After Obama’s administration took steps towards a more inclusive definition of the term ‘gender,’ the Department of Health and Human Services is pushing Trump to establish a legal definition of ‘gender.’ Trump’s administration has since stated that their definition of gender is defined by one’s biological condition stated at birth. This interpretation could drastically change the rights and lives of transgenders in America.

Transgender rights have been a hot topic in recent years, with more and more transgender activists fighting for a society more accepting of transgenders. However, Trump’s agenda has limited progression for transgender rights, and activists have taken to Twitter to voice their anger, using the hashtag “#WontBeErased.”

The importance of providing a legal, uniform definition is that it will affect the usage of various public facilities. Public bathrooms or single-sex housing or programs will be affected by this new definition. People will no longer be able to legally identify as a gender other than the one they were born as.

Rewriting the definition will require several different government departments to apply the new regulations. The Department of Education plays a crucial role in these reformations, a new definition of the word ‘gender’ could change health services at schools and would respond to complaints of sex discrimination at all levels of education. The Department of Health and Human Services is also relying on other departments- Justice and Labor- to enforce the definition in order to make sure that the concept is uniformly accepted and enforced nationwide.

The new definition must abide by the regulations stated in Title IX, where gender identification plays a huge role. No matter what the definition of the word ‘gender’ is, everyone must be provided equal opportunities for education, athletics, and programs, all of which are protected by Title IX.