Transgender issues are a hot topic in the United States. On the one hand, you have things like the Equality Act passing the House of Representatives, Elizabeth Warren reading out the name of murdered transgender women at a forum on LGBTQ issues, and then-VP Joe Biden saying in 2012 that transgender discrimination is the “civil rights issue of our time.” On the other hand, you have things like bills restricting which restroom people can use, the Department of Health and Human Services proposing to define sex in an incredibly misguided way, and transgender people being banned from serving in the military. Transgender issues have become a new front in the culture wars.

These Issues are Deeply Personal and Political

There are about 1.4 million transgender people in the United States, of which I am one. My life is deeply impacted by these debates and how they play out in the form of policy. As such, I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with these issues. I’ve been told this makes me too biased to fairly weigh in. That doesn’t make any sense—how many people would say that business owners are too biased to weigh in on business regulations? What sense would it make to exclude nurses from deliberation on laws which determine what they can and can’t do? In addition, because transgender people only comprise about 0.6% of the population, most discussion on the policies which influence them is by and for cisgender people. While I’d never claim to speak for all transgender people, this does highlight the importance of making sure that all stakeholders in an issue are heard.

The reality is that transgender people do have a very large stake in these issues. When the gender marker on an ID does not match up with their appearance, it can lead to issues interacting with government officials. This can range from moderate annoyances, like troubles at the polling places, to large problems, like in interactions with police officers. Without safe access to restrooms, many transgender people have developed urinary tract infections from holding it in for so long. And, further, when transgender people are barred from joining the military, they are de facto barred from being the model American citizen.

The Liberal Framework

Liberalism can be understood from several different angles, with each highlighting the ways Trans rights fit into the ideology.

One is that liberalism aims for inclusive economic and political institutions. In other words, liberalism hopes to create a world where vast swathes of people have a say in how the economy flows and how the state is run. Economically, transgender people have been barred from full access to the market, leading to them being overrepresented among sex workers. Politically, transgender people have great issues being seen by the state as the gender they present themselves as. The government has historically refused to recognize people except by the gender they were assigned at birth. As previously mentioned, this can lead to a variety of issues. If liberalism is to aim for an ever-more inclusive society, then transgender people must be on the list of demographics it should fully incorporate.

Another angle liberalism can be understood from is a suspicion that one is being governed too much. To many transgender people, it certainly feels like they are being governed too much. The tiny letter on government IDs which marks us as male or female from birth can be frustratingly difficult to change, and annoyingly consequential. Changing names can be an expensive and time-consuming hassle. And when they use the restroom, why should they be forced to face a dilemma where on the one hand they potentially face the police, and on the other, they look wildly out of place?

One last angle from which to examine liberalism is the idea that liberty may only be curtailed by the state if there is a good reason to do so. While anecdotal, there seems to be no significant misuse of laws that make it easy to change one’s name and gender markers. In addition, there is absolutely no evidence that transgender people present any significant threat in restrooms. Anti-Trans policies are not motivated by evidence or merit.

Ignorance can be Harmful

This last angle is important. At its best, liberalism neither pretends to be purely driven by science with no ideology nor does it attempt to be a transcendent set of principles that stand outside of time. Instead, it is a way of governing that follows the principle that if the state is to restrict liberty, it must have a good reason for it.

One notable area where policies are being proposed without evidence is the topic of minors transitioning. Three different states have put forward bills to ban things like puberty blockers and hormones for minors. This would make gender dysphoria unique among other health conditions, as the consensus treatment among medical professionals would be illegal. It’s driven by scaremongering, with advocates concocting this specter of children being rushed through treatment by medical professionals haunting the advocates. The idea that medical professionals are collectively betraying their own principles for politics, and that the politicians are truer to medical principles and evidence than the medical professionals, is a truly bizarre one. The efficacy of transitioning is well established, as can be seen in major studies like the 2012 McNeil et al. paper “Trans Mental Health Study” and the 2015 Dhejne et al. meta-analysis “Mental health and gender dysphoria: A review of the literature”.

Further, As laid out in the book Trans Kids and Teens by Elijah C. Nealy, the process of transitioning for minors is progressive, slow, safe, and takes into account both the minor and their guardians. Assuming that the minor and their guardians are on-board with the idea, the next step would typically be a social transition. That means the minor would present as the gender they desire at home and in situations like school. If the minor is about to or already has entered puberty, they may be put on puberty blockers. Puberty blockers have been in use for several decades and there is no evidence that they are significantly dangerous. Certainly, it is dangerous to lock people who might very well be transgender into a body shape which is antagonistic to how they want to be seen. If all goes well, at no earlier than age 16 (but typically after they are no longer a minor), they are prescribed sex hormones. The process is incremental, not reckless. Banning this is absolutely unreasonable and harmful.

There is another area where people by-and-large ignore the evidence, although it is not always the government which does so: Sports. There’s been much discussion about if it’s fair for people with “male bodies” to compete with cisgender women. However, when the scientific literature is compared against the existing policies, it becomes obvious that “the majority of transgender competitive sport policies that were reviewed were not evidence-based,” and “there is no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals (or male individuals) have an athletic advantage at any stage of their transition.” A good example of the current policies causing trouble is a Texas school demanding that a transgender man compete in the women’s category of wrestling. Unsurprisingly, he won.

One possible exception are the Olympic rules, which do allow transgender people to participate in the category matching the gender they identify as, under certain conditions. According to an essay published in the prestigious journal The Lancet, it seems that the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee “provide a fair and equitable standard.”

What is to be Done?

When it comes to policy, there are a handful of obvious places to start. Transgender people should not be banned from serving their country, or from using the restroom that they feel most comfortable in. In order to foster a deeply inclusive economic system, discrimination against people based on gender identity in the market should be made illegal. Similarly, making it easier to change one’s legal name and their gender marker on government identification would help make for a more inclusive political system. Sports regulations should come to be more in line with the Olympic policy, if not less restrictive. Lastly, politicians shouldn’t ban consensus medical procedures.

These steps would help to create a more liberal society, where transgender people are afforded similar status to cisgender people on every level. Until then, the Liberal ideal will never truly be fulfilled.