young as age 14 to identify as the opposite sex if only one parent consents.

 

THE UNITED STATES: In Minnesota a 16-year-old boy who was not living at home decided he was a girl. His school and medical providers began treatment to change his appearance from male to female without the mother’s knowledge or consent. The county government even provided financial support for the boy without informing his mother. The mother’s attorney calls this “a parent’s worst nightmare.”^[23]

 

A 17-year-old girl in Ohio was taken from her parents and placed with her grandparents because her parents would not allow her to take transgender hormones. (Transgender hormones can render the girl infertile for life).^[24]

 

The mother of a 7-year-old Texas boy decided to “transition” him to a girl against the father’s wishes and sent him to school dressed as a girl and called him by a girl’s name. It became a legal battle, and the jury determined the mother had the right to “change” the child’s gender, even though the child had never expressed any interest in “transitioning” to a girl.[25]

 

“Gender Identity” Policies Facilitate Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls

 

Consider the following troubling examples showing how “gender identity” policies put women and children at risk:

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND: A male student wore a mask and wig to gain entry to a women’s bathroom to spy on women and make recordings of a sexual nature.

WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND: A biological male inmate with a history of sexual offenses changed his name and dressed as a woman so he could be moved to a female prison where he sexually assaulted four female prisoners.

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON: A 45-year-old man, who self-identified as a woman, used the women’s facilities at the Evergreen State College swimming pool exposing himself to minor girls who also used the college’s swimming pool.

PORTLAND, OREGON: A convicted child sex offender claimed to be a transgender woman and wore a dress to access areas where young girls were changing.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A 46-year-old man cross-dressed as a woman to gain access to a women’s dormitory and other female-only facilities to take pictures of women with a cell phone.

TORONTO, CANADA: A man claimed to be transgender to stay at a women’s shelter where he then assaulted several women.

DECATUR, GEORGIA: Parents of a 5-year-old girl filed a legal complaint claiming a transgender boy sexually assaulted their daughter in her school’s restroom. This boy was a biological male who identifies as “gender fluid” and therefore was allowed use the girls’ restroom under a “gender identity” policy.^[26]

 

All this and more happens when “gender identity” is established as a protected category in non-discrimination laws and policies.

 

“Gender Identity” Transgender Policies Aggressively Pushed by the United Nations

 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) publication, Sexual Health, Human Rights and the Law, co-published with multiple UN agencies and Planned Parenthood, (see “Planned Parenthood” section.), UN Member States are to affirm people in their gender confusion, as follows:

 

• “Being able to determine and express one’s gender identity without stigma, discrimination, exclusion and violence is an important dimension of health and well-being and the enjoyment of human rights.” (pg. 3 – Gender identity and expression)

 

• “The possibility for people to live in accordance with their self-identified gender, in law and in fact, has a beneficial effect on their overall well-being, including being able to access health, social and other services.” (pg. 3 – Gender identity and expression)
• “… for people whose deeply felt gender does not correspond to their sex assigned at birth, access to hormonal treatment or gender reassignment surgery, or other treatment, may be needed for the protection of their health including their sexual health.” (pg. 14 – Transgender and Gender Variant)

 

• “… access to, and reimbursement of, gender-affirming surgery has been specifically addressed by international and regional human rights and professional bodies.” (pg. 25-26 Transgender and Gender Variant)

 

UN Entities Pushing Gender Identity

 

UN treaty bodies, Special Rapporteurs and UN independent experts are increasingly acting irresponsibly outside of their mandates, interpreting non-discrimination provisions to include “gender identity” as a protected category (see “Or Other Status” section), even though the treaties they are monitoring are silent on the issue.

 

The recently appointed UN “Independent Expert” on protection against violence and discrimination based on “sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI),” is issuing reports calling upon Member States not just to protect transgender people from violence based on their “gender identity” (a worthy goal) but to also protect them from “discrimination.” The problem lies in the way “discrimination” is being defined.

 

Non-discrimination policies based on “gender identity” have led to a wide variety of violations of non-transgendered people’s rights, as discussed above.

 

Of deep concern is the fact that in November 2018, no less than 12 UN Special Rapporteurs (including the SOGI expert) issued “Comments Regarding the Persecutory Grounds in the Draft Crimes Against Humanity Convention.” The following are quotes from their comments:

 

“…we recommend that the following grounds be added to the list of persecutory categories when such discrimination amounts to crimes of persecution: language, social origin, age, disability, health, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, indigenous, refugee, statelessness and migratory status.”

 

“We also recommend the deletion of the reference to paragraph 3 in the definition of gender [defined as male and female within the context of society], as per our submission to you on the definition of gender.”

 

“Article 3 on Definition of Crimes against Humanity, under paragraph 1(h), will thus read as follows:

 

‘Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 2, language, social origin, age, disability, health, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, indigenous, refugee, statelessness and migration status, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or in connection with the crime of genocide or war crimes.’”

 

Their comment also claims that in the last 20 years since the passage of the Rome Statute, “an array of international human rights instruments helps to entrench … the principle of non-discrimination in international law, with due respect for sexual orientation and gender identity.”

 

What they are claiming is that discriminating against persons based on their gender identity constitutes a “crime against humanity” and, this is serious indeed, especially taking in account the way discrimination is being defined.

 

And while these comments and reports have no legal weight in and of themselves, if they are heeded by other powerful entities, these comments can have serious repercussions.

 

This is why a strong, consistent pushback against any references to “gender identity” is essential if we are to protect our families and children against the serious negative impacts of “gender identity” non-discrimination policies.

 

If these trends are not halted and even reversed, more harm will be done to children and society, including to the very people these policies are intended to help.

 

NEGOTIATING STRATEGIES

Gender Identity

 

One of the best negotiating strategies for defeating “gender identity” provisions is simply to read from the “Master List of Gender Identities” found in “Additional Resources” at the end of this section. Talking Point #2 below can provide suggested wording for presenting that list. Reading from that list and pointing out some of the absurd definitions (see Talking Point 3, 4, and 5) can bring to light how utterly absurd it is to create policies or laws based on what is in a person’s mind regarding their gender.

 

Another strategy is to express sincere sympathy and support for people who experience true “gender dysphoria” (see “FACTS about Gender Dysphoria/Gender Identity Disorder” in “Additional Resources” below) and to show that the intention of your delegation is not to attack transgender-identifying persons but rather to help them. And that the best way to help them is not to collude with them in the false idea that they are, or can become, the opposite sex from their biological sex.

Certainly, the term “gender identity” should be strongly rejected in any and all UN documents for all the reasons stated at the beginning of this section.

TALKING POINTS

Gender Identity

 

Select from the 19 talking points below, the ones that best fit your negotiating situation.

 

Legal Argument

 

1. The term “gender identity” does not appear in any binding international agreements negotiated by the full body of UN Member States. Every time it has been proposed, it has been rejected by UN Member States because it is too controversial.

 

Genders Chaos Arguments

2. If we were to adopt a “gender identity” policy, how would it be defined? If the 112 “gender identities” on the “Master List of Gender Identities” such as [consider reading several or all of the “gender identities” on the “Master List” in the “Additional Material” section below] were protected under a gender identity policy, it would create great controversy among UN Member States. Is there a definition for “gender identity” that we can adopt here that would not encompass multiple genders or genders other than male or female so we can clarify that we are not trying to protect gender chaos?
3. While every individual is entitled to basic human rights, imagine the chaos that would ensue if all of the controversial “genders identities” that have been conceptualized are established as part of a protected class. The New York City Commission on Human Rights now recognizes 31 genders (see list of these genders in the “Additional Resources” section), and already, multiple complaints have been filed against individuals or businesses accused of discriminating against these “identities” under New York’s new “gender identity” policy.^[27] If found guilty, these individuals or entities could be forced to pay fines up to $250,000.

 

4. 4. How can we create policies based on characteristics that are subjective, changeable, self-defined and that cannot be measured or quantified? For example, “Adamasgender” isdefined as “a gender which refuses to be categorized,” and “Affectugender” is defined as “a gender that is affected by mood swings?” How can governments be expected to regulate policies based on an individual’s internal or individual experience of gender?

 

Since both “gender identity” and “gender expression” are based on internal feelings unique to that individual rather than biological realities that can be independently verified, if we adopt a “gender identity” policy, only gender-confused individuals can determine if some policy or action violates the law. There is no other law in the world that functions this way.

 

5. What if additional gender identities emerge after a policy on gender identity is adopted? Will we then be required to recognize any and all gender identities that are put forward?

 

6. Instead of trying to create special protections for people based on their internal perceptions of themselves which can change over time, we should be enforcing existing laws and policies calling for the elimination of violence against anyone.

 

Violence vs. Discrimination Arguments

 

7. Most people are rightly against violence and do not want to discriminate against anyone, let alone against people who identify as transgender. However, it is one thing to not discriminate and yet another thing to establish laws or public policies that affirm or mainstream lifestyles, behaviors, or beliefs that are unhealthy for the individuals who engage in them or give them special rights based on a recognized mental disorder.

 

8. This proposed policy conflates two very different issues that should be treated separately, and those issues are discrimination and violence. These two issues should be separated so they can be considered on their merits, especially since it is much easier for us to agree on what constitutes violence than it is to agree on what constitutes unjust discrimination. Until these two issues are separated, we cannot accept any provisions on “gender identity.”

 

9. The best estimate on transgender people is that no more than 0.3 percent of the general population identifies as transgender.^[28] Yet this proposed “gender identity” policy can negatively affect the majority of the population, but especially women and girls. Where “gender identity” non-discrimination policies are in place, women and girls are being denied their right to privacy in public female spaces, such as bathrooms and showers. Some have even been sexually assaulted.

 

(Give examples from the list above under “Gender Identity Policies Facilitate Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls.)

 

Women Protection Arguments

 

10. Our delegation understands that gender confusion, previously called “gender identity disorder” and now called “gender dysphoria” is a mental health disorder. We also understand that there is an entirely different mental condition called “autogynephilia.” A male who has autogynephilia experiences intense sexual arousal by cross-dressing as a female or by the thought or image of themselves as female.

How will governments be able to determine under a “gender identity” non-discrimination policy whether the man identifying as a female has true “gender dysphoria” or if he has “autogynephilia,” especially with regard to bathroom policies?

(You may want to give examples here from the “Gender Identity Policies Facilitates Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls” section above for examples where males who likely have “autogynephilia” have assaulted women or girls.)

Gender Identity as a Mental Disorder Arguments

 

(See also “FACTS about Gender Dysphoria/Gender Identity Disorder” in the “Additional Resources” at the end of these talking points.)

 

11. Since severe gender confusion or “gender dysphoria” is recognized by many mental health professionals as a mental disorder, instead of creating policies that affirm person’s in their mental disorder, why aren’t we establishing policies that would provide them therapeutic help? In fact, Dr. Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and a leadingauthority on gender confusion warned:

 

“… gender dysphoria—the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex—belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity-fearing anorexic patients with liposuction. The treatment should strive to correct the false, problematic nature of the assumption and to resolve the psychosocial conflicts provoking it. With youngsters, this is best done in family therapy.”^[29]

 

12. 12. Gender identity protection policies operate under the false assumption that people with gender confusion are better off being encouraged to identify as something other than their biological sex. The website SexChangeRegret.com has multiple testimonies from people who have strongly regretted their cross-sex surgeries and who are desperately trying to reintegrate with their biological sex, despite the altered conditions of their body. Some have even had their genitals or breasts removed and become completely infertile in their attempt to become the opposite sex. This is why Dr. Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, who once supported and oversaw many cross-sex surgeries, after seeing the end results warned,

 

“…policymakers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention.”^[30]

 

13. The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) [also] calls “gender dysphoria” a “mental disorder in which an individual experiences distress over a deeply felt desire or belief that he or she is the opposite sex.” When the dysphoria is severe enough to cause a child to insist on amputating their sex organs, without question, this should be considered a mental disorder.

 

What these children really need is help in overcoming their disorder, not policies to protect their confused “gender identity” or “identities” or that push them further and further into an opposite-sex identity, putting them at risk for a large array of mental, social, and physical problems throughout their lives.

 

Harms to Children Arguments

 

14. The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) warns:

 

• “A number of mental health professionals who have successfully treated gender dysphoria in youth stress that the ‘affirmation’ of children’s gender confusion by allowing them to behave and be treated as the opposite sex reinforces this mental disorder and renders the success of therapy less likely.”

 

What we should be adopting is a policy calling upon medical and mental health professionals and school officials to assist children in resolving their gender dysphoria by accepting their permanent biological sex, not policies that affirm children in a mental disorder.

 

15. Most children lose their feelings of gender confusion as they grow older. According to Dr. Paul McHugh, “When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic, 70%-80% of them spontaneously lost those feelings.”

 

However, when children are affirmed in their gender confusion by parents, schools, the community and others, the chance that they will normally outgrow this gender confusion is greatly diminished.^[31] Our position is that “gender identity” affirming policies, while well-intentioned, are misguided, because they harm the very children that need our help.

 

16. The head of the Child and Adolescent Gender Identity Clinic in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Kenneth Zucker, also one of the leading authorities in the world on gender disorders, has treated over 500 children with gender confusion. Dr. Zucker found that in the vast majority of cases, therapy focused on reducing the psychopathology within the family has resulted in the child’s acceptance of their birth sex.^[32]

Cross-Sex Hormones and Surgery Arguments

17. Our delegation is very concerned that the World Health Organization, in their publication, Sexual Health, Human Rights and the Law is now pushing for “gender identity” protections that would encompass a right for people to be given government-supported cross-sex hormones and surgeries. This harms the very people we are supposedly trying to help—the people confused about their gender.

Consider the following quotes from the WHO publication:

• “Evidence shows that in many cases, acquiring physical sex characteristics congruent with experienced gender identity (such as by undergoing gender-affirming surgery) improves health…” (pg. 25)

 

• “… for people whose deeply felt gender does not correspond to their sex assigned at birth, access to hormonal treatment or gender reassignment surgery, or other treatment, may be needed for the protection of their health including their sexual health.” (pg. 14 – Transgender and Gender Variant)

 

• “… access to, and reimbursement of, gender-affirming surgery has been specifically addressed by international and regional human rights and professional bodies.” (pg. 25-26 – Transgender and Gender Variant)

 

It would appear that these are the kind of harmful policies that might be enacted under any “gender identity” protection policy, therefore our delegation must strongly reject any such policy. We cannot be a party to any document with references to “gender identity.”

 

18. Since, according to the World Health Organization’s publication, Sexual Health Human Rights and the Law, non-discrimination “gender identity” policies would require governments to provide cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children, we must oppose this term. We agree with Dr. Paul McHugh that: “Sex change” is biologically impossible. Dr. McHugh has stated:

 

“People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women … encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.”^[33]

 

Therefore, we believe adopting this policy can hurt people rather than help them.

 

19. A number of facts make it impossible for us support any references to “gender identity” in this document. This is because if “gender identity-” affirming policies are adopted, they can serve to encourage cross-sex hormone therapies and surgeries, and we believe such an approach can cause harm. [Select from the following quotes:]

• “Sex change” surgery increases health risks, including suicide rates.A long-term Swedish study following more than 300 sex change surgery patients for up to 30 years was published in 2011. The study concluded: “Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.” The study found suicide rates 10 years after surgery were 20 times that of the general population.^[34]

 

• After a review in the UK of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transgender persons, Christopher Hyde, director of the University of Birmingham’s Aggressive Research Intelligence Facility, who conducted the review, warned, “There’s still a large number of people who have the surgery but remain traumatized—often to the point of committing suicide.”^[35]
• Cross sex surgery does not solve underlying mental health problems.Under Dr. McHugh, Johns Hopkins University, the first American medical center to venture into “sex-reassignment” surgery, launched a study in the 1970s comparing the outcomes of transgendered people who had the surgery with the outcomes of those who did not. Dr. McHugh explained that John Hopkins stopped doing “sex-reassignment” surgery since “producing a ‘satisfied’ but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.”^[36]

 

• Charles Ihlenfeld, an endocrinologist who worked at the Harry Benjamin gender clinic in the 1970s warned that transsexuals are the only patients who diagnose themselves and prescribe their own treatment. He cautioned against administering gender-change hormones.

 

“There is too much unhappiness among people who have had the surgery,” he said. “Too many of them end as suicides. Even though the physical effects of hormones are largely reversible,” he pointed out, “their psychological effects often are not. The very fact that a doctor clears the patient for hormone therapy,” he said, “can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy for that patient. It may signify to him that his fantasy has received confirmation from the medical profession and that there is now no turning back.”^[37]

 

• Walt Heyer, a male who underwent gender reassignment surgery (see SexChangeRegret.com) lived for eight years as Laura Jensen, a female. He then regretted his surgery and now has transitioned back to Walt. Heyer warns that transgenders’ bodies may be permanently disfigured, making it very difficult to live normally. Mr. Heyer says he wishes the surgeons had told him that the severe psychological problems of their other patients were not solved after surgery and that a high number of such patients commit suicide.

 

• Surgically removing or altering children’s genitals could be considered child abuse. McHugh warned: “Given that close to 80 percent of such children would abandon their confusion and grow naturally into adult life if untreated, these medical interventions come close to child abuse.”

 

Concluding Argument

 

The implications and consequences of adopting non-discrimination “gender identity” policies are far reaching with grave consequences for children and the family, and ironically, are fraught with negative consequences for the very people they were designed to help.

 

 

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. Master List of Gender Identities

 

2. FACTS about Gender Dysphoria/Gender Identity Disorder
3. List of “Gender Identities” Recognized by the City of New York

“GENDER MASTER LIST” TO BE USED FOR TALKING POINT #1

Instructions: Read aloud the entire list of “gender identities,” below, and then ask those proposing the gender identity policy if all these gender identities should be recognized in the proposed policy.

“Gender Master List”
(as published on Tumblr, September 2016)[38]

1. Abimegender:a gender that is profound, deep, and infinite; meant to resemble when one mirror is reflecting into another mirror creating an infinite paradox
2. Adamasgender:a gender which refuses to be categorized
3. Aerogender:a gender that is influenced by your surroundings
4. Aesthetigender:a gender that is derived from an aesthetic; also known as videgender
5. Affectugender:a gender that is affected by mood swings
6. Agender:the feeling of no gender/absence of gender or neutral gender
7. Agenderflux: being mostly agenderexcept having small shifts towards other genders making themdemigenders(because of the constancy of being agender)
8. Alexigender:a gender that is fluid between more than one gender but the individual cannot tell what those genders are
9. Aliusgender:a gender which is removed from common gender descriptors and guidelines
10. Amaregender:a gender that changes depending on who you’re in love with
11. Ambigender:defined as having the feeling of two genders simultaneously without fluctuation; meant to reflect the concept of being ambidextrous, only with gender
12. Ambonec: identifying as both man and woman, yet neither at the same time
13. Amicagender:a gender that changes depending on which friend you’re with
14. Androgyne:sometimes used in the case of “androgynous presentation”; describes the feeling of being a mix of both masculine and feminine (and sometimes neutral) gender qualities
15. Anesigender:feeling like a certain gender yet being more comfortable identifying with another
16. Angenital: a desire to be without primary sexual characteristics, without necessarily being genderless; one may be both angenital and identify as any other gender alongside
17. Anogender:a gender that fades in and out but always comes back to the same feeling
18. Anongender:a gender that is unknown to both yourself and others
19. Antegender:a protean gender which has the potential to be anything, but is formless and motionless, and therefore, does not manifest as any particular gender
20. Anxiegender:a gender that is affected by anxiety
21. Apagender:a feeling of apathy towards ones gender which leads to them not looking any further into it
22. Apconsugender:a gender where you know what it isn’t, but not what it is; the gender is hiding itself from you
23. Astergender:a gender that feels bright and celestial
24. Astralgender:a gender that feels connected to space
25. (POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING) Autigender:a gender that can only be understood in the context of being autistic
26. Autogender:a gender experience that is deeply personal to oneself
27. Axigender: when a person experiences two genders that sit on opposite ends of an axis; one being agender and the other being any other gender; these genders are experienced one at a time with no overlapping and with very short transition time.
28. Bigender: the feeling of having two genders either at the same time or separately; usually used to describe feeling “traditionally male” and “traditionally female”, but does not have to
29. Biogender:a gender that feels connected to nature in some way
30. Blurgender:the feeling of having more than one gender that are somehow blurred together to the point of not being able to distinguish or identify individual genders; synonymous with genderfuzz
31. Boyflux:when one feels mostly or all male most of the time but experience fluctuating intensity of male identity
32. Burstgender:and gender that comes in intense bursts of feeling and quickly fades back to the original state
33. Caelgender:a gender which shares qualities with outer space or has the aesthetic of space, stars, nebulas, etc.
34. Cassgender:the feeling of gender is unimportant to you
35. Cassflux:when the level of indifference towards your gender fluctuates
36. Cavusgender:for people with depression; when you feel one gender when not depressed and another when depressed
37. Cendgender:when your gender changes between one and its opposite
38. Ceterofluid:when you are ceterogender and your feelings fluctuate between masculine, feminine, and neutral
39. Ceterogender:a nonbinary gender with specific masculine, feminine, or neutral feelings
40. Cisgender:the feeling of being the gender you were assigned at birth, all the time (assigned (fe)male/feeling (fe)male)
41. Cloudgender:a gender that cannot be fully realized or seen clearly due to depersonalization/derealization disorder
42. Collgender: the feeling of having too many genders simultaneously to describe each one
43. Colorgender:a gender associated with one or more colors and the feelings, hues, emotions, and/or objects associated with that color; may be used like pinkgender, bluegender, yellowgender
44. Commogender:when you know you aren’t cisgender, but you settled with your assigned gender for the time being
45. Condigender:a gender that is only felt during certain circumstances
46. Deliciagender:from the Latin word delicia meaning “favorite”, meaning the feeling of having more than one simultaneous gender yet preferring one that fits better
47. Demifluid: the feeling your gender being fluid throughout all the demigenders; the feeling of having multiple genders, some static and some fluid
48. Demiflux:the feeling of having multiple genders, some static and some fluctuating
49. Demigender:a gender that is partially one gender and partially another
50. Domgender:having more than one gender yet one being more dominant than the others
51. Duragender:from the Latin word dura meaning “long-lasting”, meaning a subcategory of multigenderin which one gender is more identifiable, long lasting, and prominent than the other genders
52. Egogender:a gender that is so personal to your experience that it can only be described as “you”
53. Epicene: sometimes used synonymously with the adjective “androgynous”; the feeling either having or not displaying characteristics of both or either binary gender; sometimes used to describe feminine male identifying individuals
54. Espigender:a gender that is related to being a spirit or exists on a higher or extradimensional plane
55. Exgender: the outright refusal to accept or identify in, on, or around the gender spectrum
56. Existigender:a gender that only exists or feels present when thought about or when a conscious effort is made to notice it
57. Femfluid:having fluctuating or fluid gender feelings that are limited to feminine genders
58. Femgender:a nonbinary gender which is feminine in nature
59. Fluidflux:the feeling of being fluid between two or more genders that also fluctuate in intensity; a combination of genderfluidand genderflux
60. Gemigender:having two opposite genders that work together, being fluid and flux together
61. Genderblank:a gender that can only be described as a blank space; when gender is called into question, all that comes to mind is a blank space
62. Genderflow:a gender that is fluid between infinite feelings
63. Genderfluid:the feeling of fluidity within your gender identity; feeling a different gender as time passes or as situations change; not restricted to any number of genders
64. Genderflux:the feeling of your gender fluctuating in intensity; like genderfluidbut between one gender and agender
65. Genderfuzz:coined by lolzmelmel; the feeling of having more than one gender that are somehow blurred together to the point of not being able to distinguish or identify individual genders; synonymous withblurgender
66. Gender Neutral:the feeling of having a neutral gender, whether somewhere in between masculine and feminine or a third gender that is separate from the binary; often paired with neutrois
67. Genderpunk:a gender identity that actively resists gender norms
68. Genderqueer:originally used as an umbrella term for nonbinary individuals; may be used as an identity; describes a nonbinary gender regardless of whether the individual is masculine or feminine leaning
69. Genderwitched:a gender in which one is intrigued or entranced by the idea of a particular gender, but is not certain that they are actually feeling it
70. Girlflux:when one feels mostly or all female most of the time but experiences fluctuating intensities of female identity
71. Glassgender:a gender that is very sensitive and fragile
72. Glimragender:a faintly shining, wavering gender
73. Greygender:having a gender that is mostly outside of the binary but is weak and can barely be felt
74. Gyragender:having multiple genders but understanding none of them
75. Healgender:a gender that once realized, brings lots of peace, clarity, security, and creativity to the individual’s mind
76. Heliogender:a gender that is warm and burning
77. Hemigender:a gender that is half one gender and half something else; one or both halves may be identifiable genders
78. Horogender:a gender that changes over time with the core feeling remaining the same
79. Hydrogender:a gender which shares qualities with water
80. Imperigender:a fluid gender that can be controlled by the individual
81. Intergender:the feeling of gender falling somewhere on the spectrum between masculine and feminine; note: do not confuse with intersex
82. Juxera:a feminine gender similar to girl, but on a separate plane and off to itself
83. Libragender:a gender that feels agender but has a strong connection to another gender
84. Magigender: a gender that is mostly gender and the rest is something else
85. Mascfluid: A gender that is fluid in nature, and restricted only to masculine genders
86. Mascgender: a non-binary gender which is masculine in nature.
87. Maverique:taken from the word maverick; the feeling of having a gender that is separate from masculinity, femininity, and neutrality, but is not agender; a form of third gender
88. Mirrorgender:a gender that changes to fit the people around you
89. Molligender:a gender that is soft, subtle, and subdued
90. Multigender:the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigenderand omnigender
91. Nanogender:feeling a small part of one gender with the rest being something else
92. Neutrois:the feeling of having a neutral gender; sometimes a lack of gender that leads to feeling neutral
93. Nonbinary:originally an umbrella term for any gender outside the binary of cisgenders; may be used as an individual identity; occasionally used alongside of genderqueer
94. Omnigender:the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigenderand polygender
95. Oneirogender: coined by anonymous, “being agender, but having recurring fantasies or daydreams of being a certain gender without the dysphoria or desire to actually be that gender day-to-day”
96. Pangender:the feeling of having every gender; this is considered problematic by some communities and thus has been used as the concept of relating in some way to all genders as opposed to containing every gender identity; only applies to genders within one’s own culture
97. Paragender:the feeling very near one gender and partially something else which keeps you from feeling fully that gender
98. Perigender:identifying with a gender but not as a gender
99. Polygender: the feeling of having more than one simultaneous or fluctuating gender; simultaneous with multigenderand omnigender
100. Proxvir: a masculine gender similar to boy, but on a separate plane and off to itself
101. Quoigender:feeling as if the concept of gender is inapplicable or nonsensical to one’s self
102. Subgender:mostly agenderwith a bit of another gender
103. Surgender:having a gender that is 100% one gender but with more of another gender added on top of that
104. Systemgender:a gender that is the sum of all the genders within a multiple or median system
105. Tragender:a gender that stretches over the whole spectrum of genders
106. Transgender:any gender identity that transcends or does not align with your assigned gender or society’s idea of gender; the feeling of being any gender that does not match your assigned gender
107. Trigender:the feeling of having three simultaneous or fluctuating genders
108. Vapogender:a gender that sort of feels like smoke; can be seen on a shallow level but once you go deeper, it disappears and you are left with no gender and only tiny wisps of what you thought it was
109. Venngender:when two genders overlap creating an entirely new gender; like a venn diagram
110. Verangender:a gender that seems to shift/change the moment it is identified
111. Vibragender:a gender that is usually one stable gender but will occasionally changes or fluctuate before stabilizing again.
112. Vocigender:a gender that is weak or hollow

 

FACTS about Gender Dysphoria/Gender Identity Disorder

“Gender identity” politics are grounded in a belief that a person who is confused about their gender must be affirmed and supported at all costs in their mistaken belief that they are the opposite sex from their biological sex. A growing number of people sincerely believe that a person can be born in the wrong body and that gender and/or sex is fluid and can change.

There is no scientific evidence to support any of these beliefs. Yet they are increasingly backed by the force of law, which coerces populations to affirm something that is untrue (that a male can be a female if they think they are, or a female can be a male if they desire to be so, etc.) This not only creates chaos, it puts women and children at risk, especially when gender ideology is taught to children in the schools through comprehensive sexuality education programs. (See “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” section.)

FACT #1 – “Gender Identity Disorder” (GID) was recognized as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for 33 years.[39]^, [40] (See DSM-III, 1980-1994, and DSM-IV-TR, 1994-2013)

 

FACT #2 – The term “Gender Identity Disorder” was removed from the APA’s list of mental disorders in 2013 and replaced with the term “gender dysphoria,” described as a conflict “between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, [accompanied by] significant distress or problems functioning.”[41] (See DSM V)

 

FACT #3 – The change from GID to gender dysphoria was primarily made, not because there was any new scientific evidence regarding GID, but rather to reduce stigma against individuals who see and feel themselves to be a gender different from their biological sex.[42]

 

FACT #4 – Increasingly, medical professionals are being discouraged (and in some places forbidden) from treating gender dysphoria as a disorder or as something that can be overcome. Instead of helping clients to accept and embrace their biological sex, many psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists are now affirming their clients in their confused thinking, encouraging them to change their physical appearance through dress, hormones and/or surgeries to match the distorted sense of gender in their mind.[43]

 

FACT #5 – Studies have shown that as many as 70 percent of patients with gender dysphoria also have one or more other psychiatric conditions (comorbidities).[44]^, [45]

 

FACT #6 – The APA affirms that a person’s “true self” or gender is whatever that person believes him/herself to be regardless of the medical facts.[46] However, the APA does not apply this same standard to other diagnoses. For example, no therapist would tell a patient diagnosed with anorexia nervosa that if they believe they are obese, they are obese and should diet to affirm their true self. [47] Nor would a therapist encourage a patient who identifies as an amputee (a condition called apotemnophilia) to amputate a healthy limb to conform their body to their false inner sense of identity as an amputee. However, therapists are increasingly affirming clients in their gender confusion, treating puberty as if it were a disease, encouraging clients to amputate healthy body parts, or to enter into lifelong, medical protocols of taking expensive cross-sex hormones—medical protocols that often lead to permanent infertility.

 

FACT #7 – Biological sex is not assigned by doctors; sex is determined at conception and declares itself in utero. Chromosome pair 23 determines biological sex (XY male, XX female). About the sixth week of gestation, sexual differentiation of the fetus to develop male and female genitalia begins to occur.[48] At birth, biological sex is reported on the basis of a person’s male or female genitalia.

 

FACT #8 – Congenital “Disorders of Sex Development” (DSD) do not invalidate the sexual binary norm of male and female. DSD are disorders in which the appearance of the individual (phenotype) does not match what one would expect based upon their sex chromosomes (genotype). These extremely rare conditions occur in less than 0.02 percent of the population and are medically diagnosable.[49] Individuals with DSD do not represent additional sexes or a spectrum of sex, they represent disorders of development. DSD are often referred to by the less accurate term, intersex.

 

FACT #9 – Most young children confused about their gender identity generally come to accept their biological sex as they grow up. In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of gender-confused children accept their biological identity upon reaching adulthood—that is if they are not pushed otherwise—for example, if not given puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.[50] On the other hand, young children who are given puberty blockers will then take cross-sex hormones and go on to have cross-sex surgeries which usually locks them in to a confused, cross-sex identity for life.

 

FACT #10 – No scientific studies have proven that transgenderism is genetic. If it were, then identical twins (who carry the same genetic code) would both identify as transgender 100 percent of the time. But in a clear majority of cases, when one identical twin is transgender, the other is not. Further, no gene or set of genes conferring transgenderism has ever been found.[51]^, [52]

 

FACT #11 – No scientific evidence exists to support the idea that a person can be born into or “trapped” in the wrong body (i.e., that a male can be born into a female body or a female into a male body).[53] Every brain cell of a male fetus has a Y chromosome; female fetal brains do not. This makes their brains forever intrinsically different. At eight weeks gestation, every cell in the body of a male fetus—including every brain cell—is bathed by a testosterone surge secreted by their testes. Female fetuses lack testes; therefore, none of their cells—including their brain cells—experience this endogenous testosterone surge.[54]^, [55]^, [56]

FACT #12 – Using hormone suppressants to block puberty in normal children is an off-label use that has not been proven safe.[57]

 

FACT #13 – Transgender people, both before and after cross-sex surgery and hormones, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.[58]

 

FACT #14 – Studies have shown that the very high suicide rate of transgenders (as high as 19 times greater than the general population) is NOT significantly reduced by cross-sex surgery and hormone treatment and does not relieve many of the problems experienced by individuals with gender confusion.[59]^, [60]^, [61]

 

FACT #15 – The treatment of gender dysphoria using puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and cross-sex surgery is rooted in ideology and identity politics, not medicine.[62]

 

FACT #16 – A growing number of people with gender dysphoria have deeply regretted their attempts to “transition” to the opposite sex through hormone therapies and surgeries and have now “detransitioned” back to their biological sex. As they have sought to live as their true biological sex, they are doing so with permanently altered bodies. Testimonies from their experiences and their warnings to others about the harms of “transitioning” can be found at SexChangeRegret.org.

FACT #17 – Where policies or laws are adopted that protect “gender identity,” parents have begun to lose their parental rights over their gender-confused children, and women and girls have been forced to allow men and boys who identify as women into their previously protected female spaces such as bathrooms and showers.

 

 

List of “Gender Identities” Recognized by the City of New York

The New York City Commission on Human Rights published a handout to draw awareness to its code provision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity which includes a listing of 31 recognized gender identities. A violation of New York’s “gender identity” non-discrimination policy, such as intentionally “misgendering” a person (i.e., not using their preferred personal pronouns, can result in a $250,000 fine.

 

 

• Bi-Gendered
• Cross-Dresser
• Drag King
• Drag Queen
• Femme Queen
• Female-to-Male
• FTM
• Gender Bender
• Genderqueer
• Male-to-Female
• MTF
• Non-Op
• HIJRA
• Pangender
• Transexual/Transsexual

 

• Woman
• Man
• Butch
• Two Spirit
• Trans
• Agender
• Third Sex
• Gender Fluid
• Non-Binary Transgender
• Androgyne
• Gender Gifted
• Gender Blender
• Femme
• Person of Transgender Experience
• Trans Person

 

[1] “Gender” can also be used as a classification of grammar, referring to classes of nouns designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter in some languages. For example, the adjective and noun must agree in number and “gender.”

[2] World Health Organization. (n.d.). Gender, Equity and Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.searo.who.int/topics/gender/en/

[3] World Health Organization. (n.d.). Gender, Equity and Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/

[4] International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Good Practice Guide: Gender-transformative HIV programming. (2018, February). Retrieved from http://www.aidsalliance.org/assets/000/003/344/alliance_gpg-gender-transformative_original.pdf?‌1519649267

[5] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. (2017). General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19. CEDAW/C/GC/35.

[6] UN Women. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions: Types of violence against women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/types-of-violence

 

[7] Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. (2009). A/64/211.

[8] Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education. (2010, July 23).  A/65/162, Para 67.

[9] Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (2012, January 18). A/HRC/19/61, Para 62.

[10] Note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. (2011, July 28). A/66/203, Introduction 7.

[11] Oregon Department of Education. Guidance to School Districts: Creating a Safe and Supportive School Environment for Transgender Students Issued May 5, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.ode.state.or.us/groups/supportstaff/hklb/‌schoolnurses/transgenderstudentguidance.pdf

[12] Education International. (2007). Building a Gender Friendly School Environment. Retrieved from https://download.ei-ie.org/docs/IRISDocuments/EI%20Campaigns/EFAIDS%20Programme/2007-00169-01-E.pdf

[13] UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO. (2018). International Technical Guidance on Sexuality. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002607/260770e.pdf

[14] United Nations. (n.d.). United Nations Gender-Inclusive Language. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/gender-inclusive-language/

[15] United Nations. (2018, June). The Role of the United Nations in Combatting Discrimination and Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People A Programmatic Overview. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Discrimination/LGBT/UN_LGBTI_Summary.pdf

[16] The European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBTI Rights. (2010, September 22). New EU gender equality strategy looks into transgender people’s rights. Retrieved from http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/recent-news/new-eu-gender-equality-strategy-transgender-people-rights/

[17] See ChoiceforYouth.org.

[18] Gender Equity Education Act (Taiwan). (2018). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Equity_Education_Act_(Taiwan)

[19] Urbanek, D. (2018, April 8). Orange County Department of Education to Discuss Sex Education. San Juan Capistrano Patch. Retrieved from https://patch.com/california/sanjuancapistrano/orange-county-department-education-discuss-sex-education

[20] California Education Code §51933(d)(6).

[21] In 2018, the state of California enacted legislation that provided for gender identity education, among much else, stating: “Instruction and materials shall teach pupils about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes.”

[22] A high school teacher in Virginia was fired after declining to use male pronouns to refer to a female student who was said to be “transitioning” to be a male. The teacher was willing to use the student’s new chosen name but, because of his religious beliefs, he was not willing to refer to the student as “he.” The school said this was “gender identity” discrimination. Moomaw, G. (2018). Virginia high school teacher fired for refusing to use transgender student’s new pronouns. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved from https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/virginia-high-school-teacher-fired-for-refusing-to-use-transgender/article_65be1826-50b2-5d38-be58-47d9b9480917.html

[23] Thomas More Society. (2017). Thomas More Society Seeks Vindication for De Facto Emancipation of Minor Son. Retrieved from https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/thomas-more-society-seeks-vindication-for-de-facto-emancipation-of-minor-son/

[24] O’Neil, T.  (2018, February 15). Ohio Christian Parents Lose Custody of 17-Year-Old Daughter for Refusing Her Transgender Drugs. PJ Media. Retrieved from https://pjmedia.com/faith/ohio-christian-parents-lose-custody-of-17-year-old-daughter-for-refusing-her-transgender-drugs/

[25] Judge who ruled on 7-yr-old’s gender ‘transition’ taken off case. (2019, December 6). Retrieved from https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-judge-who-ruled-on-7-yr-olds-gender-transition-taken-off-case

[26] Danilova, M. (2018, October 4). Transgender Policy Studied in Georgia School Assault Case. Associated Press. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/4034184d18794baca3796dbf8e9ae49b?

[27] The 31 genders recognized by the New York City Commission on Human Rights are: Bi-gendered, Cross-dresser, Drag King, Drag Queen, Femme Queen, Female-to-Male, FTM, Gender Bender, Genderqueer, Male-to-Female, MTF, Non-Op, HIJRA, Pangender, Transexual/Transsexual, Trans Person, Woman, Man Butch, Two-Spirit, Trans, Agender, Third Sex,  Gender Fluid, Non-Binary Transgender, Androgyne, Gender Gifted, Gender Blender, Femme, Person of Transgender Experience, and Androgynous.

[28] Gates, G. (2011). How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender? The Williams Institute. Retrieved from http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf  

[29] McHugh, P. (2015). Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme. The Witherspoon Institute. Retrieved from http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/06/15145/

[30] McHugh, P. (2014, June 12). Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://genderidentitywatch.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/paul-mchugh_-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-wsj.pdf

[31] McHugh, P. (2014, June 12). Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://genderidentitywatch.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/paul-mchugh_-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-wsj.pdf

[32] Zucker, K. & Bradley, S. (1995). Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

[33] McHugh, P. (2014, June 12). Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://genderidentitywatch.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/paul-mchugh_-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-wsj.pdf

[34] Dhejne, C., et al. (2011). Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden. PLOS One, 6. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

[35] Batty, D. (2004, July 30). Sex changes are not effective, say researchers. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jul/30/health.mentalhealth

[36] Ablow, K. (2011, September 2). Don’t Let Your Kids Watch Chaz Bono on ‘Dancing With the Stars’. Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/02/dont-let-your-kids-watch-chaz-bono-on-dancing-with-stars.html

[37] Oppenheim, G. (1979, January/February). Transition, No. 8. Retrieved from http://lvtgw.jadephonix.org/Info_htm/Herbal_G/ginko_b2.htm

[38] Gender Master List (n.d.). Genderfluid Support. Retrieved from http://genderfluidsupport.tumblr.com/gender/

[39] Psychiatric News, DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria For Gender Identity Disorder, https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/pn.38.14.0032/

[40] Koh, The history of the concept of gender identity disorder, Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi. 2012;114(6):673-80, [PMID:22844818]

[41] American Psychiatric Association, What is Gender Dysphoria, https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria/

[42] Drescher, New Diagnostic Codes Lessen Stigma for Transgender People, Medscape, 2017/9/11, https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/885141/

[43] Drescher, Controversies in Gender Diagnoses, LGBT Health, Volume 1, Number 1, 2013, https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/lgbt.2013.1500

[44] Meybodi, Hajebi, Jolfaei, Psychiatric Axis I Comorbidities among Patients with Gender Dysphoria, Psychiatry J. 2014;2014:971814. doi: 10.1155/2014/971814. Epub 2014 Aug 11. (PMID: 25180172), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4142737/

[45] Heylens, et. al. Psychiatric characteristics in transsexual individuals: multicentre study in four European countries, British Journal of Psychiatry. Feb 2014, 204 (2) pp151-156.

[46] American Psychiatric Association, What is Gender Dysphoria, https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria/

[47] ICD10Data.com, 2018 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code F50.0 Anorexia nervosa, http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/‌F01-F99/F50-F59/F50-/F50.0/

[48] Hiort, The differential role of androgens in early human sex development, BMC Med. 2013; PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.‌nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706224/

[49] Sax, How Common is Intersex?, The Journal of Sex Research, vol 39, #3 Aug 2002, http://www.leonardsax.com/how-common-is-intersex-a-response-to-anne-fausto-sterling/

[50] Hayes, Inc., Sex reassignment surgery for the treatment of gender dysphoria, Hayes Medical Technology Directory, Lansdale, Pa.: Winifred Hayes; May 15, 2014, http://www.hayesinc.com/hayes/publications/medical-technology-directory/dir-sex707/

[51] Mayer, McHugh, Part Three: Gender Identity, The New Atlantis, https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/part-three-gender-identity-sexuality-and-gender

[52] Reyes, Winter, Faiman, Studies on human sexual development Fetal gonadal and adrenal sex steroids, J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1973 Jul; 37(1):74-8, https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/37/1/74/2686200

[53] Lombardo, et al., Fetal Testosterone Influences Sexually Dimorphic Gray Matter in the Human Brain, The Journal of Neuroscience, 11 January 2012, 32(2), http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/2/674.long

[54] Sizonenko, Human Sexual Differentiation, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2016, https://www.gfmer.ch/Books/Reproductive_health/Human_sexual_differentiation.html

[55] Hruz, Mayer, McHugh, Growing Pains, The New Atlantis, https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/growing-pains

[56] Dhejne, et al, Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden, PloS one, 2011, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

[57] Meyer, Reter, Sex Reassignment Follow-up, Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36(9):1010-1015, JAMA Network, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/492177

[58] Dhejne, C., Öberg, K., Arver, S., & Landén, M. (2014). An Analysis of All Applications for Sex Reassignment Surgery in Sweden, 1960–2010: Prevalence, Incidence, and Regrets. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(8), 1535-1545. doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0300-8

[59] Meyer, Reter, Sex Reassignment Follow-up, Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36(9):1010-1015, JAMA Network, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/492177

[60] American College of Pediatricians, Gender Dysphoria in Children, June 2017, https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-dysphoria-in-children

[61] Dhejne, C., Öberg, K., Arver, S., & Landén, M. (2014). An Analysis of All Applications for Sex Reassignment Surgery in Sweden, 1960–2010: Prevalence, Incidence, and Regrets. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(8), 1535-1545. doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0300-8

[62] American College of Pediatricians, Gender Dysphoria in Children, June 2017, https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-dysphoria-in-children