Kyle Knight and Neela Goshal have written an interesting essay on the rights...or lack of same...of transgender people around the world.

The process is as universal as it gets: when a baby is born, a doctor, parent, or birth attendant announces the arrival of a “girl” or “boy.” That split-second assignment dictates multiple aspects of our lives. It is also something that most of us never question.

But some people’s gender evolves differently, and might not fit rigid traditional notions of female or male.

That should have no bearing on whether someone can enjoy fundamental rights. But for transgender people it does—to a humiliating, violent, and sometimes lethal degree.

[W]e document countless cases of violence and discrimination against transgender people, whose very existence is outlawed in parts of the world. In Malaysia, state religious officials arrest trans people for the simple act of walking down the street wearing clothing deemed inappropriate to their assigned sex. Similar arrests have been made in Indonesia, Nigeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Police have arrested trans people in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia under laws that criminalize same-sex conduct.

Trans people are murdered at shockingly high rates, most notably in Latin America and the United States. Systematic marginalization contributes to high rates of suicide and HIV.

Despite this litany of rights violations, trans people have made tremendous strides in recent years toward achieving legal gender recognition—a crucial step toward curbing abuses.

Absent legal recognition in the gender with which they identify, every juncture of daily life when documents are requested or appearance is scrutinized becomes fraught with potential for violence and humiliation.

In Uganda, a trans man reported that a doctor threatened to call the police after realizing his appearance did not match his legal gender.

A trans man in Kazakhstan described his routine treatment by airport security: “First, the guard looks at my documents and is confused; next he looks at me and asks what’s going on; then I tell him I’m transgender; then I show him my medical certificates; then he gathers his colleagues around, everyone he can find, and they all look and point and laugh at me and then eventually let me go.”

Argentina broke ground in 2012 with a law that is considered the gold standard for legal gender recognition. Anyone over 18 can choose their legal gender and revise official documents without judicial or medical approval. Children can do so with the consent of their legal representatives or through summary proceedings before a judge.

In the next three years, Colombia, Denmark, Ireland, and Malta eliminated significant barriers to legal gender recognition.

In those countries where being transgender is criminalized, legal gender recognition has the appearance of a pipe dream.

Recognizing people’s self-identified gender does not require governments to acknowledge any new or special rights; instead, it is a commitment to the core idea that the state will not decide for people who they are.

One might think that self-declared conservative or libertarian forces would be down with that...that they would wish to limit the interference of the government in people's lives. On might also think that since this is "the land of the free" we shouldn't be comparing America to third world nations.

But it hasn't turned out that way. Because religion.

Let's consider the words of South Dakota State Senator David Omdahl on February 9:

I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t even know who you are.

Then he indicated that transgender people needed to be subjected to psychiatric treatment.

State Senator Omdahl’s comments are both outrageously offensive and incredibly dangerous. His suggestion that transgender South Dakotans be subjected to psychological abuse is truly revealing of what motivates him to support HB 1008. Such barbaric practices have been widely denounced, and no human being should ever be subjected to them. South Dakota lawmakers should resoundingly condemn Sen. Omdahl’s comments, and the Senate Education Committee should reject HB 1008 and all that it stands for.

--Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign

I think about the message our elected officials are sending to transgender kids and LGBT people in general with this package of bills. It’s not a message of compassion or acceptance or even basic dignity. It’s a message of attack, and a way for our government to say ‘you don’t belong here in South Dakota.’ I don’t think that message and attitude is truly reflective of our real South Dakota values, and I don’t think it’s something the public is okay with.

--Libby Skarin, South Dakota ACLU

Just because a student is transgender doesn’t make them unclear of who they truly are. In fact, the actuality is if a student has defined their proper gender, this shows they are one step closer to finding themselves.

They are confident and brave people, doing what they know is right for them regardless of the many obstacles they know they’ll have to face.

--Breana McHugh, The Volante

Gender is deeply-felt by individuals; governments should not be in the businesss of adjudicating this identity through abusive protocols and bureaucratic snags. To alleviate this nightmare, governments should take some basic steps to separate legal and medical processes related to gender transition. That is to say, allow people to change their legal gender as an administrative process; and provide quality transition-related healthcare as a separate matter.

After making this procedural change, governments should adjust all relevant systems—including the multiple documents we carry in our daily lives, national databases such as the census, and any other gendered space ranging from restrooms to prisons. Dignity on paper must be ensured in practice as well.

--Goshal and Knight