The ongoing battle between the progressive Left and the reality of biological science has taken a peculiar turn.
Zaya Perysian, a transgender TikTok influencer, has recently joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to challenge the Trump administration's alterations to passport regulations and other official documents. These changes no longer permit individuals to modify their recorded sex to align with their personal identity. The Biden-era rules allowed individuals to select male or female based on their self-perceived gender, or even choose an "X" to represent "nonbinary."
Perysian, a transgender woman, or biologically male, has expressed discontent over the loss of the option to identify as "female" on her passport. "[Trump] does not get to tell me who I am, Perysian declared in a TikTok video announcing the lawsuit. Only I do.
According to The Washington Examiner, ACLU attorney Sruti Swaminathan commented on the case, stating, Our clients need to travel for work, school, and family, and forcing them to carry documents that directly contradict what they know about themselves to be true or withhold those documents altogether is a blatant effort to violate their privacy and deny them their freedom to be themselves.
The ACLU's statement asserts that the State Department's actions infringe upon the rights of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. They argue that these actions unlawfully limit their freedom of movement and discriminate against them based on their sex, violating the Equal Protection Clause. The ACLU also claims that Trump's policy contravenes the First Amendment by forcing individuals to have a sex designation on their passport that conflicts with their identity and potentially exposes them to others.
However, the notion that anyone's "freedom of movement" is being curtailed is a gross exaggeration. Transgender individuals can still obtain a passport and travel freely. The only change is that they can no longer include inaccurate or nonsensical information on their official documents.
Regardless of personal feelings or self-identification, a transgender woman's biological sex remains male. As evolutionary biologist Colin Wright clarified, sex is determined by the orientation of your reproductive system toward the production of sperm or egg. Neither physical alterations nor internal feelings can literally change one's biological sex.
The demand to include incorrect sex information on government forms under the guise of First Amendment rights is both peculiar and unfounded. While the First Amendment allows individuals to make whatever unscientific claims they wish about themselves, there is no constitutional right to include erroneous factual statements on government identification.
The inclusion of these facts on official documents serves a purpose. They are essential for accurately identifying individuals and for making necessary distinctions based on biology in relevant situations, such as women's sports or prisons. However, enforcing these logical distinctions becomes virtually impossible if individuals can arbitrarily change their legal "sex."
This seemingly absurd lawsuit is part of a larger, more concerning trend. Despite the likely dismissal of this case, the activist Left's broader assault on biological reality will persist. The majority of Democrats in Congress support the "Equality Act," which would eliminate protections based on biological sex from federal law, a move that can only be described as madness.
Transgender adults, like all Americans, are entitled to dignity, respect, and the freedom to live their lives as they see fit. However, activists cannot expect society to deny basic reality to accommodate their demands. This sentiment was echoed by Brad Polumbo, an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.
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