Debbie Hayton Debbie Hayton

Biden’s trans rights agenda is bad news for women and girls

A trans rights protester takes to the streets of Pennsylvania (Getty images)

Joe Biden has wasted little time grabbing rights from women and girls across America. On day one, he signed an Executive Order on ‘Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation’. This is being hailed as a pivotal moment for transgender rights. But it’s nothing of the sort. 

The mention of ‘Gender Identity’ alone is enough to raise the alarm about the consequences of this proposal. Gender identity might be a popular concept right now, but it isn’t even clear what it means. Put simply, it’s a concept which refers to a person’s individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. All too often, though, this rather circular definition is underpinned by sexist stereotypes involving dress, speech, and mannerisms. 

Biden will be hailed as ‘progressive’ for this initiative, but don’t be fooled: gender identity is about a feeling that some people claim to possess. And when this feeling displaces biological sex as a means of dividing society we should all worry. After all, if we ignore sex, we ignore sexism.

Worryingly, too, this order could sweep away girls’ sex-based rights. The first paragraph tells us this: 

‘Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.’

Let’s be clear about what this means in reality: boys who identify as girls could soon be able to use girls’ locker rooms, even if girls using those facilities feel uncomfortable about that. And in school sports, boys who identify as girls could soon be competing alongside girls, despite often having physical advantages, such as being stronger or taller than their peers.

This isn’t simply my interpretation of Biden’s order. The order cites a Supreme Court ruling – Bostock v Clayton County – to argue that sex discrimination laws covers discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

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