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12 Tex. J. on C.L. & C.R. 101 (2006-2007)
Self-Determination in a Gender Fundamentalist State: Toward Legal Liberation of Transgender Identities

handle is hein.journals/tfcl12 and id is 105 raw text is: NOTES SELF-DETERMINATION IN A GENDER FUNDAMENTALIST STATE: TOWARD LEGAL LIBERATION OF TRANSGENDER IDENTITIES By: Laura K. Langley* I. INTRODUCTION Transgender people face pervasive hostility in multiple arenas of their lives. Physical, psychological, and economic violence is leveled upon those whose identities and actions challenge the stability of the male/female binary.' In numerous jurisdictions, it is legal to fire someone who transitions on the job, or deny a student or employee access to restrooms according to his or her gender identity. It may be difficult to find respectful healthcare providers, and hormones and sex reassignment surgery may be unobtainable.2 One's gender identity may be denied by a legal regime which vigilantly polices the brutal boundaries of male and female.3 In regulating gender diacritically, the state dramatically curtails individuals' bodily and spiritual autonomy and the opportunity to self- actualize. To fully realize the Fourteenth Amendment's promise of liberty, people must be able to determine gender for themselves. This article attempts to build a foundation for positing a right to gender self- determination rooted in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. . J.D. 2006 and Public Interest Law Scholar, Northeastern University School of Law. B.A. 2000, Boston University. I owe a special thank you to Professor Taylor Flynn for so generously sharing her wealth of experience with me, and for her friendship throughout the writing process. Thanks also to Lindsay Wells, Connie Utada, Rachel Stroup, Gunner Scott, Jody Marksamer, Kim Jones, Renay Frankel, Ethan Eddy, and Libby Adler for their valuable feedback on this article and for informing my thinking on the topic. 1. Jamison Green, Introduction to PAISLEY CURRAH & SHANNON MINTER, TRANSGENDER EQUALITY: A HANDBOOK FOR ACTIVISTS AND POLICYMAKERS 1, 10-1 I(2000). 2. Id. at 11. 3. See, e.g.. Taylor Flynn, Protecting Transgender Families: Strategies for Advocates, 30 SUM HUM. RTS. 11, 13 (2003); Green, supra note 1, at 10-11.

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