Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced a bill this week to legally erase transgender people, entitled the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2024.” He claimed that the bill will stop what he called the Biden administration’s attempt to “replace biological sex with dangerous radical gender ideology.”

The bill is a long list of terms and definitions, where words like “father” and “girl” are defined with the words “male” and “female.” Those two words are then defined as “an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes [sperm or eggs for male or female, respectively] for fertilization.”

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“If a woman doesn’t look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect her genitals to use a bathroom? It’s disgusting.”

Marshall claims that this would prevent transgender people from participating in school sports and would ensure that “restrooms, locker and dorm rooms, prisons and shelters for victims of sexual assault” would have “sex separation.”

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“As a physician who has delivered over 5,000 babies, I can confidently say that politicizing children’s gender to use them as pawns in their radical woke agenda is not only wrong, it is extremely dangerous,” he said, even though being a former OB/GYN who “delivered over 5,000 babies” does not make him an expert on transgender people. “We must codify the legal definition of sex to be based on science rather than feelings. With our legislation, we can fight back against the Biden-Harris Administration’s assault on our children.” 

Marshall is wrong that the Biden administration is behind the existence of transgender people; transgender people existed long before President Joe Biden was elected in 2020 and will exist long after his term in office finishes. Transgender people are not an “ideology”; they are human beings.

A similar bill was introduced this past July in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL). She too claimed that her bill would make sure that Title IX doesn’t protect the rights of transgender people, even though the idea that trans people have protections under Title IX is based on the idea that trans people face discrimination because of their sex assigned at birth. That is, if a school allows cis girls to compete on a sports team but not trans girls, that’s discrimination on the basis of sex because the only difference between cis and trans girls is their sex assigned at birth. Title IX bans discrimination in education on the basis of sex.

Marshall’s bill is unlikely to pass as Democrats still control the Senate. But introducing the bill now could be a sign that he plans to introduce it next session when Republicans will control the chamber.

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