Over the past three weeks, President Donald Trump has signed several executive orders specifically aimed toward revoking and restricting the rights of transgender Americans. Trump’s orders are an extension of campaigns he set in place during his first term as president.
On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order defining sex as male and female and limiting it to the one assigned at birth. The executive order itself does not hold much power, but Trump’s administration has made moves to begin signing many of the order’s policies into bills that could then become law. The order calls for federally administered documents to reflect citizen’s sex assigned at birth and even for transgender female inmates to be transferred to male prisons. However, District Judge Royce Lambert ruled, in a lawsuit filed by three transgender inmates, that the inmates had a right to remain in the prison they were currently housed in, signifying a fight against Trump’s executive order.
On January 28th, President Trump signed an executive order which stated, “the United States…will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” Trump’s executive order has aimed to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care through Medicare and Medicaid, as well as banning institutions which receive federal research and education grants from providing gender affirming care to children, which for the purposes of this bill, are defined as individuals under the age of 19 years old. Agency leaders will have 60 days to submit progress reports to the Trump administration about their progress in implementing the executive order.
On February 4th, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender female athletes from competing in sports competitions. To ensure compliance with the order, the order states that any schools which continue to allow transgender female athletes to participate in sports will have federal funding cut. On the same day the order was signed, the NCAA moved to ban transgender female athletes from competing at the collegiate level in sports.
Trump holding up the signed “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order, via NPR
As Trump’s executive orders and its policies are being put into place, several states and other individuals have already moved to file lawsuits over many of Trump’s orders. Three states, including Washington, have already made moves to file a lawsuit for Trump’s order banning affirming care for minors. More lawsuits are sure to follow as Trump continues issuing executive orders.
Before Trump returned to office, the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear oral arguments on December 4th, 2024 for the case of US v. Skrmetti. The case centers on a Tennessee bill that banned gender-affirming health care for minors, much like Trump’s executive order. The ban has been upheld in a 6th Circuit court before being appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will ultimately determine if the right of minors in America to receive gender affirming care is protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States. While a decision on the case has not yet been reached, it is anticipated that one will come out some time by the summer of 2025. If the ban is upheld by the Supreme Court, it is likely that other states will follow suit due to the precedent the Supreme Court would set. This case is similar to many of the pivotal cases we have been covering in class as it relates to civil liberties, in this case, the Supreme Court will determine if the protections guaranteed by the U.S.’ constitution also apply to the right of minors to receive gender-affirming care.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-order-transgender-athletes-womens-sports.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-rights-lawsuits-challenge-trump-policies/
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5279092/trump-executive-order-gender-affirming-care
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgezz0k3mno
4 comments:
We'll see how the Supreme Court cases plays out, but for now, with the limited definitions of sex, it will at least be interesting to see what definition of 'sex' is used in the final decision -- the new definition as stated under the Trump administration or the one in the Merriam Websters Dictionary (that's a Scalia reference -- see MCI v. AT&T and FCC v. AT&T).
Anyways, Executive Orders (in my mind at least) are/were a tool that could help the "reasonable juror" live their life. For example, with Biden mandating DEI rules in employment practices, it can be reasonably assumed that the average person benefited whether directly or indirectly by such a practice. However, with this Transgender EO, disregarding the merits of the base on which this pillar stands, in my view, "any reasonable juror" can conclude that this order does nothing to help lower the price of eggs and really only singes out and demeans the transgender community.
With that being said, besides subjecting those that consider themselves transgender to even more anguish than is already happening, this EO seems to be a political move rather than an economic or social move -- Trump and his administration gain easy political points (and make the LGBTQ community despise him even more) by pushing down an already minority group.
Maybe that's just how the spoils system goes.
Transgender youth and adults are very vulnerable to mental health challenges due to the nature of the stigmas and discrimination they face in society. These discriminatory, hateful orders will devastate this already marginalized and underserved community. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a direct correlation between the decrease/bans in gender affirming care coverage and discriminatory laws such as that signed, and the impacts across the community for mental health declines, hate crimes, ect.
Trump's executive orders targeting transgender rights are unfair and completely unnecessary. It feels like he's going out of his way to take rights away from a group that's already vulnerable, instead of focusing on actual issues that impact all Americans. Banning gender-affirming care and forcing transgender people to use documents that don't match their identity is cruel and ignores the fact that this kind of care is supported by major medical organizations. I know from more recent news that on February 13, 2025, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of the executive order that attempted to withhold federal funds from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors. This proves that legal challenges to Trump's executive orders have been somewhat effective in allowing for temporary halts in enforcement, but it's really up to ongoing court proceedings to see if these orders can be halted in the long-run.
I don't understand what gives him the means nor drive to do this. I don't see why he sees how these executive orders are of priority right now, nor do I see how this is even able to be done. I'd like to take comfort in the fact that he can be stopped, but as we know, protections provided by the constitution are often open to interpretation. Furthermore, look at the CRA--gender and sex are not the same, and therefore not both a protected class under the CRA. As a result of these actions, transgender youth and adults are living in fear, vulnerable to mental and physical health issues. They may even put themselves in danger if they are unable to face medical care, specifically gender affirming care. These actions are nothing but means for trans people to face discrimination in their daily lives, and feel as though their rights are being stripped away from them.
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