As both Texas and the federal government create more and more anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, the line between truth and myth becomes blurred.

It is important to remember that the people writing these legislature often do not have any background in sociology, psychology, biology or anthropology. Therefore, their understanding of sexuality and gender may be limited to the realm of politics.

As such, take what these politicians, political commentators and weird relatives at Thanksgiving have to say with a grain of salt.

It is important to do your own research, but here are some quick facts:

Myth: Sex and gender are the same thing.

Fact: “Sex” is a biological term while “gender” is a sociological term.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender as “the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed,” and sex as “a set of biological attributes in humans and animals.”

Myth: There are only two genders.

Fact: Because “gender” is a sociological term, how many genders we have will vary to reflect society.

For example, in many indigenous cultures there are more than two genders. The term “two-spirit” is an umbrella term for North American Indigenous people who fulfill a third gender role in their respective tribe.

In general, in modern day America, we categorize gender into “man,” “woman,” and “nonbinary.” “Nonbinary” is not necessarily a third gender, but is instead an umbrella term.

We use “nonbinary” for anyone who feels like their characteristics do not fit neatly into either category of “male” or “female.”

Myth: Laws that keep transgender people out of the bathrooms they identify with protect women and children.

Fact: Laws trying to enforce who can and cannot use a public restroom reinforce gender stereotypes and disenfranchises women who do not fit into a specific type of femininity.

This is especially true for Black and brown women.

The UK based, grass-roots anti-violence service Black and Brown Rainbow told The Guardian they saw an increase in calls from Black and asian LGBTQ+ people who were scared of using public restrooms after the UK ruled that people must use the bathroom of their assigned sex.

“Women’s toilets have never felt entirely safe for black and brown women, because we don’t fit that binary way of looking. In some communities, facial hair is part of who we are, but in public toilets people stare and feel it is acceptable to make remarks because we don’t fit a narrow, European version of female,” co-founder Taranjit Chana told The Guardian.

In the US, there are similar stories.

According to NBC News, eighteen year old Gerika Mudra tried to use the bathroom in a Buffalo Wild Wings and was harassed by an employee who did not believe she was a woman.

The Guardian reported a similar story. Ansley Baker is a cis gender woman who was harassed by a hotel security guard while using the bathroom because the security guard did not believe she was a woman.

Myth: Many people regret transitioning and will detransition.

Fact: People are more likely to regret getting knee surgery than they are transitioning.

In an interview with NPR, director of LGBTQ+ health policy at KFF Lindsey Dawson said that regret rates are even lower.

“Regret rates for gender-affirming care are about less than 1%, which is much lower than regret rates for procedures that we see as quite common and that are widely accepted,” Dawson said.

This includes knee surgeries, which have a 7.3% dissatisfaction rate, according to researchers Michael J DeFrance and Giles R Scuderi.

A research article by Michael S Irwig shows that only 8% of trans people surveyed detransitioned.

According to that same article, a majority of those who de-transitioned did so not because they no longer identified as trans, but rather because of societal pressure.

Myth: Transgender women are just men dressing up so they can assault cis women.

Fact: Trans women are more often the victims of sexual assault and violence than they are the perpetrators.

A research article published in 2017 by LGBT Health shows that 39%-47% of the trans women surveyed had been physically assaulted whereas 50%-59% faced sexual abuse.

Myth: Being trans is trendy, and people only transition for attention.

Fact: For many people, it is dangerous to socially and/or medically transition.

The Human Rights Campaign declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans in 2024. This was due to bills limiting LGBTQ+ rights, gender-affirming care and community access.

In 2023, 22.8% of all recorded hate crimes were against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people make up 4% of the total number of hate crimes done in 2023.

That is 542 hate crimes in one year.

In the past 12 years, 372 of those hate crimes led to the deaths of trans and gender-nonconforming people.

When lawmakers and people in power make laws, rules and guidelines based on these myths it contributes to the disenfranchisement of not only transgender and gender-nonconforming people, but LGBTQ+ people as a whole.