Public debates about transgender issues are often framed as disagreements over evidence or safety.

In my new article published in the International Journal of Transgender Health, I argue current policy shifts are better understood as part of a recognisable escalation pattern.

I call this “trans eliminationism” – efforts to remove trans people from social, legal or physical existence.

The concept of eliminationism was developed by political scientist Daniel Goldhagen to describe ideologies that frame a targeted group as incompatible with society and therefore as requiring removal.

Trans eliminationism exists on a continuum.

At the less severe end, though still deeply harmful, is social and legal erasure such as restricting healthcare access, prohibiting changes to identity documents, removing gender as a protected category, banning trans content from schools and libraries, and pushing trans youth into conversion practices.

Some of these measures are now occurring in many jurisdictions. For example, across the United States, anti-trans bills continue to be introduced in various states and in New Zealand, the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill is currently open for submissions.

Social and legal eliminationism can create conditions in which more severe forms of harm, including incarceration and physical violence, become easier to justify by weakening legal protections, normalising exclusion, and........

© The Conversation