It is very clear that there are transgender human beings, and there always has been in every culture throughout history. Insisting that a trans person cannot live fully and peaceably within their own gender identity without submitting first to non-medically-essential and very expensive surgical “re-plumbing” is simply ignorant and potentially cruel. For young people, especially, for whom medical advisors and wise counsellors recommend against permanent body modifications, having to live with the “wrong” gender marker on their ID cards and official documents is not only punitive, but dangerous.

Dan Mouer, PhD

Anthropologist