Scott continues to exploit transgender issue
By Ed Brayton 2/16/10 7:27 AM
http://michiganmessenger.com/34864/scott-continues-to-exploit-transgender-issueWhen Paul Scott, Republican candidate for Secretary of State, announced that he would "make it a priority" to make sure that no transgendered person could change their gender identity on their driver's license, the reaction ranged from amusement to outrage. But he's got a strategy and he's sticking to it even if he has to reveal his ignorance in the process. In an AP article, he is quoted:
Scott, a first-term lawmaker, doesn't consider raising the issue a political ploy. "My personal belief is you are who your DNA says you are, regardless of what surgical procedures you may have thereafter," he says.
Yet this issue has nothing to with what someone's DNA says. The gender designation on one's birth certificate, and therefore driver's license, is not based on DNA testing it's based on mere physical observation of the genitalia. But that does, in fact, help reveal a reality that Scott and his fellow travelers would like to ignore: Sometimes what the DNA says and what physical observation says are in conflict.