LGBTQ Rights Activist Jazz Jennings Hits Back At Trump Anti-Transgender Memo
LGBTQ rights activist and YouTuber Jazz Jennings is speaking up against the Trump administration’s reported plan to redefine gender as the one given at birth, declaring, “That is not happening.”
“We have been declaring our existence for so many years and we’re not going to let this administration erase that,” Jennings told fans Monday in a YouTube video titled “#WontBeErased.”
Her resistance comes a day after The New York Times reported that the White House is considering defining gender as unchangeable, given by birth genitalia ― male or female ― rather than a choice. The move could remove recognition and protections for transgender people under federal civil rights law.
Jennings, who is female but was assigned male at birth, said she’s not worried about the proposal, but will nevertheless speak against it.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair that we keep saying that this is who we are and we are not hurting anyone and yet people try to take away our rights,” she said. “So, it’s not going to happen and I’m not worried about it because we have been fighting this fight forever, and nothing is going to change that.”
I am not afraid. Us transgender and gender non-conforming people have been declaring our existence for so long and have only continued to grow stronger in our voices. If we were ever going to be “eradicated,” it would’ve happened long ago. Love all💜💗💜 https://t.co/zoSw9CgR0L
— Jazz Jennings (@JazzJennings__) October 22, 2018
Actress Laverne Cox also condemned the reported Trump proposal in a series of tweets on Sunday that called for action.
“Trans people have been under attack by this administration from day 1 and in state legislatures for years now,” said Cox, a transgender woman. “Let’s join together American and assert #TransRightsAreHumanRights.”
LGBTQ advocacy groups, including the Transgender Law Center, also blasted the idea.
“We’ve always known this administration intends nothing short of the destruction of our communities. Here, written out plain, is their attempt to erase our very existence as transgender people,” the law center tweeted.
The National Center for Transgender Equality labeled the proposal an attack on transgender people and vowed to fight.
“We’re here. You can’t define us out of existence,” the group tweeted.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.