The year is 2025. Many strange things have happened this year. This year is a time of economic collapse, with rising unemployment rates and a lack of ability to communicate or listen. Many of my people have committed suicide this past year in response to the hatred they have received.
You may wonder what it is I am talking about. I am speaking primarily about the LGBTQIA+ community and the violence and discrimination against them. In many places, it is possible to be killed for not appearing as the gender someone wants you to look or talk like. It is also possible that your family will disown you and kick you out of the house before you have graduated high school because they found out that you are attracted to someone of the same sex rather than the opposite sex.
Transgender and gay people are not the only ones who face additional challenges. Racism also appears to be increasing or, at the very least, becoming more apparent. With the growing number of companies ending their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, people on Facebook, Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn are asking questions about what it means.
Will they be fired because they are black?
Will they be deported to their country of origin even if they have legally immigrated to the United States?
Will the marriages of millions of gay, bisexual, or transgender people be no longer considered legal?
And perhaps more importantly, how can anyone afford to live when they are losing their jobs, prices are rising, and they cannot get new jobs because the Artificial Intelligence overlords have decided their resume is not good enough to pass to a real human to read it?
I know these thoughts may seem unrelated, but they have been on my mind lately, based on real conversations I have heard and read, both online and from coworkers at Walmart.
These questions deserve answers, but it will not happen unless we have difficult conversations. Allow me to begin by telling you what I stand for. Look at this picture of the Progress Flag.
The Progress Flag is one of the most important symbols to me personally. I consider it the ultimate symbol of Diversity. The different colors and shapes represent different groups of people. One of the key interesting things is that the black and brown stripes represent “people of color”, such as those with darker skin colors.
Skin color and/or race does not have much to do with being gay, transgender, or intersex, but what we all have in common is that our differences have been used as an excuse to exclude us from employment, voting, restrooms, marriage, and even life itself when we are murdered or sent to prison for life without having committed a crime.
"I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime" - Queen
What is the solution to the hatred, misunderstanding, and violence we face? I do not have all the answers, but I want to contribute my part in beginning the conversations to educate each other on our different experiences. We are stronger together because of our Diversity.
What we have in our society is a great divide. We seem to be on two sides of the Grand Canyon. I was thinking to myself that what we need is a bridge. And then it just so happened that I came across an article where hundreds of people lit up a bridge in rainbow colors using only flashlights.
It was at that moment that I remembered a conversation I had in a dream with Honesty the Unicorn about how a rainbow is created.
H: Like others before you, you will speak and write about the things you have learned. In fact, even now you are typing our conversations on your computer as we speak. You can tell others what you have learned. Though others will probably call you insane or a liar, the evidence speaks for itself.
You have the power of perseverance. If you keep on speaking, you will be heard. If you keep on seeking the truth you will find it. For he who keeps asking questions will receive the answers. He who keeps seeking will find them sooner or later, and he who knocks on enough doors will find one answered eventually. You don’t know how to give up. You have too much stallion pride for that.
C: You’re right, Honesty. I don’t know how to give up. But where will I go? How do I know where I will be listened to and where I will find the answers?
H: Everywhere! Go into all the world. Ask every question, knock on every door, and search everywhere that you have a chance to find the answers. Find those who do not stop you or shame you for singing, dancing, or crying. Do you see that rainbow in the sky, Chastity?
C: Yes, how long has that been there?
H: Since the moment we first met. In the human world, a rainbow is created when white light is reflected off of water droplets. In Animal Sanctuary, the Light of Truth reflects off the tears of those with a pure heart. By this you shall know that wherever and whenever you see a rainbow, you will know a unicorn is not very far away. For the truth is revealed in tears without a single word said. This is my promise to you, Chastity. You came here because of your tears, and you will return again, as will all those who are honest enough to cry the tears of joy and of pain. For it is as I spoke long ago, blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall see God.
I ask my fellow Rainbow people to metaphorically walk the Rainbow Bridge this Pride Month of 2025 as we write, speak, and listen to what our different voices have to say.
As for me, I will remember the Promise of the Rainbow as I was told by Honesty the Unicorn. I won’t give up, and neither should you. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you. I am just a poor transgender writer and Chess player, but I offer my skills and knowledge of computer software to anyone who has a story to tell.
Bodily autonomy is a phrase that is often used by the Pro-Choice movement. The basic premise is that a woman should have a choice over their own body, even to the point where she is allowed to abort her child that she is pregnant with. Obviously, Pro-Life people like me disagree with this. However, rarely do people actually discuss the value of bodily autonomy and what it means.
To the Pro-Life Movement, Bodily Autonomy is just a red flag warning them with the message, “Oh, it’s one of those people who are trying to use the number one argument for why abortion should be legal and/or moral.”
To the Pro-Choice movement, Bodily Autonomy is a talking point that sidesteps the question of whether abortion is murder, whether the embryo, fetus, or “contents of pregnancy” is valuable, or whether it is a human being deserving legal protection.
However, I believe that a proper understanding of bodily autonomy requires it to be studied in a context outside of abortion. For this, we have two main issues that we can use for comparison.
LGBTQIA Rights
In the context of LGBTQIA, rights could include but are not limited to, a person choosing which sexual partner they have and being free from rape, which is the most obvious violation of a person’s body. It could also include a transgender person having the right to modify their body via hormones, surgery, or simply wearing different clothes that help them feel more aligned with what their brain tells them their body should look and feel like. Last but not least, it could include the right of intersex people not to have surgery done on them as a baby that doctors or parents believe will “correct” what they assume is a birth defect. In simple terms, if a baby is born with both a penis and a vagina, don’t attempt to remove either and let them decide when they are older which parts to keep or remove. Babies cannot consent to surgery because they can’t even talk yet. The tradition of infant male circumcision is also relevant here in the context of Bodily Autonomy but is not specific to just trans or intersex people.
Vaccine Choice
Some people have imposed Vaccine Mandates that require people to either take a certain vaccine or be fired from their jobs, removed from their housing, or not allowed to attend school or events without proof of vaccination. Therefore, a discussion of Bodily Autonomy must include the right to choose what vaccines you take in your body or not.
Examples:
Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2025, he has signed many executive orders. There are some that I agree with. For example, on January 27, 2025, he signed an executive order which reinstates everyone who was discharged from the military for refusing the Covid-19 vaccines. I consider this a good move because I don’t want anybody to lose their job just because they choose what they will and will not put into their body. I fully believe in Bodily Autonomy when it comes to a person deciding what to eat, what vaccines to take or not take, and what they wear, Et cetera. Therefore, I believe that Donald Trump has the right position when it comes to respecting this type of Bodily Autonomy.
Also, it may be relevant to note that Trump also freed 23 prisoners who were arrested for non-violent protests outside abortion clinics. This action is just one more example of something I think Trump did right. He seems to show by his actions that he cares about Freedom of Speech as well as the Bodily Autonomy of the babies not to be murdered.
However, there are other actions by Donald Trump that I believe violate the Bodily Autonomy of Transgender and Intersex people.
For example, in one of his executive orders, Trump has declared that the Federal Government of the United States of America will only recognize two genders, male and female. To the uninformed, this sounds harmless because most people think there are only two genders. But is it true? The answer is more complicated than you think.
There have been many attempts to define what males and females are. This task gets harder to do the more you learn. The simple fact is that intersex people exist who have more than the standard chromosome variations of XX or XY. There are people with XXY, XXYY, and XYY, and some only have a single X chromosome. Defining sex/gender on chromosomes is not reliable and can actually be expensive. I am 37 years old, and I don’t know my chromosome variation, but I suspect XXY, also known as Klinefelter syndrome.
The other way people usually define male or female is by looking at someone’s genitals and then labeling them as male if they have a penis and female if they have a vagina. Usually this is done to newborn babies who are assigned male or female at birth. However, this is also not reliable. Some people are born with more than one set of genitals. But the larger point is that we should let people’s “private parts” remain private.
My primary concerns are the following specific parts of the order titled “DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT”.
“(d) The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex, as defined under section 2 of this order; and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall ensure that applicable personnel records accurately report Federal employees’ sex, as defined by section 2 of this order.”
What does this mean for people in reality? Are you going to pull down everyone’s pants and inspect their genitals every time they renew their state ID or passport? Will you be taking blood samples to test their chromosomes? If so, who pays for this? The individual or the taxpayers in general? What about those who are intersex and have mixed genitalia or chromosomes? These statements raise more questions than they answer. Doing these actions to enforce laws based on this executive order will violate the privacy and Bodily Autonomy of people who just want their identification for travel, applying for a job, or even filing their taxes. They should not be required to let someone pull their pants down, let someone touch their genitals, or be forced to give their blood every time they want a passport or just need to pee in a restroom.
“e) Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other messages. Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”
What is gender ideology? I have never heard this term coming from anyone other than those who have not taken the time to educate themselves on transgender and intersex people. What do you mean by ending the federal funding of gender ideology? I don’t agree that there is such a thing as gender ideology, but it sounds like more money will be spent on trying to slap a label on people of either male or female, regardless of the fact that some of us are a combination of both.
Transgender and Intersex people have always existed and will continue to exist, regardless of what any government says or whatever our identification documents say. However, there will be people who have their privacy invaded, and some of them will lose their jobs and ability to travel, and some may die as a result of these policies. Some people have made a great effort to pass as their preferred gender and even have had their identification documents updated with their preferred gender and name already. Additionally, many of them have spent thousands of dollars on hormones and surgery to change their bodies so that they can pass as their felt gender. These people mean no harm to the public, but many people will commit violence against them or fire them from their jobs as soon as they are forced to be revealed as transgender or intersex by laws and policies related to this order.
Some intersex people do not by any measure meet the requirements to be identified as male or female. These people have already obtained an X gender marker on their documents. Whatever you do, please don’t force them to endure genital inspections and chromosome tests everywhere they go. That’s not good government policy. That is just sexual harassment. Clearly, this is also a violation of their Bodily Autonomy.
The second executive order, which I will mention briefly, is the one titled “PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION”. I don’t want to spend too much time on this because that is a post for another day. However, I oppose this because it is already written to ban gender-affirming care for individuals 19 and younger. I can only speculate how long it will be before the next executive order banning hormones and surgery for people of all ages.
I, as an individual, fully support the right of adults to decide what to do with their bodies related to gender-affirming care. Furthermore, I do believe that people under the age of 18 should also have these options in specific cases and that these decisions should be made along with their parents and doctors for practical, legal, and medical reasons. I will expand on this in a future post. For now, know that the executive order is linked in the sources section at the end of this post. But for now, my position is that this is one of those things where transgender people should have a right to decide what they do with their bodies related to gender-affirming care.
Final Notes
I wrote this post because I feel a responsibility to protect the rights of my fellow LGBTQIA people. I am transgender, and I believe these recent executive orders could cause harm to me or other people very much like me. At the same time, I also voted for Donald Trump because I believed he would protect the Bodily Autonomy of those who want to make their own choices regarding vaccines. I am also pleased with his pardon of the 23 prisoners. One of them, Herb Geraghty, is someone I know as a board member of the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance.
I believe that Trump gets Bodily Autonomy right in some cases but completely misses it in other areas. But the examples I listed are only small samples of why I think we need to be respecting Bodily Autonomy for all people. My statement is that people should have the right to decide what is done with their bodies. However, we should not exclude them because they are not born yet or because they are gay, transgender, intersex, or anything else. Always follow the Golden Rule and do unto others what you would wish done unto you.
Comments from Fellow Friends and Board Members of the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance:
“Donald Trump’s executive order mandating that there are only two sexes is an attempt to erase intersex, nonbinary, and trans people. Yet his declaration doesn’t change biological reality or the lived experiences of millions. There are 5.6 million intersex people in the United States alone, according to the American Journal of Human Biology. They cannot be defined out of existence. Intersex, trans, and non-binary people are valuable members of our communities and deserve our support.” – Sarah Terzo.
Sources for Executive Orders and General Information on things relevant to this post.
Please send me links if you want something else listed.
Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2025, he has signed many executive orders. There are some that I agree with. For example, on January 27, 2025, he signed an executive order which reinstates everyone who was discharged from the military for refusing the Covid-19 vaccines. I consider this a good move because I don’t want anybody to lose their job just because they choose what they will and will not put into their body. I fully believe in bodily autonomy when it comes to a person deciding what to eat, what vaccines to take or not take, and what they wear. Etc.
But there are some other executive orders which can potentially lead to the death of some of my people. These dangers specifically apply to Transgender and Intersex people. Trump has declared that the Federal Government of the United States of America will only recognize two genders, male and female. To the uninformed, this sounds harmless because most people think there are only two genders. But is it true? The answer is more complicated than you think.
There have been many attempts to define what males and females are. This task gets harder to do the more you learn. The simple fact is that intersex people exist who have more than the standard chromosome variations of XX or XY. There are people with XXY, XXYY, and XYY, and some only have a single X chromosome. Defining sex/gender on chromosomes is not reliable and can actually be expensive. I am 37 years old, and I don’t know my chromosome variation, but I suspect XXY, also known as Klinefelter syndrome.
The other way people usually define male or female is by looking at someone’s genitals and then labeling them as male if they have a penis and female if they have a vagina. Usually this is done to newborn babies who are assigned male or female at birth. However, this is also not reliable. Some people are born with more than one set of genitals. But the larger point is that we should let people’s “private parts” remain private.
My primary concerns are the following specific parts of the order titled “DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT”.
“(d) The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex, as defined under section 2 of this order; and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall ensure that applicable personnel records accurately report Federal employees’ sex, as defined by section 2 of this order.”
What does this mean for people in reality? Are you going to pull down everyone’s pants and inspect their genitals every time they renew their state ID or passport? Will you be taking blood samples to test their chromosomes? If so, who pays for this? The individual or the taxpayers in general? What about those who are intersex and have mixed genitalia or chromosomes? These statements raise more questions than they answer.
“e) Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other messages. Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”
What is gender ideology? I have never heard this term coming from anyone other than those who have not taken the time to educate themselves on transgender and intersex people. What do you mean by ending the federal funding of gender ideology? I don’t agree that there is such a thing as gender ideology, but it sounds like more money will be spent on trying to slap a label on people of either male or female, regardless of the fact that some of us are a combination of both.
Transgender and Intersex people have always existed and will continue to exist, regardless of what any government says or whatever our identification documents say. However, there will be people who have their privacy invaded, and some of them will lose their jobs and ability to travel, and some may die as a result of these policies. Some people have made a great effort to pass as their preferred gender and even have had their identification documents updated with their preferred gender and name already. Additionally, many of them have spent thousands of dollars on hormones and surgery to change their bodies so that they can pass as their felt gender. These people mean no harm to the public, but many people will commit violence against them or fire them from their jobs as soon as they are forced to be revealed as transgender or intersex by laws and policies related to this order.
Some intersex people do not by any measure meet the requirements to be identified as male or female. These people, including one person that I know and care a lot about, have already obtained an X gender marker on their documents. Whatever you do, please don’t force them to endure genital inspections and chromosome tests everywhere they go. That’s not good government policy. That is just sexual harassment.
The second executive order, which I will mention briefly, is the one titled “PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION”. I don’t want to spend too much time on this because that is a post for another day. However, I oppose this because it is already written to ban gender-affirming care for individuals 19 and younger. I can only speculate how long it will be before the next executive order banning hormones and surgery for people of all ages.
I, as an individual, fully support the right of adults to decide what to do with their bodies related to gender-affirming care. Furthermore, I do believe that people under the age of 18 should also have these options in specific cases and that these decisions should be made along with their parents and doctors for practical, legal, and medical reasons. I will expand on this in a future post. For now, know that the executive order is linked in the sources section at the end of this post.
Comments from Fellow Friends and Board Members of the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance:
“Donald Trump’s executive order mandating that there are only two sexes is an attempt to erase intersex, nonbinary, and trans people. Yet his declaration doesn’t change biological reality or the lived experiences of millions. There are 5.6 million intersex people in the United States alone, according to the American Journal of Human Biology. They cannot be defined out of existence. Intersex, trans, and non-binary people are valuable members of our communities and deserve our support.” – Sarah Terzo.
Sources for Executive Orders and General Information on Intersex people:
Chastity White Rose 