WoLF Members Pushing Back Against Local “Gender Identity” Legislation

Recently two WoLF members met with District of Columbia Councilmember Brianne Nadeau concerning a bill she is sponsoring, B22-0331, that would compel the District’s Department of Motor Vehicles to allow a person to designate their “gender” as “X,” indicating “non-binary gender,” in lieu of “M” for male or “F” for female.

Councilmember Nadeau says she introduced the bill because “some of [DC’s] residents do not identify as male or female,” and “[c]urrent licenses force residents to conform to genders that don’t accurately reflect their identity.” WoLF disputes gender identity ideology in all its forms, so it should come as no surprise that we oppose this sort of legislation. Female and male indicate sex, not gender, and gender is nothing more than artificial sex-stereotypes and sex-roles designed to keep women and girls in a subordinate position under patriarchy.

But our objections go well beyond the ideological. As an initial matter, while the government has many legitimate interests in recording residents’ biological sex for purposes of identification, admission to sex-segregated spaces, and the provision of emergency medical and police services, we can see no legitimate governmental interest in recording a person’s subjective identity and personality traits in lieu of sex.

We have serious concerns about the implications of this bill for the safety, privacy, and bodily integrity of women and girls. As this bill moves through the legislative process we intend to seek answers to the many questions this legislation creates: Will any man, for any reason, be allowed to declare himself to be “nonbinary gender” and gain access to women’s spaces? Will the District’s special programs for women and girls become available to men who self-identify as “non-binary”? Will the District be exposed to liability if its emergency services administer the wrong dose of medicine or even if they “mis-gender” a person who obtains a “non-binary” identification card? We’ll keep you posted on the answers we find.

In the meantime, if any WoLF members see similar legislation introduced in your communities, please email us (contact@womensliberationfront.org) or use the member-only forum to access a copy of our talking points that you can customize for a meeting with your own local representatives.