Marcela (she/her)

You are probably both right. Iran has some type of gender recognition since the 1980s, but it assumes a binary, is medicalist, and is not up-to-date with modern guidelines, such as self-determination, non-binary options, and removal of medical gatekeeping and mandatory surgeries (which are human rights violations). Post-op trans people have it relatively better in terms of social inclusion, but we must understand that prejudice and bias is a complex thing. This is not removed by any law, take the black liberation movement in the US for example. Even though slavery was abolished and civil rights were given later, to this day the cancer of racism has not left the country, and this is reflected in incarceration rates too. Being myself transgender and having had skirmishes with the law both before and after transition, I know first hand that as a perceived majority person one enjoys a level of leniency, but when being in the minority people want to make a point that “you don’t get preferential treatment for being trans”, and use the law in its full extent, which is the informal equivalent of mandatory minimums.

So while I don’t disagree with your point that third-gendering can be invalidating to some binary trans people (and the author was being lazy / over-simplifying / ignorant and thus could have done better), I think it’s a little mistaken to focus so much on this small mistake and to direct that anger towards the pro-trans author (your ally) when the larger context is what matters and is still accurate - the dominant, oppressive gender concept is anti-trans, and the author is right to call out the anti-trans policy as anti-trans.

You are splitting hairs on the gender binary

I agree with both the above. Sure I am nit picking, but for good reasons (I explain below). But you are mistaken in assuming I am “angry” at the author. I am just expressing the only noteworthy thought I had about this article. I upvoted the thing!

you are using “trans” in a way that might be a bit more narrow than I was meaning

Well, normally I don’t, in fact I recently explained that since biological sex is not a fixed binary it is absurd to assume that gender identity is.

umbrella term that encompasses gender non-conforming people, non-binary people, cross-dressers, drag performers, as well as people who transition socially and/or medically

This is a very well put together and comprehensive list, and I don’t even think these terms are mutually exclusive. But I do make some conceptual distinction between (just an example) drag queens and trans women, I think it is more accurate to define “trans” in terms of gender identity not expression or performance. I would use “trans*” or “GNC” as an umbrella term, like in a future red book or style guide.

Since we can now use some shared terms, let me rephrase. 3rd-gendering is not just alienating to trans-binary people, I think it is literally dehumanizing to all GNC people. That’s why I pointed it out.

I didn’t. Trumps executive order is explicitly cisgenderist, but trans people are not a third gender.

You need to add that “gametes” stuff for it to invalidate gender transition. Like, even TERFs made this point only in the recent years. This is not to mean that the “2 genders” adage is trans-accepting, but it does not exclude trans people by itself, as it literally does with intersex and non-binary. It is the shared set of beliefs that makes it such the transphobic slogan, and before “gametes” it could be a number of other things - like gender essentialism.

People who say “we accept all genders, we let trans women into the women’s toilet” are in fact third-gendering trans-people. This is IMHO problematic, and people with your or OPs record of curating trans-related journalism should be aware of it.

government to acknowledge only two genders, erasing the identities of an estimated 1.6 million Americans who are transgender

Let’s reiterate that the “2 genders” thing is a cocktail of misconceptions and erroneous assumptions about sex and gender. It erases intersex and non-binary identities, but it does not at face value refute directly gender transitions, unless the problematic context is upheld.

So please don’t reproduce the false idea that the adage “there are only two genders” has anything to do with the existence of transgender people, because this way you perpetuate the misinformation.