The Trump administration’s proposal to narrowly define gender as being solely male or female and fixed from birth could set back years of progress on transgender rights at the federal level, said LGBT advocates in New Jersey.

Still, they say the proposal, if adopted, would have less impact in New Jersey because of strong state laws protecting transgender people from discrimination in areas such as health care and schools.

“There really aren’t legal implications in New Jersey, but the concern to me as a transgender person is that this sends a bad message, especially to transgender youth who are vulnerable,” said Aaron Potenza, director of policy for Garden State Equality, an advocacy organization for lesbian, gay and transgender people.

“The message coming out of the federal government is really abhorrent,” Potenza added. “They’re saying we don’t respect your identity and in fact, we’re going to try to legally define your identity out of existence.”

News of the change, first reported in The New York Times, has sparked protests, with many weighing in online with the hashtag #WontBeErased. The administration’s proposal was outlined in a Department of Health and Human Services memo that would define sex as male or female according to genitalia at birth and declare it unchangeable later in life.

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Experts said defining gender based on genitalia at birth was the wrong approach and that it also doesn't consider "intersex" babies who are born with genitalia that are not clearly male of female.

“The Trump administration's plan to redefine gender as being determined by genitalia and confined to man/woman is not supported by advances in medical science,” said Melinda Mangin, an associate professor of education theory, policy and administration in the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, noting that many medical organizations have released statements recognizing transgender people.

“This attempt by the federal government to ignore scientific consensus would take civil rights away from American citizens, putting real people in jeopardy of losing access to jobs, education and health care,” Mangin said.

Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said the change could have a negative impact on health care for transgender communities.

“Health issues are shaped by the identities that people hold. Moreover, health care providers need to attend to the gender identity of their clients to ensure healthy communities,” said Halkitis, who is also director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies at Rutgers.

On Monday, President Donald Trump said the administration was weighing “different concepts” and “have a lot of different things happening with respect to transgender."

The administration has taken aim at other transgender protections, rolling back federal guidance adopted under President Barack Obama that protected transgender workers from employment discrimination and that required public schools to let students use bathrooms and facilities that correspond with their gender identity.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey also expressed its opposition to the new proposal and vowed to fight for transgender rights.

“The administration's move to narrowly define gender using sex assigned at birth — an inexact and unscientific determination — as a false proxy would erase legal protections for trans people,” the organization wrote on Twitter. “Trans rights are human rights. We see you and will fight for you.”

Currently, New Jersey’s laws protecting transgender rights are among the strongest in the nation, advocates say.

In July, Gov. Phil Murphy signed bills into law to allow people to amend their birth certificate without proof of a sex-change operation and to allow a person's changed gender identity to be reflected on death certificates.

Last month, the administration issued new guidance to schools clarifying the rights of transgender students and stating that gender identity rests with the student and not the family.

Gov. Chris Christie also signed bills advancing transgender rights, including one prohibiting health insurers from discriminating against transgender residents.

The American public is divided over whether it’s possible for someone to be a gender different from the sex that was assigned at birth, according to a Pew Research Center survey last year. A little more than half of Americans, 54 percent, said they believed gender was determined by the sex assigned at birth, and 44 percent said someone can be a man or a woman even if that is different from the sex assigned at birth.