Sex and gender policy has become a battleground for attacks on science and expertise. As researchers committed to rigorous evaluation of evidence, the authors examine how evidence is used and misused in debates on sex and gender policy affecting transgender people. Drawing on examples from healthcare, prison housing, and sport, they identify recurring pitfalls: elevating opinion as evidence, excluding trans expertise, discrediting scientific consensus, deploying decontextualized claims, and the influence of scientific disinformation. Amid rising societal transphobia, the authors call for greater integrity and transparency in evidence use, and for meaningful inclusion of trans people’s experiences and expertise in policymaking.
Ojeda et al. (Mon,) studied this question.