More than two sexes

Editor:

On December 9, 2025, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners considered a resolution declaring that there are only two sexes: female (XX) and male (XY). Hundreds of citizens showed up, some to support the resolution, most to protest it (including several doctors). Wisely, the Commissioners voted this resolution down, four to one.

On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a similar executive order, which reads in part: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. . . . Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce . . . laws to promote this reality, and [these] definitions shall govern . . . application of Federal law and administration policy.”

This executive order deeply concerns the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (KUUF) Justice Ministry, because science demonstrates that from 1-3% of the population are non-binary, and a declaration that only recognizes two sexes writes these individuals out of the full circle of humanity.

The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the inherent worth and dignity of every human being all supersede anything in an executive order.

What can you do? You can empathize: try to understand someone else’s feelings and lived experience. Even if you’re not nonbinary yourself, you likely know someone who is. Put yourself in their minds and try to understand their pain when laws erase them.

The next step is compassion: try to do something to alleviate someone’s suffering. At KUUF, we offer a spiritual sanctuary that embodies our commitment to be a welcoming congregation to all, including the LGTBQ community. We show up and support Pridefest. We host a Trans Day of Remembrance. We give sermons welcoming the LGTBQ community.

We are living in a time of great oppression, where those who are “different” are harassed, including transsexuals, nonbinary, and intersex people. We must move beyond outrage to protest a government that targets its own citizens.

As leaders of eleven religious traditions said in a November 12, 2025 statement, “When people of faith and conscience stay silent in the face of oppression, we are all made less whole. … Our faiths, our theologies, and our practices of prophetic witness call on us to say with one voice to transgender people among us: ‘You are holy. You are sacred. We love you. We support you, and we will protect you.'”

Victoria Bergvall

chair of the KUUF Justice Ministry