Transgender people should not be recognized by their self assigned genders.

Thank you, Con for taking me up on my debate, I appreciate it. In hindsight, I realize now that this is still a touchy subject and apologize should you or any readers feel offended by the contents within, as that is not the intended purpose of this debate. However let us continue forward. I will begin by countering some of your claims in a numbered fashion as follows: 1. " I myself consider myself gender-fluid, meaning that my perception of my gender changes on a regular basis"Of course I am not singling you out, but for the sake of argument, I will use your writing to act as the foundation for my counter claims. Gender-fluidity is an unnecessary, unreasonable, and unnatural way of behavior. It is all these things that I claim because it is confusing for others to keep up with gender-fluid people who seemingly change their identity on a whim with seemingly no logical reasoning. From what I've seen on a personal level, is that gender fluid people will change genders out of spite, to provoke a reaction out of someone, to gain attention from a collective of people, or to simply have an excuse for something. I can not recall one moment in my life where I have witnessed a gender-fluid person change genders for a rational reason. It is also highly unnatural as it would seem that they have an internal struggle over what their identity may be; if they can't make up their minds, let them be known by what was assigned to them and be done with it.2. "...it is a concept that describes how societies determine and manage sex categories; the cultural meanings attached to men and women"s roles" I would like to address this, as it seems contradictory especially in today's society. In modern day USA, a man or woman can take on any "role" that they set their mind to without the need to change their gender. Perhaps 20 years ago that argument would hold truth, but today you will see Men doing jobs and tasks such as hair stylists, dentists, teachers, guest services, nurses, house keeping and more. Jobs which were considered for women exclusively less than 2 decades ago. Likewise you will see Women as mechanics, construction workers, engineers, technicians, electricians, lawyers, doctors, even politicians. You do not need to be a gender that is not your own to pursue what you want to do in life, or fulfil some sort of cultural meaning.3. "from a sociological point of view, you are attempting to say that sex and gender are the same thing. As stated here, they are not."Traditionally, sex and gender have meant the same thing, that's what I learned growing up, and that's what you learned growing up (Unless you happen to be 12 which I highly doubt). To change the definition of a word to fit your needs is unnatural and unnecessary. If this was a common occurrence, up would be down, apple would be orange, green would be red, simply because people felt like they wanted to change it to fit their own needs. 4. "On to the topic of perverts using bathrooms of the opposite sex, there can be homosexual perverts that use the bathroom of their same sex. There will always be perverts, regardless of what biological sex they are." Currently, 96.6% of adults are straight according to a survey [1]. If you allow people who claim to be of the other gender, that's 96.6% of people that are mingling with the opposite gender in a small and enclosed private area, where Peeping Toms, Sexual Predators, and even Kidnappers will have a greater chance to act on their dark desires because they are now presented the opportunity.5. "People identifying as a different gender than the one assigned at birth contradicts nothing." In fact it does, as they are going against what nature intended for them to be, and consider themselves to be the wrong gender. 6. "Never anywhere does it say that if you call yourself a woman, but you were born with a penis, then you are not valid." John Hopkins, a Psychiatrist, claims that if you call yourself the opposite sex than that of which you really are, then you are suffering from a mental illness which is in need of treatment.[2] He also goes on to say that by denying your own body, you are denying an undeniable fact of yourself. Among his claims, a suicide rate 20 times that of a non transgendered person is usually present, perhaps another sign as to this being a mental illness. I just don't see how denying reality which is plain as day can be considered normal behavior and not a cause for worry.7. "...things would get hairy when dealing with identification cards. This is why the US should allow people to list their own gender identity instead of their doctor-prescribed one." You yourself claim to be genderfluid, it can not be printed on an identification card that you are either male or female, as you could simply decide, on a whim no less, to change your mind. Periodically even. This would lead to huge discrepancies and problems in border crossings, police investigations, official documents, and things of that nature. If I were a police officer and a criminal just did something, and a witness tries to describe them, I may end up arresting the wrong person because their ID says they are a woman, when in fact they are a man who claims to be a woman. 8. As far as the SS goes, I think it should be everyone or no one. It's simply not fair, nor do I think it to be right. (My name probably got bumped up on the roster just for saying that, but oh well. Here's to hoping WW3 happens when I'm out of the age range for the SS)[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com...[2] http://cnsnews.com...Thank you for reading, I patiently await your response.