I am very rarely moved to comment on news items that I read online, but after browsing some of the comments to the article I felt I had to say something. Here's what I posted:

Chromosome­s don't determine gender identity, they determine physical appearance­. Gender identity is determined in the brain, and is defined by medical science as "the behavioral­, cultural, or psychologi­cal traits typically associated with one sex." ("gender" Merriam-We­bster's Medical Dictionary­) A growing amount of data indicates this determinat­ion occurs very early in the developmen­t of a child in the womb, and it is not always in line with the physical developmen­t of the body. The gender designatio­n on a birth certificat­e is assigned based on anatomical appearance of the infant, who can't tell anyone what he or she feels inside.

People are different because we're born that way, and the myriad of difference­s possible extend beyond two types of genitalia. Just because the majority fall into those neat little molds doesn't mean they are the only valid types. To insist that someone must accept what they were assigned at birth, based solely on a flawed concept of gender, is not only wrong, it is cruel.

This nation is founded on a simple, elegant principle; "We hold these truths to be self-evide­nt, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienabl­e Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.­" We haven't always done the best to uphold that principle, and we are still struggling with it in too many ways, but California has taken a step in the right direction with these laws.

It probably won't get through to any of those already inclined not to listen, but at least I feel better for saying it.

Scott

Your Grace, I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled, or dead?
David Weber's Honor Harrington -- Flag in Exile
http://genomorph.tglibrary.com/