It’s been nearly two weeks since Donald Trump reclaimed the office of the president of the United States, but it has truly felt like six months. After a devastating day 1 executive order from Trump attacking the legal recognition of trans people, it might have felt like the storm had passed. But this week quickly became the week of trans hate as Trump signed three more anti-trans executive orders. Whether these orders will hold up to implementation is a legal question, but some organizations are already complying with the orders in a demonstration of excessive caution.
This week, a tragedy played out when a plane crashed into a helicopter and many people lost their lives. As we are beginning to see with multiple catastrophes, Trump and his cronies all knew the true cause of the devastating event: LGBTQ+ people and DEI. In the last few months alone, that has been the explanation for every disaster that has hit the United States, including hurricanes and fires. There’s no evidence there, just scapegoating and hatred. It’s an upsetting example of our political moment and a worrying omen for what is to come.
Trump’s trans military ban
On Monday, Trump kicked of his week of trans hate by attempting to ban trans people from serving in the military. Trump previously tweeted about a plan for a trans military ban back in 2017, during his first term. That ban was then enacted in 2019 before being quickly overturned by the Biden Administration. The ban could affect as many as 15,000 trans service members and has been estimated to seriously damage military readiness. LGBTQ+ organizations and service members are already suing over the ban.
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While the executive order banning trans people from the military was expected, the surprise came in the language used. While most anti-trans bills focus on imagined threats to safety or misrepresentation and invention of scientific opinions, Trump’s trans military ban was more honest. The order suggests that being trans is dishonorable in itself and means that a person cannot show the moral fiber required to be in the military.
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It doesn’t stop with removing protections for trans people.
Trump’s gender affirming care ban
On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on the week of trans hate by signing an executive order that seeks to ban gender affirming care for anyone under the age of 19. Not even just going for minors, this order includes 18 year olds, who would normally be considered adults. Trump is ordering agencies to “rescind or amend all policies that rely” on WPATH guidance, and the order hopes to stop TRICARE and Medicaid from covering any form of gender-affirming care for trans youth and remove gender-affirming care for minors from the benefit packages of federal employees. The order even seeks to prevent sanctuary states from protecting trans youth by using the “Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act.” Finally, the order withdraws all federal funding from hospitals and research institutions that work on gender-affirming care for those under 19.
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Trump’s executive order targeting gender-affirming care for trans youth has arrived. Here’s what you need to know, and what comes next.
As with all of Trump’s executive orders, they’re instructions for agencies, not legally binding laws. None of this has to happen immediately with different parts of the order having timelines from 30 to 90 for enforcement. And, of course, Lambda Legal has already working on launching a legal challenge. However, there are reports that hospitals across the United States are already suspending gender-affirming care.
DC Children’s Hospital has just contacted me to tell me my reporting is “inaccurate” that they have stopped providing gender affirming care. How is it inaccurate? They still provide “mental healthcare.” Read my response.
[image or embed]— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) January 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Trump’s anti-trans schooling order
On Wednesday, Trump signed an order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” The order seeks to end federal funding for schools that promote “gender ideology and discriminator equity ideology.” As well as taking aim at critical race theory and accurate histories of the United States in favor of “patriotic education,” the order hopes to define supporting a child’s transition as “sexually exploiting minors.”
If the order is able to be enforced, then being affirming of a child’s gender identity would become a serious crime. The order targets “social transition” and seems to include anything from allowing a child to use the correct bathroom for their gender to using their correct names and pronouns. One section of Trump’s executive order declares that “The Attorney General shall coordinate with State attorneys general and local district attorneys in their efforts to enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by […] unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.”
Fortunately, school boards across the country are standing firm against Trump’s order (see, school board elections matter). Several school board presidents have declared that they are rejecting the order, with the Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland stating: “We are committed to maintaining local authority over our curriculum, teaching, and learning. And we will fiercely support our teachers and staff as they implement our curriculum and policies.”
Trans inmates fighting back
One part of the order that Trump signed last week that sought to claim there were only “two sexes” ordered that trans inmates be relocated based upon their gender assigned at birth. To show that the cruelty is indeed the point, the order went as far as to remove rape protection guidelines for trans inmates. On Monday this week, a trans woman in federal prison filed the first federal lawsuit to challenge that order. A U.S. judge has now blocked that woman’s transfer to a men’s prison and also blocked officials from denying her access to gender-affirming care. The judge is still considering whether to grant a longer injunction, but it is a small first win against the original order.
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This is horrific
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