Monday will bring us the second inauguration of Donald Trump to the office of the President of the United States. He’s likely to make some of our fears come true on day one with a raft of executive orders expected to be signed that day, following the 221 executive orders from his first term and his more open plan to be a dictator this time around. But legislatures and pundits around the country aren’t waiting for Trump to be sworn in to get going on their agendas of anti-LGBTQ+ hate.
Before we get into the major LGBTQ+ politics headlines from the last week, a quick note from Digging INTO Politics. Now, more than ever, there are politicians and media figures who are spouting off ridiculous anti-LGBTQ+ tirades every week. This week alone saw Megyn Kelly join the raft of people blaming DEI policies and LGBTQ+ people for the fires in LA, Nancy Mace yell about wanting to know what a woman was, and Marjorie Taylor Greene accuse Sarah McBride of being a “child predator” because she read a book at story time. While these might be technically politically related, we’re not going to fill our weekly entry with full explanations of them unless they are relevant to a wider issue: some people are just being loud and hateful and giving them more words isn’t going to help you keep up to date with politics in this country.
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Fatphobia, lesbophobia, and misogyny all in one? Kelly’s truly giving a masterclass in bigotry.
House passes anti-trans sports ban
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On Tuesday this week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban trans girls from participating in sports in school. The bill would impact all sports, including games such as chess, and would amend Title IX to be able to remove funding from any school that allows trans girls to compete. The bill will now move to the Senate for a vote. It is not a forgone conclusion that it will pass in the Senate.
Notably, the bill lacks any mechanisms for enforcement. While it states that “sex shall be recognized solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” it’s not clear how that will be managed. Quite apart from the massive psychological and social harm this bill will do to trans children, it will also open the door for invasive genital inspections of minors to be able to “prove” what sports they should be engaging in. That should be giving a lot of people pause, and it led the Democrats in the House to rebrand the bill as the “GOP Child Predator Empowerment Act.”
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If it becomes law, the bill would pull funding from public schools for allowing trans female athletes to participate on women’s sports teams.
It’s not just on Capitol Hill and the federal level that there are concerning moves regarding trans participation in sports. In Utah, new rules have been passed requiring that for trans girls to participate in sports they must be receiving gender-affirming care. Of course, that will be a little difficult for residents of the state given that Utah has banned gender-affirming care for minors.
Will Bondi respect Marriage Equality?
Pam Bondi is Trump’s nominee for Attorney General. That’s concerning for LGBTQ+ rights as she pushed back hard against attempts to legalize same-sex marriage several years ago. During her confirmation hearing this week, Senator Adam Schiff asked Bondi about her views and whether she would respect and defend marriage equality. She responded, “I will respect the law.” Having someone who respects the law but not the ideals behind it isn’t as comforting as it might be, especially when the party in charge has worked to change laws before. LGBTQ+ couples have been rushing to get married before Trump’s inauguration and despite Bondi’s lukewarm response, the risk of the Trump-weighted SCOTUS reevaluating Obergefell in the next few years is worryingly high.
Some states voted on protecting same-sex marriage during the November elections. Others, like Virginia, are working to protect it now. Virginia’s House of Delegates approved a measure this week to repeal VA’s ban on same-sex marriage as well as providing protections for voting rights and access to abortions.
Challenging Trump’s trans military ban
During his first term, Trump banned trans people from serving in the military. Biden removed that ban, but Trump has made it very clear that reinstating it will be one of his first actions as president. California Representative Sara Jacobs is trying to stop that from happening and has introduced a bill in her role as Co-Chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force. The Ensuring Military Readiness Not Discrimination Act seeks to prevent discrimination in the military, particularly targeting transgender bans and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and is based on Truman’s executive orders from 1948. The bill has little chance of fighting, but it is important to remember that there are still people fighting for equality.
Montana Bathroom ban moves forward
We’ve been tracking the progress of various trans bathroom bans, and Montana has moved forward in an upsetting and somewhat bizarre way. The ban on trans people using the correct bathrooms in all public buildings in Montana passed the State House this week. While pushing tired and unsupported arguments that trans women posed a threat in restrooms (while they’re actually much more likely to be the victims of violence), one state representative, Jedediah Hinkle, raised a different concern: that some trans women are attracted to women. “So we have an individual who is dressing like a woman, changing [their] name to a woman but is also at the same time attracted to women.” Hinkle’s argument not only sexualizes the whole affair, but also raises the question of whether this man has ever heard of lesbians before and what his take on cis lesbians in the restroom would be.
SCOTUS takes up a case against PrEP
The Supreme Court of the United States has already overturned Roe v. Wade, and in the summer they’re expected to rule on gender-affirming care. Now they’ve decided to take up a case on whether the Affordable Care Act is promoting “homosexual behavior.” The Texas plaintiffs claim that their religious beliefs are being violated because they are required to provide insurance that covers PrEP. The case is supposed to be decided by June, so we won’t have to wait too long to hear whether SCOTUS is for or against AIDS.
The DEI push and pull
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg and Meta announced a lot of changes to their DEI policies, including terminating the whole DEI team and reviewing their terms to allow LGBTQ+ people to be called mentally ill. This week, we’ve been seeing more moves around DEI and LGBTQ+ support from major corporations in both directions. Meta has removed trans themed customizations from chat, Zuckerberg has had all tampons removed from men’s bathrooms at Meta (a move targeting trans masc people), and the Meta CEO went on The Joe Rogan Experience to tell the host about how society has become “neutered” and “emasculated.” Similarly, it has come to light that a month ago Amazon reviewed its company policies and removed “LGBTQ+ rights” and “equity for Black people” from its solidarity pledges, deleted its commitment to “advance DEI through technology,” and removed healthcare benefits for trans staff.
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This anti-trans slur is no longer considered hate speech on the platform
While Mark Zuckerberg himself has been happy to capitulate to the assumed Trump demands before he even takes office, the employees at Meta have been speaking out against the anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-DEI policies. And while Tim Cook donated to Trump’s inaugural fund, directors at Apple and Costco are working to keep their DEI plans in place, pushing shareholders to vote against resolutions that would put their commitments in jeopardy.
Support trans girl scouts
In a time when all of the challenges against our community feel so big, it can be hard to know how to help people on a personal level. Donations to organizations like the ACLU are always a way to help the fight, but there’s also a small thing you can do to support some of the trans youth that are targeted by so much of this hateful rhetoric. Girl Scouts has included trans girls and nonbinary people for a long time, and Erin Reed (of Erin in the Morning) works annually to put together resources so that you can support trans and nonbinary girl scouts around the country as they sell their cookies. Head to this link to find Erin’s list where you can learn about the girl scouts involved and help them meet their goals: you can spread some joy, and enjoy some cookies while you’re at it.
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