Humanism’s responsibility to the trans community
(6/26/2026) – Court here with some Pride musings while Fish takes some well-deserved time off for his nuptials.
I want to talk about Humanists’ responsibility to the trans community, where that responsibility has been mishandled, and how we can (and ought to) course-correct so that Humanists can be the moral leaders that this issue desperately needs.
It isn’t any secret that the progressive left has a messaging issue when it comes to trans rights. I wrote about this a few months ago. While the Democratic Party offers a sporadic defense of trans rights that tends to be shaped by polling and coalition politics, our solidarity with the trans community, as Humanists, doesn’t need to be so reactive. Humanist ethics offer a durable moral framework – one grounded in dignity, autonomy and self-determination, that could move us beyond this defensive posture.
But an essential step in this shift will require well-meaning people to challenge the values at the root of their allyship and ditch outdated, unhelpful messaging – particularly the “born this way” line.
Mainstreamed by the Lady Gaga song of the same name, the “born this way” defense of queer and trans rights suggests that we should support LGBTQ+ individuals because they didn’t choose this identity or lifestyle for themselves – they were born that way. How tragic!
Not only is the premise scientifically inaccurate, it is at its core an anti-Humanist sentiment; it presumes there is something wrong about queer and trans identity, that this aspect of ourselves needs to be justified in order to be respected. We can intuit how icky a sentiment that is, yet so many well-meaning allies default to this defense. As my zoomer colleague put it: “it’s so Target pride merch-core.”
The reality is, it shouldn’t matter to us whether a trans woman knew since childhood she was a girl, or whether she figured it out last week. Why someone is trans or queer is simply irrelevant to the moral case for their rights, and always has been. Trans people’s identities and presentation don’t have to be legible or make sense for you to respect our right to figure it out on our own terms.
As I was leaving my career with the Democrats, part of what drew me to Humanism was the fact that it is unequivocally and unabashedly a values-driven movement. While my personal politics were always further to the left of mainstream Democratic consensus, part of what drove my departure were the overwhelming moral inconsistencies. (To be fair, expecting an institution so captured by corporate greed and moneyed interests to be my moral compass was my mistake.)
But Humanists – especially the AHA – haven’t been afraid to stand up for what’s fair and just. We’ve held our own community accountable on this issue when it wasn’t popular. And the trans community needs an enthusiastic, unwavering, morally-grounded movement for change in its corner that holds everyone’s right to dignity, autonomy and self-determination as paramount. This is a vacuum that we can step into with confidence.
Because the fact is, the vast majority of us were not born this way. We figured it out somewhere along the way to becoming who we are now. And many of us still feel like we’re working it out! And that’s OK. As John Dewey, one of the signers of the original Humanist Manifesto I wrote: “The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.”
Trans people should be able to make autonomous decisions for their future, just like everyone else does. And the decisions that receive the hysterical, fear-mongering treatment from politicians – surgical interventions, hormone therapy, etc. – are never problematized in the context of cisgender people’s needs, because cis people get gender-affirming care all the time in the form of hair plugs, breast implants – the list goes on.
And to state the obvious – I’m not begrudging any cis person for wanting that care for themselves. We all deserve the comfort, security and euphoria that comes with self actualization! It’s a worthy endeavour in and of itself: “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality,“ wrote Erich Fromm, Humanist philosopher and social psychologist, in his 1957 work “Man for Himself.”
Trans people engage in the boldest, most profound act of self-authorship by realizing their true selves, and Humanists ought to be the loudest voice in the room championing our right to do so. We have the ethical framework and moral courage to be leaders here – so let’s step up and show others the way.
For humanity,
Court
The American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of Humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of Humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
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