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Houston Matters

How Should We Define Gender, Legally?

The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender. We learn what it could mean for transgender people here in Greater Houston.

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The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the Human Rights Campaign gather in front of the White House on Oct. 22, 2018, for a #WontBeErased rally.

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Last week, it was reported that the Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender, legally, as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth. Such a definition would roll back recognition and protections for transgender people under federal civil rights law.

What does it mean, in practical terms, for transgender people here in Greater Houston if this narrowed legal definition is allowed? How should we define gender under the law?

We talk with Judge Phyllis Frye, the nation’s first transgender judge, and Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas.