It’s election day as I write this blog post, and one topic that’s been weighing on my mind lately is the Trump Administration’s announcement that they are planning to narrow the definition of gender so that one’s genitalia at birth is the only acceptable marker of one’s gender. This would exclude transgender individuals from protections from discrimination under Title IX, a direct attack on their human rights.

People like to pretend that gender has a lot more borders than it actually does or should. Gender norms by themselves are something that have been enforced for all of human history, and yet they don’t make much sense. Why is it so socially unacceptable in most places for cis guys to paint their nails or wear a dress or do anything else viewed as feminine? Because that’s the way we’ve been enforcing gender norms for as long as people can remember, and we’ve never allowed boys to express themselves in a way that’s not traditionally masculine. And why do we feel the need to enforce traditional masculinity? People will say that it’s because otherwise it’ll cause a breakdown of society, and that’s how things have always been done. But “we’ve always done it that way” is a dangerous line of thinking, and far too often it causes stagnation. Why is it that people want to so viciously attack those who would attempt to live outside gender roles? Honestly, I think it’s because people are afraid of change. But they shouldn’t be.

This isn’t the first time that there’s been a direct, focused attack from the Trump Administration, either–remember the transgender military ban? That was in March of this year. I have a friend who’s trans. She’s an actual person, and for some reason, most people who want to legislate her gender out of existence completely miss that fact. Real human existences and rights are being debated. This is not a subject that should be taken lightly. I wish more people could understand that.

It saddens me that gender is such a controversial topic right now, because it’s something that we should be able to have healthy discussions about. The Trump Administration thinks that the discussion should start and end forever at one narrow definition, but the reality is that it shouldn’t. I believe that anyone who wants to should have the opportunity to take a moment in their life to consider whether or not the labels conferred upon them at birth are an accurate representation of their identity. Even if those labels turn out to be accurate, it’s worth it to just take that moment to examine yourself as a person. We should be able to make our own borders for our identity.

-Justin