So, things are pretty bad. Donald Trump is president and he’s actually delivering on his campaign promises of attempting to end the so-called “transgender insanity.” Since the last time we spoke, I now legally don’t actually exist — isn’t that fun?
In case you’re unaware, within the first few days of his administration, Trump issued an executive order called “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” that explicitly defines sex as being either male or female and being based solely off the sex a person is assigned at birth.
Or, sorry, the sex they belong to at conception — when sex actually can’t be accurately determined, because even biology is not as binary as many like to think.
Beyond being an extraordinarily petty gesture, this order means legal documentation now must reflect trans people’s assigned gender at birth — which, aside from misgendering us, acts as a highly visible marker identifying us as transgender. And I hope I don’t have to tell you why it can prove dangerous to be outed as trans against your will.
On the other hand, it also means non-binary people and intersex people who want to have their documentation reflect their identity can’t get an “X” marker on their documents anymore. (And here I was, so happy that Virginia was one of the states that actually let you mark X for sex on your driver’s license…).
Additionally, trans people in prisons will be transferred to facilities matching the sex they were assigned at birth. This, obviously, can put trans women in danger because, whether you believe trans women are women (they are), trans women certainly look like women, and having a woman in a prison filled with men is dangerous. And just to add insult to injury, the order also requires prisons to stop providing hormone replacement therapy to trans inmates.
Fortunately, this part of the order has been temporarily blocked awaiting the resolution of a lawsuit filed on behalf of three transgender inmates. This has become a theme with Trump’s executive orders (almost as if he’s exceeding his constitutional authority).
But, of course, that’s not all.
Trump has also issued “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” and, just yesterday, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” — which are all exactly what they sound like.
Additionally, there’s also “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” that eliminates DEI in the military and “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” that sets the stage for another ban on transgender troops by arguing that identifying as transgender is inherently dishonest and, therefore, transgender people do not meet the requirements expected of a soldier.
The first order in that list is already being sued by the ACLU and represents an issue that’s currently being decided by the Supreme Court in US v. Skrmetti — which I will be talking about next week. Trump’s ban on transgender troops is also being challenged.
It’s beyond demoralizing being forced to bear witness to the blatant discrimination that passes as laws these days. There’s nothing so wrong with trans people that a president needs to dedicate this many executive orders solely to legislating us out of existence.
In a sense, it’s a little comedic. That the so-called unquestionable truth of biology takes this much defending. That the people “defending” it don’t know the first thing about science, don’t care about the women and the children they claim to protect.
I almost feel bad. It must be miserable, clinging to the idea of biological sex like it’s some lifeboat that will save you from the uncertainty of the world, lauding gender roles as some natural world order and scapegoating “gender ideology” as the root of all evil.
What a boring view of the world to want everyone to be the same.
I don’t care what laws are thrown at us, what desperate attempts to get trans people to conform — I don’t care if attitudes around trans people grow more hostile and unaccepting — I am who I am, whether that scares you or not.
Trans people aren’t going anywhere and we’re certainly not going back.
