On day 1 of his second term, Donald Trump targeted the LGBTQIA+ community via executive order. This comes amongst a slew of moves, which rescinded measures to make medication more affordable, pardoned insurrectionists, and more.
Executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” targets transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-nonconforming folks while ignoring the existence of intersex people altogether.
Its title could be considered a misnomer given that it ignores biological truth and fails to defend women across the country.
It seeks to classify the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies as extremist ideological forces seeking to harm women and ignore the truth. A review of the executive order shows the opposite.
The language throughout the order is dismissive of people’s lived experiences. It describes gender identity as ideological extremism and states efforts to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community as an “unhealthy road.”
President Donald Trump speaking to the Heritage Foundation in 2017. Image courtesy of Factcheck.org
The plain truth is that Trump’s executive order ignores science in favor of pursuing a culture war.
The order states, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality …”
According to experts in the field of sexuality, sex goes beyond a simple binary. This is the “incontrovertible reality” known by scientists.
The simple fact is there is a larger spectrum beyond male and female.
“Sex can be much more complicated than it at first seems. According to the simple scenario, the presence or absence of a Y chromosome is what counts: with it, you are male, and without it, you are female. But doctors have long known that some people straddle the boundary—their sex chromosomes say one thing, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) or sexual anatomy say another,” states a 2018 Scientific American article.
Also in 2018, over 2,600 scientists signed a letter condemning a similar proposal from Trump to identify sex based on genitalia. Signatories included over 700 biologists, over 100 geneticists, and nine Nobel Prize winners.
The letter states, “The proposal is in no way ‘grounded in science’ as the administration claims. The relationship between sex chromosomes, genitalia, and gender identity is complex, and not fully understood. There are no genetic tests that can unambiguously determine gender, or even sex. Furthermore, even if such tests existed, it would be unconscionable to use the pretext of science to enact policies that overrule the lived experience of people’s own gender identities.”
It goes on to state that the policy seeks to erase the identities of millions of Americans who identify as transgender or have intersex bodies.
The very existence of intersex folks refutes Trump’s assertion that sex is biologically restricted to just male or female.
The order states the term “sex” instead of “gender” will be used in all applicable federal policies and documents.
It also states that “the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management” will ensure government-issued IDs (passports, visas, Global Entry cards) “accurately reflect the holder’s sex” as defined in the executive order. No description for how this might occur is provided. And it remains to be seen if issued IDs will be rescinded.
Many of the instructions included in the order are left vague.
Many also appear to be either illegal or at least legally questionable.
Agencies are instructed to remove anything that promotes or teaches “gender ideology.” There is no definition for what this might mean.
The order also demands agencies rescind documents “inconsistent” with itself. The list includes Department of Education documents, such as the “2024 Title IX Regulations: Pointers for Implementation” and materials designed to create nondiscriminatory school environments for LGBTQIA+ students.
It states that the Attorney General must issue guidance to agencies “to correct the misapplication of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).”
While this reporter is not a lawyer, it does not appear there is a legal pathway to do this. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the nation. The Attorney General cannot simply overrule a decision made by this court.
The order targets incarcerated individuals. It states federal money shall not be used to provide gender-affirming care.
The vast majority of transgender women in prison are already incarcerated with men and face higher rates of sexual assault. A 2007 study found that 59 percent of transgender prisoners reported being sexually assaulted in a California correctional facility compared to 4.4 percent of the incarcerated population as a whole.
In 2023, U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Director Colette Peters responded in a Senate hearing that there were just 10 trans women in female federal prisons. The remainder were in facilities inconsistent with their gender.
NBC investigated state prisons in 2020 and found that just 15 of 4,890 transgender prisoners tracked in 45 states and D.C. were in facilities consistent with their gender.
Additionally, in 2022 there were zero gender-affirming surgeries for prisoners. Of $1.3 billion, 0.0116 percent of the healthcare funds was spent on hormone therapy ($153,000).
Without access to medical resources and with the imposition a hard-line stance recognizing only two sexes, the lives of transgender inmates are not likely to improve.
This begs the question of how exactly this executive order is protecting women when it appears intended to cause harm.
The reality of the situation is that this executive order addresses a problem that doesn’t exist.
“Predator” arguments have been used and debunked for this and other topics in the past. They are a common strategy for Trump, who uses similar language to target immigrants by claiming they are criminals.
At the end of the day, there is no reputable data suggesting a link between upholding LGBTQIA+ rights and attacks on women.
There are countless studies showing that trans people are much more likely to be victims themselves.
The Williams Institute found in 2021 that transgender people are over four times more likely be victims of violence.
This post was originally published on here
