Why suffering shouldn’t be a prerequisite for trans rights

Misery, quite literally, becomes legally mandatory if you are trans and want civil rights.

This narrative isn’t just cruel; it’s false. The trans community is not a monolith of despair. Trans people of all ages, especially those supported by their loved ones, live vibrant, joyous lives. If a trans person can only succeed legally by arguing for their own marginalization, and if a trans person feeling happy and proud of their identity disadvantages them in court, then trans people will never truly have legal equality.

So, why are we stuck here? This framework sticks because admitting otherwise would destabilize the assumption that being cisgender is natural and being transgender is disordered. If someone can be satisfied, even happy, with their life or their body and still seek to transition, then being transgender is not inherently linked to suffering. Moreover, it would mean that being transgender is just one of many ways people experience and express themselves, and it can even be good and healthy. Accepting this would shatter the premise that the gender binary is fixed, that cisgender experiences are the baseline for health and normalcy, and that gender variance is an aberration that needs to be corrected—a set of ideas that many people in our country are still resisting. Advocates recognize that the ‘miserable trans person’ narrative is more straightforward to exploit than to defeat.

Solicitor General Prelogar’s concession is understandable. In the political firestorm of transgender rights, it seems unfathomable that this conservative court would ever vote to protect trans rights, so it is clever to present a compromise. Yet, in doing so, she has reminded us that transgender rights are conditioned on putting transgender people through as much suffering as possible so that the court can feel comfortable relieving it.

Someday, trans rights advocates will need to reckon with this framing. True trans equality will require dismantling the notion that gender variance is a disorder to be cured or pitied and instead affirming that transgender people deserve dignity and access to care regardless of their level of distress. Until we shift this narrative, the law will continue to treat trans people as a sickness to be treated rather than individuals worthy of inherent respect and justice.

Julian Applebaum is a Truman Scholar and LGBTQ+ rights advocate pursuing a legal career focused on advancing transgender rights. He holds a BA from Macalester College and an MPhil from the University of Oxford’s Centre of Socio-Legal Studies, where his research explored the legal challenges faced by queer nightlife in London. Julian has worked with the ACLU, both in Minnesota and Washington, D.C., and has authored legislation to protect transgender students in public schools. He is a published researcher in transgender legal studies and aspires to use litigation and policy to address the growing legal and political challenges faced by the trans community.

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Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Julian Applebaum