Gender isn’t always as clear-cut as North Carolina lawmakers seem to think
The emphasis on the gender recorded on someone’s birth certificate is misplaced in North Carolina’s transgender discrimination law. There are enough ways what gets recorded can occasionally be wrong that it makes the whole idea that all people can be classified as “male” or “female” problematic.
A rare baby is born with ambiguous genitalia. The Mayo Clinic web site has a good discussion at www.mayoclinic.org/... . How the baby should be treated is often a difficult decision. Quoting the web site:
Determining the gender
Using the information gathered from these tests, your doctor may suggest an appropriate gender for your baby. The suggestion will be based on the cause, genetic sex, anatomy, future reproductive and sexual potential, probable adult gender identity and discussion with you.
In some cases, a family may make a decision within a few days after the birth. However, it's important that the family wait until test results are completed. Sometimes gender assignment can be complex and the long-term impact can be difficult to predict. Parents should be aware that as the child grows up, he or she may make a different decision about gender identification.
One test that will likely be done to help make the decision is a chromosome analysis. Normal females have two X chromosomes (XX genotype); normal males one X and one Y chromosome (XY). Some abnormalities involve a missing chromosome or extra ones.
Other abnormalities may not be at all obvious at birth. Dealing with ambiguous genitalia at birth is difficult enough, but some conditions that turn up later in life can be more distressing. A mutation that interferes the receptor molecule testosterone can lead to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. People with this syndrome have one X chromosome and one Y, but if the insensitivity is complete they are phenotypically female – they look like typical girls, they are raised as girls, think of themselves as female, and fit into society as female. The condition is unlikely to be suspected until puberty, which usually includes fairly normal external body development but no menstruation and infertility. en.wikipedia.org/...
I remember reading of one very rare variant of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, described in a Native American village in Central America. Apparently a mutation in which the testosterone receptor was insensitive to low levels of the hormone, as in fetal development and childhood, but it was sensitive enough to the higher levels of testosterone that develop in puberty. Some children born with XY genotype would appear to be female until puberty, but then would grow a penis and start looking like males. The natives had a name for the condition; it was translated as “hidden penis”. The article said that of about 17 people in the village who had gone through the transition, about 15 had handled it “successfully”. (Goodness knows what “successfully” meant, applied to people in a Native American village by a doctor or journalist three or more decades ago.) I believe I read about this in the New York Times at least three decades ago, but I haven’t been able to find the article.
It seems safe to say that the people of that Central American village are more tolerant than North Carolina’s legislators and governor. These conditions are rare, but people who have them almost surely qualify for protection from discrimination – if not, they ought to. Luckily, the Justice Department has already taken a strong stance against laws like North Carolina’s. If some Republican were (or becomes) President, it might fall to the ACLU to file suit for a person with one of these conditions to force the issue.