A member of Congress who represents portions of Sangamon County is sponsoring legislation to define, in federal law, what is a male and a female.
The move by U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, stirred consternation among LGBTQ advocates and cheers from those skeptical of the concept of gender fluidity.
Miller proposed the Defining Male and Female Act two days before the Biden administration's new Title IX regulations took effect. Title IX is a 52-year-old law creating educational opportunities for women. The new regulations broaden the law to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
"Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, they have obliterated Title IX, allowing confused and predatory men into women's sports and restrooms," Miller said in a prepared statement. "The Defining Male and Female Act would provide clear legal definitions so that neither the Biden administration nor any future administration can redefine Title IX. We must protect biological women and girls' safety and opportunities, and I urge the House to act swiftly in passing this bill to recognize the fundamental differences between men and women."
Miller's communications director did not respond to multiple emails and phone messages seeking further information on the legislation.
Miller is a member of the Freedom Caucus, which is made up of Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives considered to be part of the MAGA movement and loyalists to former President Donald Trump. In 2022, the freshman congresswoman easily defeated five-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in a primary race that pitted the two incumbents against each other following redistricting. Trump endorsed her at a rally held in Adams County just three days prior to the election.
Her husband, Chris Miller, serves in the Illinois House of Representatives and his Statehouse district largely overlaps with the eastern portion of his wife's congressional district. Rep. Chris Miller serves as chair of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, which held a July 13, 2023, event in Springfield to protest what they claimed were biological males using the women's locker rooms at the Kerasotes YMCA ("Transgender turmoil," July 27, 2023).
The bill defines a female as "an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization," and a male is an "individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization."
The language of the bill appears to have been drawn from model legislation pushed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank.
Tennessee, Kansas and Montana have passed similar legislation at the state level. But in June, a Montana judge ruled the legislation in that state was not constitutional because the description of the law did not clearly state its purpose.
"The title does not give general notice of the character of the legislation in a way that guards against deceptive or misleading titles," Montana District Judge Shane Vannatta wrote.
Vannatta did not address discrimination arguments; he found that the bill's title did not explain whether the word "sex" referred to sexual intercourse or gender and did not indicate that the words "female" and "male" would be defined in the body of the bill.
The Kansas and Tennessee laws also face legal challenges.
Brian Johnson, chief executive officer of the gay rights advocacy organization Equality Illinois, referred to Miller's measure as "hateful."
"It appears that what Congresswoman Miller is trying to do flies in the face of what professional doctors, medical providers, psychiatrists and, honestly, millennia of human experience demonstrate, which is gender is more dynamic and more fluid than the standard binary," Johnson said.
"At a time when people don't have access to enough adequate and affirming health care, when we see rapid and rising inequality in America, when we see deep distress for the institutions that previously served as the bedrock of America, the fact that Congresswoman Miller is ignoring meeting the needs of her constituents and Illinoisans in those areas so she can fight a culture war is deeply disappointing," he said.
But others found Miller's actions encouraging.
Matthew Eppinette, executive director of the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, said there is a need to better define gender.
"Over the last five, six, seven years, we've seen questions arise. And I suppose it's understandable that our elected officials would want to try and bring some clarity," Eppinette said. "I do think that some people struggle with their identity in a whole variety of ways. And I think as these struggles have become more well-known through things like social media, there are people who have sought answers for themselves. I don't think that gender is fluid. I think that we are born either male or female."
Johnson, with Equality Illinois, said, "I think when this type of legislation is presented by someone who has such a strong track record of vitriol, of attacking parts of the American society that are crucial parts of our country (and) who has said so many hateful things, it is hard for me to see it as anything other than self-serving and hateful."
He added he does not anticipate the measure becoming law.
"I would be surprised if this moved forward in any meaningful way," Johnson said. "But who knows?"
Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at [email protected].
