To the Editor:
Re “Ache Is the Level of Trump’s Transgender Coverage,” by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Opinion visitor essay, Feb. 18):
For many of my life I feared what would occur if anybody knew that I skilled a full spectrum of each female and masculine expressions. The disgrace started after I was a small little one and adopted me all through a lot of my life. Even so I didn’t develop up with a concern of my authorities. America was a piece in progress.
I’ve seen rights regularly prolonged to ladies, racial minorities and sexual minorities, together with trans and nonbinary individuals. Nonetheless, as we speak I discover myself becoming a member of the quickly rising ranks of harmless People who stand up every morning fearing their very own authorities.
By focusing on trans and nonbinary individuals, our president seeks to safe unchecked energy on the expense of the susceptible and harmless. Scapegoating minorities is a tried and true mannequin for dictators all through historical past. Right here President Trump joins the likes of Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban by manufacturing a perceived risk from an harmless minority, which can ultimately justify restrictions on civil rights for everybody.
I’ve listened to his requires a return to a time when there have been solely two genders. That was additionally a time when America freely and overtly discriminated in opposition to ladies, individuals of colour, Jews and others. The very fact is there have by no means been simply two genders. Many societies accepted us, and even those who tried to ban us acknowledged our existence in these very bans.
We is not going to disappear once more into the shadows. We are going to resist, those that love us will resist, and people who are first rate will resist. So long as we achieve this, the best that each one People are created equal is not going to fade, that this nation may endure and develop as soon as once more.
Mark Petersen
Park Metropolis, Utah
To the Editor:
Re “Trump’s Shameful Marketing campaign Towards Transgender People” (editorial, Feb. 16):
The Trump administration’s assaults on transgender and nonbinary people compromise our security and try to strip us of our rights and our humanity. These insurance policies aren’t simply merciless — they’re additionally deeply un-American.
However President Trump’s assault on the trans and nonbinary neighborhood goes past govt orders on prisons, identification paperwork and faculties. His ongoing assaults on Medicaid put hundreds of thousands — together with trans nonbinary people — susceptible to shedding vital care.
As a transgender girl, I do know firsthand how tough it’s to entry gender-affirming care. After I couldn’t acquire protection, Medicaid grew to become my lifeline. It allowed me to realize entry to major care, psychological well being care, hormone remedy and have surgical procedure that aligned my physique with my id — a necessary, life-changing second of liberation and aid.
Medicaid isn’t only for the nonbinary neighborhood — it serves greater than 70 million People, together with adults and youngsters with disabilities, low-income households, individuals with continual situations like diabetes and H.I.V. It’s extra than simply insurance coverage; it’s a dedication to creating more healthy communities throughout the nation. As a substitute of gutting it, we should strengthen and increase it. Congress should act; too many lives rely on it.
R.A. Melendez
New York
To the Editor:
The official present coverage of the US authorities that there are solely two genders — female and male primarily based on both XX or XY genotype — is illiterate from the standpoint of human biology. Whereas most people are born with both XX or XY chromosomes (figuring out feminine or male intercourse, respectively) some should not. There are a number of scientifically verified variations on these two genotypes that we find out about, whilst continued medical analysis guarantees to disclose extra.
A bit of recommendation generally attributed to Albert Einstein, however that rings true for many scientists is suitable right here: “Every little thing ought to be made so simple as doable, however not easier.” Allow us to maintain this in thoughts as we navigate sophisticated intercourse and gender points.
Leonid Poretsky
New York
The author is the chief of endocrinology at Lenox Hill Hospital.
To the Editor:
Please don’t perpetuate the falsehood that objection to gender ideology is a right-wing place. Lifelong liberals like me object to organic males in ladies’s sports activities and prisons and gender therapy for kids not as a result of these are liberal concepts, however as a result of they don’t seem to be.
We who oppose gender ideology don’t object to feminism. Defending ladies’s sports activities and Title IX, which had been hard-won liberal victories, isn’t anti-feminist. We don’t object to homosexual rights; actually, encouraging gender nonconforming and same-sex-attracted youngsters to imagine they’re actually the other intercourse is the peak of gender conformity and homophobia.
Opposing gender ideology is about defending the susceptible and standing up for equity and justice, values that I’ve at all times taken satisfaction in as a liberal Democrat. However the Democratic Get together’s present positions on gender go in opposition to these values, and the get together silences these of us who disagree as bigots. We’re horrified that we’re trapped within the catastrophe of a second Trump presidency as a result of our get together wouldn’t hearken to us.
Erica Avery
Greenfield, Mass.
To the Editor:
Your editorial relating to the Trump-led Republicans’ marketing campaign in opposition to transgender People leads me to ask a easy query: What a part of “liberty” do they not perceive?
Denying others, whether or not a tiny minority or not, the best to stay as they select reduces liberty to a mere slogan, as a result of liberty should apply to everybody. It’s, in spite of everything, unalienable.
I suppose that many would argue that free gender expression limits their very own liberty. But liberty isn’t about one’s emotions, it’s about one’s actions.
Those that are limiting the freedom of others ought to show that their liberty is definitely encumbered earlier than denying others the best to stay free.
Jonathan L. Gleit
Tarrytown, N.Y.
‘I Am So Sorry’
To the Editor:
Re “A Humiliating Month to Be an American,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, Feb. 20):
To the nice individuals of Ukraine: I’m sorry that we’re deserting you. To the nice individuals of Europe: I’m sorry which you could not rely on us to face up in opposition to world tyrants.
To the nice individuals who as soon as benefited from applications that helped eradicate lethal ailments: I’m sorry that the brand new insurance policies will set your nations again years (if not many years).
To the nice individuals the world over who thought they might rely on a sane U.S. authorities to assist maintain the world a secure place: I’m sorry that’s not the case.
We People have so much to be sorry for today.
Proper now, I’m most involved with the plight of the Ukrainians. You deserve a lot extra.
Miriam Mittenthal
Towson, Md.
Mendacity to Youngsters
To the Editor:
Re “There’s One Lie I Will By no means Inform My Youngsters,” by Allison Candy Grant (Opinion visitor essay, Feb. 23):
I agree with not telling white lies to our children once they’ll really feel ache, inflicting a way of grownup betrayal.
My mom used to say, “That is going to harm me greater than you.” Actually?
After I had my tonsils out on the age of 5, she promised to stick with me, but I used to be whisked away behind closed doorways, petrified and in tears. An sudden ether masks was thrust over my face.
To today, I concern any sort of anesthesia. I’ve been extra sincere with my very own daughter, and others ought to be too.
Sweet Schulman
New York
