The government of Puerto Rico has made a clear decision: to turn its back on part of its own people. There are no technical excuses or legal arguments that can disguise what is really happening.

The temporary suspension of the “X” gender marker on birth certificates is a deliberate act of erasure. It is a modern form of exclusion, masked as a defense of the “rule of law.” But let’s be clear: what is being defended here is not justice — it’s the power of a few to impose their fear on the freedom of many.

The federal court order issued by Judge María Antongiorgi Jordán didn’t force anyone into anything. It didn’t erase existing categories or require anyone to identify as nonbinary. It simply allowed those who have never had a truthful box to check on a government form to finally exist legally. But the moment that option challenged the comfort of binary thinking, the entire state apparatus was mobilized against it.

Pride Society Magazine, Puerto Rico’s only LGBTQ media outlet, covered this development in an article titled “Gobierno de Puerto Rico paraliza la X” or “Puerto Rico’s government paralyzes the X.” More importantly, it echoed the voices of those most affected. The LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico didn’t mince words: the government is spending public money and resources to block a right that has already been validated by the courts. This is not about process or caution — it’s about obstruction. Federation leaders called it exactly what it is: a political move rooted in prejudice, fear, and a desire to appease the most conservative sectors of society.

This isn’t a technical delay. This is a statement of values. It says if your identity doesn’t fit our categories, you don’t exist. If your truth challenges the status quo, you will be denied.

The “X” on a birth certificate doesn’t impose anything. It doesn’t threaten anyone. What it does is allow people to live with dignity, without being forced to lie every time they’re asked to show their ID. That minimal recognition is now being denied, not by accident, but by design.

And it fits perfectly within a broader, dangerous trend — at both the federal and local level. Across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, we are witnessing a calculated rollback of LGBTQ rights, particularly those affecting trans and nonbinary people. What was once progress is now treated as threat. What was once affirmed is now litigated into oblivion. And while legal teams argue and politicians posture, people are being erased in real time.

This has nothing to do with parties, religions, or ideology. It’s about human dignity. It’s about the right to be seen and named for who you truly are. Those who celebrate this suspension are not protecting society — they are upholding a system of exclusion that punishes anyone who dares to be different.

The Pride Society Magazine article is more than just a news story. It is a record of resistance. It documents the courage of those who speak up when institutions stay silent. It reminds us that dignity cannot be postponed, and existence cannot be debated.

The truth is simple: the “X” is not the problem. The real problem is a system that cannot stand to admit that people come in more than two categories. A system that would rather halt a form than recognize a life.

And if we allow that system to keep winning, soon there won’t be any boxes left to check, because we will have allowed ourselves to be erased completely.

Some dates split a nation’s soul in two. July 16, 2025, will be one of them for Puerto Rico. That day, Gov. Jenniffer González signed Senate Bill 350 into law — now known as Law 63-2025 — and what she signed wasn’t just a piece of legislation. It was abandonment.

Abandonment of trans youth. Abandonment of loving families. Abandonment of medical professionals who offer care with science and compassion. With the law in hand, the state left us utterly alone.

Law 63-2025 bans all gender-affirming medical care for individuals under 21-years-old. But it doesn’t stop there. It criminalizes the very act of accompanying someone with love and professional integrity on their journey to live authentically. Parents, doctors, therapists, social workers — now all face the threat of up to 15 years in prison, a $50,000 fine, and permanent loss of licenses. Medicine is no longer a right. Providing care has become a crime.

This is not an isolated case. Puerto Rico is now part of a growing wave of reactionary policies sweeping across the United States and the world. A crusade against diversity, cloaked in false morality, aimed at controlling bodies and erasing identities through legislation.

Here on the island, this law was passed despite the warnings of the medical community. Despite families begging to be heard. Despite the secretary of health himself stating that there is no medical crisis that justifies such legislation. The government’s response was clear: facts don’t matter. What matters is control.

Perhaps the most painful betrayal of all is the attack on the constitutional right of families to decide what’s best for their children. Parental rights — protected by both national constitutions and international human rights treaties — were trampled without hesitation. The state claimed it knows better than love. Better than science. Better than home.

What does this mean in real life?

A trans teenager can no longer access medical care. A mother could be arrested for supporting her child. A therapist must stay silent or risk everything. Fear, silence, and anguish become the new language of adolescence.

They say this law “protects minors.” But what it truly does is push them toward despair. It denies them access to their identity, to mental health care, to hope. What it protects is not people — but prejudice.

And yet, here we are. Not defeated. Not silenced. But standing tall, knowing that history doesn’t end with a signature. Resistance cannot be outlawed. Dignity cannot be repealed.

Puerto Rico has a memory of struggle that refuses to fade. We’ve raised our voices against colonialism, injustice, and marginalization. This time will be no different. Human rights advocates, compassionate faith communities, courageous families, and ethical professionals will not back down.

The governor may have signed a law, but she did not sign away our voice.

We are not leaving. We will not abandon our youth.

Trans youth are not alone, even if their government tries to make them feel that way.

Two men on Monday pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges in connection with attacking a transgender woman in Puerto Rico in 2020.

A Justice Department press release notes Jordany Laboy Garcia, Christian Rivera Otero and Anthony Lobos Ruiz “were out driving together” in Toa Baja, a municipality that is about 15 miles west of San Juan, early on Feb. 24, 2020, “when they saw” Alexa Negrón Luciano “standing under a tent near the side of the road.”

“The defendants recognized A.N.L. from social media posts concerning an incident that had occurred the day prior at a McDonald’s in Toa Baja,” reads the press release. “During that incident, A.N.L. had used a stall in the McDonald’s women’s restroom.”

“Upon recognizing A.N.L., Lobos-Ruiz used his iPhone to record a video of himself yelling, ‘la loca, la loca,’ (‘the crazy woman, the crazy woman’) as well as other disparaging and threatening comments to A.N.L. from inside the car,” it notes. “The defendants then decided to get a paintball gun to shoot A.N.L. and record another iPhone video. Within 30 minutes, they retrieved a paintball gun and returned to the location where they had last seen A.N.L., who was still at that location. Lobos-Ruiz then used his iPhone to record Laboy-Garcia shooting at A.N.L. multiple times with the paintball gun. After the assault ended, Lobos Ruiz shared the iPhone video recordings with others.”

Negrón was later killed in Toa Baja.

Laboy and Rivera pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a hate crime and obstruction of justice. El Nuevo Día, a Puerto Rican newspaper, notes a federal judge sentenced Lobos to two years and nine months in prison after he pleaded guilty to hate crimes charges last November.

Laboy and Rivera are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 10.

They, along with Lobos, have not been charged with Negrón’s murder.

“To assault an innocent victim who posed no threat to the defendants for no other reason than her gender identity is reprehensible behavior that will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico in the Justice Department’s press release. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend the rights of all people, regardless of their gender identity, to be free from hate-fueled violence. Our community must stand together against acts of violence motivated by hate for any group of people — we remain steadfast in our commitment to prosecute civil rights violations and keep our communities safe and free from fear.”

Pedro Julio Serrano, spokesperson for Puerto Rico Para Todes, a Puerto Rican LGBTQ rights group, on Tuesday welcomed the guilty pleas. Serrano also urged authorities to bring those who killed Negrón to justice. 

“The time for total justice for Alexa is now,” said Serrano in a press release. “Her murder was a hate crime. Nobody doubts this. They falsely accused her, persecuted her, hunted her, insulted her with transphobic epithets, uploaded onto social media a video of them accosting her and they killed her. There are already three individuals who will serve time in federal prison for attacking her in a hate crime. That’s some justice, but not complete.”