On Sunday morning, the
New York Times published a report detailing a memo from the Trump
administration that would effectively
erase federal recognition of trans and nonbinary gender identities. The
Department of Health and Human Services would make changes to Title IX
definitions of gender, only recognizing male and female sex, which could be DNA
tested to determine. It would also define gender as “unchangeable.”
The effects of such a policy would be devastating to over 1
million Americans — access to health care, housing, and other public services
would be limited or withheld completely. This is not the Trump’s administration
first attack on transgender Americans. Trump himself once tweeted out a proposal
to not allow trans Americans to serve in the military.
In response to the latest proposal, trans and nonbinary
people began to share photos of themselves under the hashtag #WontBeErased, as
part of the larger response to Trump’s devastating policy proposal. Below are
words and photos shared by the transgender and nonbinary community, and
organizations who advocate for their human rights.