What the Recent Executive Orders Mean for Transgender Americans
How the existence of transgender people is political
It has been one week since I published my breakdown of the first three executive orders impacting transgender children and their families. Since then, numerous protests in major cities have broken out in response to hospitals who cancelled surgeries and appointments for transgender youth looking to start gender-affirming care soon after Trump signed an executive order that restricted it for anyone under 19. It has even been reported that a few hospitals in New York City have complied in advance with this order, a state widely known for being a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people.
It is abundantly clear that things are transitioning from bad to worse with a swiftness of his pen stroke. But before we start to panic at the sheer amount of text these executive orders contain, take a deep breath, get cozy and have yourself a cup of water, tea or coffee.
Let’s break down how these directly impact the LGBTQ+ community:
Executive Order: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports
What It Means:
Requires educational institutions (colleges, universities, etc.) receiving federal funding to base participation in women's sports strictly on assigned gender at birth.
Directs the Department of Education to enforce Title IX in a way that excludes transgender women from women’s sports teams.
Threatens funding withdrawal from schools that allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
Implications:
Transgender women and girls will be banned from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Increased stigma and exclusion for transgender students and athletes, negatively affecting their mental health and overall wellbeing.
Educational institutions are likely to tighten their gender-related policies, making it harder for transgender students to access affirming facilities or programs.
Could potentially set a legal precedent for even broader restrictions against transgender participation in all facets of public life.
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While trans athletes are under scrutiny, the next executive order targets LGBTQ+ people in the name of religion:
Executive Order: Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias
What It Means:
Establishes a task force within the Department of Justice to investigate and eliminate perceived anti-Christian bias in federal agencies.
Directs federal agencies to review policies that allegedly discriminate against Christian individuals or organizations.
Expands religious exemptions for faith-based institutions, potentially allowing them to bypass anti-discrimination laws.
Implications:
Could justify discrimination against transgender individuals under the guise of religious freedom.
This would allow faith-based organizations to deny services, healthcare, or employment to transgender individuals.
Can potentially lead to legal challenges where religious rights are prioritized over LGBTQ+ protections.
Executive Order: Protecting Second Amendment Rights
What It Means:
Directs the Attorney General to review federal gun regulations between 2021 and 2025 and eliminate perceived restrictions on firearm ownership.
Prevents future executive actions from restricting gun rights.
Encourages state-level protections for gun ownership.
Implications:
Expanded firearm access may be seen as a self-defense option for transgender individuals facing hate crimes.
Lack of comprehensive background checks and weaker firearm restrictions could lead to higher risks of violence, including domestic abuse and hate crimes targeting transgender women.
Given that transgender youth in states that restrict gender-affirming care face higher suicide rates, easier access to firearms could increase risks of self-harm.
Some states may use these expanded Second Amendment rights to justify arming anti-LGBTQ+ groups, increasing the ever growing potential threat against the lives of LGBTQ+ people.
Overall, these new executive orders are also part of a larger strategy to erase transgender people from public life. From restricting transgender athletes from participating in sport competitions to more instances like this where people can deny service to LGBTQ+ people under the guise of religious freedom, each of these executive orders serve to chip away at LGBTQ+ rights in different ways. ven executive orders that don’t explicitly target LGBTQ+ people contribute to a more hostile environment—one where extremist groups gain easier access to weapons, increasing the danger for marginalized communities.
This is why staying informed and taking action is more important now than ever. If you have time, here’s one action you can take right now: sign your name on this petition to defend trans freedom.
The next post will explore concrete ways we can get involved, because no matter how many executive orders are signed, we aren’t going anywhere.
Executive Order: Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias. Executive Orders cannot override the US Constitution (see EO on birthright citizenship).
This EO clearly violates the First Amendment Freedom of Religion bc the Federal government is not allowed to favor one religion over another.
This EO clearly violates the First Amendment Freedom of Speech.