

What are the ramifications of this definition of sex?Īlok Vaid-Menon: The ramifications of this announcement are major because… some of the biggest issues facing trans or gender nonconforming people is the denial of services and the denial of economic opportunity on the basis of our gender presentation. Wilson Wong: Laws play a huge role in establishing the conditions we must live and organize under. Last week, the Tufts Observer spoke with Alok about Trump’s new memo and its effect on trans, non-binary, and intersex people.

In the Department’s memo, it states that the government defines sex “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” This move effectively reduces legal gender to either male or female, determined by one’s genitalia at birth, and any individual dispute to this requires genetic testing. On October 21, the New York Times reported that the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to legally define sex as solely biological under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination. On November 10, they visited campus and gave their performance, Femme in Public, based on their chapbook of the same title. Their eclectic sense of style, political comedy, and poetic challenge to the gender binary have been internationally renowned. Alok Vaid-Menon is a gender non-conforming artist, writer, and educator.
