A Blackfoot Republican wants to define “gender” as explicitly tied to sexual organs, an attempt to remove space for transgender and nonbinary people in Idaho law.
The bill from Rep. Julianne Young would define “gender” as a synonym for “sex” and not as “a synonym for gender identity, an internal sense of gender, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.” It would also mandate that gendered terms, such as “boy” or “father,” used in Idaho’s rules and policies only refer to a person’s sex at birth.
The changes would contradict a widely recognized distinction between the biological characteristics of men and women and the social meanings of gender.
“In human beings, there are two, and only two, sexes: male and female,” according to the bill. The bill adds that there is “increasing confusion” about the “definition of sex as a biological truth.”
The bill also argues that ambiguities around the definitions of sex have hindered the ability to provide equal rights to men and women in programs, including those that involve sports. An Idaho law banning transgender women from participating in school sports is on hold as it makes its way through a federal court.
The ACLU of Idaho told the Idaho Statesman the bill was “dangerous for Idahoans” and ignores decades of legal precedent.
“Once again, the Idaho Legislature is attempting to overstep its authority and supersede biological and medical expertise in search of a problem,” the ACLU wrote in a statement. “The U.S. Constitution prohibits elected officials from enacting laws that are discriminatory, and this proposal attempts to legislate away the existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people in Idaho.”
Young said she believes the bill “provides us a helpful legal platform” as the state navigates policies around sex.
Transgender people identify as a gender different from their sex assigned at birth. “Gender identity” refers to a person’s “internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female,” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Young’s bill would also add the new definition of “sex” to the state’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act.
