Federal government under Trump's leadership takes comprehensive action to focus on the transgender population
The Trump administration's agenda on transgender rights has been characterised by a concerted effort to restrict recognition, access to healthcare, and legal protections for transgender people. This agenda has deeply impacted various government agencies and policies.
From the first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order defining federal recognition of sex strictly as two biological sexes assigned at birth, denying the existence of gender transition or nonbinary identities. This policy directed federal agencies to refuse recognition of transgender people’s gender identities, restricting access to identity documents like passports, visas, and Global Entry cards that affirm a person’s gender identity rather than their birth sex.
The administration has targeted transgender healthcare by excluding coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender youth from federal health insurance programs. Hospitals and doctors faced threats and subpoenas regarding treatment of transgender minors, leading some institutions to stop providing gender-affirming surgeries and certain medications. This has exacerbated obstacles for transgender youth, with some states able to ban gender-affirming care for minors, supported ultimately by the Supreme Court.
Policies mandated that transgender people are prohibited from using restrooms and other facilities on federal property according to their gender identity, forcing alignment with birth sex instead. The administration sought to "correct" what it called misapplications of Supreme Court rulings that protect LGBTQ employees, effectively weakening anti-discrimination protections within federal agencies and workplaces.
A memorandum required all federal agencies to purge recognition of gender identity from their operations, reinforcing a rigid, binary sex classification across federal departments. The Department of Energy issued a suggested regulation in May that would limit trans people from playing sports and eliminate sex discrimination protections for students in education programs.
Public messaging and political commitments included plans to outlaw gender-affirming care for minors nationwide, ban transgender athletes from participating on teams that align with their gender identity, and legislate recognition of only two sexes defined at birth. These stances have also been strongly interwoven with opposition to inclusion programs in schools and cutting federal funding for LGBTQ-inclusive education.
These policies have fostered fear and exclusion among transgender Americans, significantly restricting their rights and day-to-day life opportunities. The Department of Agriculture sent letters to states demanding compliance with Title IX, which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males. The administration ended services on the 988 hotline that provided experts familiar with LGBTQ+ issues to phone users.
The administration's all-government effort is a priority, according to White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai, who said it is about restoring common sense and rejecting the radical ideology that paved the way for irreversible child mutilation procedures and the undermining of girls' sports by biological men across the country. However, experts fear these policies might lead to widespread crackdowns on personal and medical choices.
The Department of Justice issued subpoenas to more than 20 providers of this kind of care, whom it has not named. The administration has also sued states for allowing trans athletes to play on high school sports teams, dropped Fair Housing investigations, ended reimbursements by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for state and local agencies investigating gender identity claims, and issued transgender-specific communications and policies in agencies such as the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Transportation.
The administration's efforts on transgender issues are a concern for some experts who fear they might lead to widespread crackdowns on personal and medical choices. Pages that mentioned trans people were quickly removed from government websites, including at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the US Department of Health and Human Services. The administration threatened California's state funding because its sex education program includes gender identity.
A Pew Research Center survey found that more than half of adults support policies that protect trans people from discrimination. The recent AP/NORC poll found that more Americans approve of Trump's handling of trans issues than his overall performance as president, with about two-thirds also saying that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex assigned at birth.
Sources: [1] ABC News, "Trump Administration's Transgender Policy: A Comprehensive Look," https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administrations-transgender-policy-comprehensive-look/story?id=64758258 [2] The Hill, "Trump administration's transgender policies face legal challenges," https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/467321-trump-administrations-transgender-policies-face-legal-challenges [3] The New York Times, "Trump Administration to Limit Transgender People in Sports," https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/us/politics/transgender-sports-trump-administration.html [4] The Washington Post, "Trump administration to eliminate sex discrimination protections for transgender students," https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/05/24/trump-administration-eliminate-sex-discrimination-protections-transgender-students/ [5] The Guardian, "Trump administration plans to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military," https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/26/trump-administration-ban-transgender-military-service
- Despite concerns from mental health professionals, the Trump administration's policies on transgender rights have been largely focused on restricting access to health-and-wellness services, such as gender-affirming care for youth, potentially exacerbating mental health issues within the transgender community.
- The administration's efforts in politics and science have aimed to enforce a strict, binary definition of sex and deny the existence of gender transition or nonbinary identities, impacting mental-health, health, and general-news discussions, and contributing to war-and-conflicts debates over inclusion and basic rights.
- In addition to targeting healthcare, the administration's initiatives have also sought to restrict transgender people's access to various facilities, such as restrooms, on federal property, which may further impact their mental health and overall well-being.
- The administration's policies on crime-and-justice, including the Department of Justice's subpoenas to providers of transgender healthcare, have raised concerns among experts that these actions could lead to a broader crackdown on personal and medical choices, potentially putting transgender individuals at greater risk for violence and discrimination.
