If the Trump administration rewrites the definition of gender to erase trans and nonbinary people it will be committing a heinous sin by violating two of the three unalienable rights the U.S. government was sworn to protect when the Declaration of Independence was written, the right to life and the pursuit of happiness.

It’s disgusting and disturbing that the government would even consider altering the definition of a word that could put people’s lives in danger.

Transgendered and nonbinary people just simply want to be able to live their lives and to be treated like human beings when they go in for medical treatment.

This issue isn’t just about giving and protecting the rights of trans people to medically transition if they so choose, this is also about protecting them from being discriminated against or even denied medical services.

An article by the Atlantic stated that some studies have found that 70 percent of trans people have been mistreated by medical providers.

The article went one to state that data shows that trans people’s most common issue wasn’t that they were being denied gender-affirming surgery, data actually showed that the biggest issue was that trans people are being mistreated because of their gender identity.

Katie Keith, a health-policy analyst who focuses on trans issues and was quoted in the Atlantic article, said that with the new definition providers could misgender their trans patients or give them a roommate of an inappropriate gender when they’re in the hospital.

Keith also said that doctors could even refuse to treats a trans patient and that this would especially be a concern in about 30 stats that currently do not have separate, state-level anti discrimination protections for trans patients.

If someone could be denied life saving medical services based solely on their gender identity then they are being denied their unalienable right to life.

In a USA Today article published in 2015, it stated 41 percent of individuals within the trans community attempt to commit suicide compared to the 4.6 percentage of attempts within the general public.

The article also shared that these statistics came from a study by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute, which analyzed results from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

Studies have shown that individuals who have been harassed, bullied, discriminated against, or that have been rejected by family are more likely to attempt suicide.

If the definition of gender is changed to state that your gender is determined by biological traits determined by or before birth, than bigots will feel justified in their attacks against trans people.

These hateful individuals will feel empowered by the government to continue to discriminate and bully trans and nonbinary individuals which affects their mental and emotional health and violates their right to their own pursuit of happiness.

If the Trump administration really cares about “making America great again” it would do them some good to reread the document that gave America the independence it needed to become the country it is today.

It’d be good for the administration to remember that it is a grave sin to violate the unalienable rights allowed to all Americans by the Declaration of Independence, and as such it should not erase the existence of a group of the people it’s sworn to protect by changing the definition of gender.