The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received July 18, 2023.
A few weeks ago, an op-ed was submitted by a millennial written as a thinly disguised attack on transgender rights. The piece went on to describe how the body was essential to the law and how “pronoun soup” was perhaps a purposeful way of subverting the law.On top of this being nonsense, I find myself in the position of having to educate local townspeople on the history of transgender individuals before we can even begin to talk about the law.For starters, transgenderism is not a new or unique thing that has arisen in this country or in humans in general. There is a significant and long-lasting history of folks identifying as transgender going back to ancient times.Sumerian and Akkadian texts from 4,500 years ago document transgender priests. Female-born pharaoh Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt from 1473-1458 BCE, referred to themselves as a king rather than a queen. They were also depicted in statues and wall carvings as a fully male ruler with a beard and bare chest without breasts. Male-born Roman emperor Elagabalus, who was emperor from 218-22 ACE, preferred to be called a lady, not a lord, and sought sex reassignment surgery.Part of the reason this is not more common knowledge is due to Nazi book burning during World War II. Specifically, on May 6, 1933, Nazi demonstrators raided the libraries of the Institute of Sexology. More than 20,000 books were taken from shelves and burned for days. The Nazi destruction of the Institute’s library destroyed all of the medical records and research documents that contained detailed notes about the nuances of gender and sexuality, along with details on gender-affirming care and untold volumes of stories and studies on LGBTQ people.History aside, let’s talk about the op-ed. No one is involuntarily going through gender treatment. The process to get sexual surgery is extensive, and is very rarely done on any person, child or adult, without at least a year of therapy. Treatment for those under age always requires parental consent and would most likely be puberty blockers, rather than surgery.Puberty blockers just delay the natural effects of puberty on the body. This would prevent cis women from developing breasts, having a period, and being sexually fertile. For cis men, this would prevent voice dropping, body hair growth, and testosterone-fueled muscle growth. When a person stops taking puberty blockers, they would then resume whatever puberty growth they would have for their hormone profile.Of children and adults who undergo hormone replacement therapy or sexual surgery, there is a 1% regret rate. Of folks who get married, there is a 39% rate of regret. Of folks who have children there is a 17% rate of regret.Again, referring to the op ed, having a body does not prevent or protect you from the law. Corporations, which do not have a body, are considered persons by the law. Having a different hormone profile should not affect how the law impacts a person. Humans naturally have wide-ranging hormone levels. The fear of trans people cheating in sports has led to several cis female athletes being discriminated against because they have naturally higher levels of testosterone. In fact, 3% of all humans born are born intersex, meaning they have both sets of genitalia.All this is to say that there is more history and nuance behind transgender folks than most people would like to believe. While it is fair to not personally understand how or why a person would identify as transgender, it is not fair to make bad faith arguments about a group of people.There are clearly more conversations needed, especially when so much of what we do as a society is specifically gendered (for example: sports, marketing, even jobs and childcare), but hopefully this letter will give readers a better starting place for understanding the “T” part of the LGBTQ community.
Hannah Kowalski, Killingworth
