Gender Identity protections must not come at the expense of Sex Feminism supports every individuals right to be gender

non-conforming and to have legal protection from sex stereotyping discrimination in employment, housing, education, credit, and access to public accommodations. However, advocates who frame Gender Identity as more important than Sex actually reinforce stereotypes about women that feminists have fought against for decades. GLBT organizations are, in effect, undermining critical civil rights legal precedent by developing a theory of Gender Identity that values gendered appearance, expression, or behavior more than biological Sex.

Sex stereotyping is sex discrimination Stereotyping is the act of making an assumption about an individual based on her membership in a specific class or group. The U.S. Supreme Courts 1989 landmark employment decision, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (490 U.S. 228), held that sex stereotyping is sex discrimination:
"[i]n forbidding employers to discriminate against individuals because of their sex, Congress intended to strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women resulting from sex stereotypes." Internal citations omitted. An employer who objects to aggressiveness in women but whose positions require this trait places women in an intolerable and impermissible Catch22: out of a job if they behave aggressively and out of a job if they do not. Title VII lifts women out of this bind.

No other class of persons seeking protection under anti-discrimination legislation has attempted to intentionally disregard another protected class until now.
Feminists are deeply invested in maintaining hard-won protections against Sex stereotyping in the form of legally actionable Sex discrimination. Feminists seek to preserve this precedent without having the same harmful assumptions about womens appropriate appearance, expression, or behavior paradoxically privileged under the guise of Gender Identity.

Feminists do not believe that women are naturally bad at math, but good at cooking and cleaning. We do not believe that women are neurologically, biologically, or genetically programmed to behave in certain feminine ways. To support womens full and equal participation in society, women need strong legal prohibitions against these persistently damaging stereotypes.

Feminist analysis of Sex stereotypes, legally actionable Sex discrimination, Gender Identity legislation, and the importance of protecting Sex as a separate legal class.

www.sexnotgender.wordpress.com

Gender Identity The issue of Gender Identity has taken a prominent role in discussions, organizations, and activism supported by the Gay and Lesbian community. Unfortunately, its not always clear that we have the same thing in mind when we talk about this issue. Feminist opposition to Gender Identity has been widely misconstrued by those who dont fully understand our concerns. This pamphlet will explain our objections and help readers engage in more productive discussions about Gender Identity that do not reinforce stereotypes or erase the legal importance of biological sex. What Gender Identity means GLBT Organizations have asked state and local legislatures around the country to take up the cause of discrimination against people of trans experience. To do so, GLBT Organizations have offered up Gender Identity to protect trans people. Though familiar to people in the center of the debate, the concept has caused a lot of confusion because its too broad. Prominent GLBT organizationsincluding the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)support a definition of Gender Identity similar to this one from Washington, DC:
Gender identity means a gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual, regardless of the individuals assigned sex at birth.

3. Understanding the Stereotyping Definition depends on understanding how traditional sex roles and stereotypes operate. Enduring sexist assumptions about women create stereotypesthat were softer, gentler, and more emotional than men; that were all inclined toward femininity, nurturing children, and wearing certain clothing. These stereotypes act as major stumbling blocks to womens social equality. They especially damage women who dont conform to them. The Stereotyping Definition elevates gendered appearance, expression, or behavior over bodily reality. Framing gender identityspecifically, femininityas that which fundamentally constitutes woman will not improve womens social status. On the contrary, this definition of Gender Identity legitimizes as natural the social order created by traditional sex roles. This will ultimately make it more difficult for women to combat the Sex stereotypes that prevent our advancement in employment, education, and political office. Narrowing the class We propose this alternative:
Gender identity means a persons identification with the sex opposite her or his physiology or assigned sex at birth, which can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of a transsexual medical condition, or related condition, as deemed medically necessary by the American Medical Association.

Feminist objections 1. The Stereotyping Definition does not define gender. If one doesnt know what a gender identity means, how could one know what a gender-related identity means? 2. The Stereotyping Definition of Gender Identity is phrased in such a way that it intentionally overrides Sex: regardless of the persons assigned sex at birth.

No other class of persons seeking protection under anti-discrimination legislation has attempted to literally disregard another protected class.
Feminists object to the Stereotyping Definition because Sex has objective physical, reproductive, and experiential consequences for the overwhelming majority of women assigned-female-at-birth. Sex exists in its own right and requires unique legal protections that Gender Identity cannot explain or represent. Gender Identity cannot replace the legal concept of sex without a significant loss of legal protections for females.

As of March 2012, at least fifteen American states have passed Gender Identity legislation modeled after this definition (the Stereotyping Definition).

This definition maintains a clear distinction between sex and gender. It also protects transsexual people from discrimination without legislatively prioritizing Gender Identity over Sex; and without falsely presuming that Gender Identity exists independently of sex roles and stereotypes.