This Speakout was written by Brookings resident Fedora Sutton-Butler, professor emerita molecular biology and genetics.

Before the next U.S. House convenes, members are focused on bathroom use by the first U.S. transgender member. This attack on transgender members can be solved by assignment of some of the facilities as unisex bathrooms. However, the attack is not about bathrooms. It is about the ignorance of human sexual identity and bullying of “the other.”

Faced with a transgender member, Speaker Mike Johnson stated, “A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.” He continued, “That said, I also believe that’s what Scripture teaches.” Mr. Speaker, in Paul the Apostle’s letter, the Epistle to the Galatians, the ninth book of the New Testament, Galatians 3:28 states, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Ipso.com reports that “Younger people are most likely to identify as LGBT+. Seventeen percent (on average across 26 countries) of Generation Zers currently identify as: lesbian, gay, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, asexual, transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, gender-fluid, and/or other than male or female, compared to 11% of Millennials, 6% of Generation Xers and 5% of Baby Boomers.” This data suggests a lower understanding of human sexuality by older humans.

The biological basis of human sexuality, which impacts sexual orientation, is very complex. Central to the processes involved is the endocrine system, which controls the production and action of hormones, including estrogen (the female sex hormone) and testosterone (the male sex hormone). The hormones interact with proteins (receptors). Functional receptors perceive the hormones, generating a signal that passes to other proteins (transduction). This signal transduction can result in the turning on of various sets of genes. Disruption of any of the steps, from the production of hormones to the transduction of signals, will result in modifications in the level of maleness or femaleness a person presents to the world.

Legislatures and others always fall back on the genome. A quick review: The human genome consists of the DNA in the nucleus (nuclear genome) and the organelle outside the nucleus, called the mitochondria (mitochondrial genome). The focus here is on the nuclear genome, which consists of 22 pairs of chromosomes called autosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes: XX for females and XY for males. The data reveals that a person’s sexual identity is not limited to whether they bear the designation XX or XY as their genotype.

An XY person with non-functional testosterone receptors would be unresponsive to testosterone even if producing large quantities of testosterone. If that same person produces estrogen and has functional estrogen receptors, they will appear female. With an XY genotype, this person is forced by various laws to consider themselves as male when they are physiologically female. This person may go through psychological stresses knowing that they are female but having to act as male.

The rest of the genome, the 22 other chromosomes (autosomes), also impacts human sexuality. Variations in autosome gene sequences can result in protein modifications, such as unresponsive sex hormone receptors and other signaling proteins and metabolites. Thus, a person with an XX genotype may present as a male, or a person with an XY genotype may physiologically present as a female. Autosome gene modifications are known to impact the physiological processes controlled by over 50 hormones secreted by the endocrine system. Variation in growth hormone levels results in very tall or short humans. Noticeable differences and ignorance lead to discriminatory treatment and bullying, which endanger lives.

The speaker should convene a conference on human sexuality for the House.