Since June 2011, significant preparations have been under way at the United Nations Human Rights Council following South Africa's submission of a "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity" resolution for consideration in the Council's current session. The proposal received the immediate attention of the world press because if passed, it would be the first UN resolution to focus solely on sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite its allegedly "ground-breaking" and "historic" nature, the proposal has been received cautiously by many in the field who indicate serious concern about the terminology used and its overall impact on international legal protection for the minority groups in question.
Sexual Orientation
Concern stems from the grouping together of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity". The two concepts are very distinct. Sexual orientation is perhaps the easier of the two to understand and relates specifically to one's natural or instinctive preference in sexual partners. The categories of sexual orientation are indeed familiar: asexuals have no attraction to either sex; heterosexuals are attracted to the opposite sex; homosexuals are attracted to the same sex; and bisexuals are attracted to both the opposite and same sexes.
Gender Identity
Gender identity on the other hand is very different. Gender identity relates to one's own sense of being male or female. All humans have a gender identity but many do not even consider it. If you were born male and have grown up and developed with a firm sense of being male, then you are comfortable with your gender identity. Identity issues arise when a person is born in a certain sex yet has an inner sense of being the opposite sex. Because of this distortion, many people choose to undergo procedures and processes to align their physical identity with their 'mental' identity and this often results in social marginalisation, discrimination and regular subjection to violence. It is precisely this group of people that the UN resolution is trying to protect yet it risks failing to do so by blurring the boundaries of what identity means.
Theoretical Inaccuracies in Combining Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
It is fairly evident, upon examination of the definitions and clarifications above, why sexual orientation and gender identity should not be linked together and more so why concerns are raised when transgenderism is described as a gay rights issue. Transgenderism is solely a gender issue; it has absolutely nothing to do with sexual orientation or gay rights. In much the same way that one would argue that being male or female has absolutely nothing to do with being heterosexual or homosexual, one should argue that being transgender has absolutely nothing to do with it either.
The respective historical developments of sexual minority rights and transgender rights have unfortunately resulted in a bolstering of this inaccurate perception. Transgenderism hit the headlines in 1953 with news of Christine Jorgensen becoming one of the first people to undergo full sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) and from then on the movement gained momentum and impetus in terms of its motivations yet it lacked the opportunities to have its voice heard. It was at this time that activists fighting for sexual minority rights and activists fighting for transgender rights allied and this gave the transgender movement an outlet for its messages. Throughout the later decades of the 20th century this bond grew stronger with the emergence of pride marches and other demonstrations which cast the two groups together in the public eye.
Put very simply, the two groups united in several aspects because of a shared intention to combat discrimination for inherent personal characteristics that cannot be changed, such as one's sexual preferences or one's gender. They did not unite because of a single shared cause and hence describing transgenderism as a gay rights issue is highly inaccurate. This alliance resulted in the commonly used rubric "LGBT" (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) which has caused controversy in legal and political spheres ever since.
Legal Consequences of Supporting Such an Inaccuracy
The legal issues that arise from being a minority sexual orientation and the issues that arise because of conflicts in gender identity are entirely separate ones. By constantly pushing the two subjects together, the United Nations and many other important legal organisations are blurring the boundaries and fostering an atmosphere of inaccuracy and confusion. It is indeed true that no-one should face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but that is exactly the same as saying that no-one should face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or race, yet the latter two subjects would never be put together in a single resolution. Pairing the two encourages the misconception that transgender rights are gay rights and this is simply not sustainable.
Transgender rights need to be acknowledged as a body of law completely separate from that of sexual minority rights in order that transgender people are afforded the same legal protection as non-transgender people. Sustaining the position as it is now will result in long-term detriment to the transgender cause as it will struggle to gain support without the strength and universality of the sexual minority rights movement to carry the flame.
Sources:
International Service for Human Rights - "South Africa tables historic resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity" (12th June 2011).
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