Gatekeeping and Validity:

There seem to be arguments around every type of identity. People want to form in-groups and out-groups and define who doesn’t belong to the in-group. This kind of mindset can pit those within the same group against each other, leading people to gatekeeping identities and invalidating others. This is especially unfortunate in the trans community, as those outside of the community also want to gatekeep and invalidate. 

The medical community often wants to make trans people “prove” that they are trans in order to get treatment. Access to essential care can be hard to find, especially in non-metropolitan communities. The cost of necessary and life saving treatments can be prohibitive. For those that don’t conform to the binary, treatment can be even harder to find. Some providers simply turn trans people away, using a variety of excuses. 

Others want to gatekeep specific identities, such as womanhood. A splinter group of supposed ‘feminists’ want to specifically exclude trans women from (and include trans men in) womanhood. This group is often called “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists”, or TERFs for short, though some prefer the term “gender critical” feminism. The most famous self-professed TERF is author J. K. Rowling. There are many reasons one may identify as trans-exclusionary, the commonality is that they are all based on prejudice, misunderstanding, and small-minded thinking. 

More and more the queer community is embracing people of any identity. One need not experience gender dysphoria to be trans. Even if you don’t understand someone’s gender identity, that doesn’t mean it isn’t their genuine experience or is wrong in some way. By denying trans people their identities, people are invalidating their experience. Gender identity is an inherent trait, not something chosen. Denying someone their validity for something they have no choice in is plain  bigotry.