We Will Not Be Erased—
CAMP Rehoboth Strongly Opposes Efforts to Discriminate against Transgender, Non-binary, and Gender Non-conforming People
On October 21, the New York Times reported that, according to an unreleased memo they obtained, the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is seeking to create a legal definition of sex under Title IX, based solely on genitalia at birth.
The Times states, “…the new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves—surgically or otherwise—as a gender other than the one they were born into.”
“For far too long all LGBTQ people were forced to exist in the closet, hidden and invisible, discriminated against, powerless, and outcast,” says Murray Archibald, CAMP Rehoboth co-founder and Interim Executive Director. “We cannot stand by and quietly allow protections for our transgender family members to be erased.”
The Times memo reveal other attacks on the transgender community by the current administration: following orders to ban transgender troops from serving in the military, the revocation of guidance by the Departments of Education and Justice that transgender students are protected against discrimination in schools under Title IX, and the removal of an LGBTQ question in the census.
For almost 30 years, CAMP Rehoboth has worked to create an inclusive and welcoming community for all people. “Our community has gotten stronger and closer by being inclusive and compassionate towards all people,” says Mark Purpura of Equality Delaware and CAMP Rehoboth, “not by being divisive and attempting to deny the existence of an entire group of people.”
CAMP Rehoboth will continue to advocate for all transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming Delawareans and their friends and families—and work to protect them at every level. ▼