Trump’s executive orders target trans and non-binary people – DW – 01/22/2025

US President Donald Trump has had a busy first few days in office. He has signed more than 100 executive orders, directives that the president can give to federal agencies and departments without having to consult Congress. Several of them were related to LGBTQ+ rights.

During his inauguration speech, Trump announced that under his leadership, the U.S. government would recognize only two genders. This means the government will not allow non-binary and intersex people, who are neither male nor female, to have their identity reflected on their passports and other official documents.

“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” read the executive order signed by Trump on the first day of his second term. “These sexes cannot be changed and are anchored in a fundamental and incontestable reality.”

The order, titled “Defending Women from Ideological Gender Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” also makes it clear that the US government no longer recognizes the identities of transgender people.

Trump: “false assertion”

“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex are increasingly resorting to coercive legal and social means to allow men to identify as women and gain access to intimate spaces not mixed and activities designed for women”, indicates the presidential directive. States. “It’s wrong.”

This is a “false claim,” according to Trump’s executive order, that people born with a prostate could “identify and thus become female and vice versa.”

There are approximately 1.6 million transgender people in the United States ages 13 and older, according to the Williams Institute of Law School at the University of California, Los Angeles.. The American Medical Association (AMA) supports facilitating gender-affirming health carewhich refers to any medical care that helps people transition to the gender with which they identify.

Receiving this care is important for transgender people; the AMA states that such care “has been associated with dramatic reductions in rates of suicide attempts (and) decreased rates of depression and anxiety.”

No more diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives

Trump also signed an executive order ending all “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives. in federal departments and agencies. According to their supporters, DEI programs ensure that underrepresented groups – whether on the basis of race, gender or other markers – have a fair chance and equal treatment in the workplace . Opponents call DEI initiatives “immoral discrimination schemes” and “public waste,” as Trump’s directive states.

In addition to signing his own executive orders, the American president can also cancel those signed by his predecessor. Trump was removed from office on the first day of his second term a directive from Joe Biden entitled “Preventing and combating discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation”.

He ordered all federal departments to review and, if necessary, revise their policies prohibiting sex discrimination to ensure they also prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ communities. This is no longer valid.

What will be the effects of Trump’s executive orders?

Since 2022, U.S. citizens can select X as their gender marker on their passport instead of M or F for “male” or “female.” It is not yet clear what will happen to passports that currently bear the X mark. But because only two genders are recognized by the Trump administration, people who identify as non-binary or intersex will no longer be able to receive new documents reflecting this identity. It can also be a barrier to recognizing their identity elsewhere, for example at school or work.

Failing to recognize transgender and non-binary identities has many consequences for those affected. Trans people can now not change their sex on government documents to align their ID card with their gender identity. The order also ends the requirement in federal government workplaces that transgender employees be referred to by their preferred pronouns.

Since the government will only recognize a person according to the sex they were assigned at birth, transgender women will be sent to men’s prisons. And transgender employees in federal government departments and agencies will be required to use the bathroom of the gender they were born with, not the one with which they identify.

All DEI officers in federal agencies and departments are on paid leave starting Wednesday as their initiatives will be disrupted.

The repeal of Biden’s executive order means that there are no regulations for employers clearly stating that they cannot discriminate against employees with LGBTQ+ identities. This could include a transgender person trying unsuccessfully to get their employer to refer to them by the pronouns that correspond to their identity, or someone excluded from networking events because they wanted to bring their same-sex spouse.

LGBTQ+ communities, dismayed allies

Even as conservatives see some of their wishes come true thanks to Trump’s executive orders, advocates and allies of the LGBTQ+ communities are dismayed. They say some of their hard-won victories over the past few years are being reversed, something they are not ready to accept.

“We refuse to back down or be intimidated,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights group in the United States. “We are not going anywhere and we will fight these harmful provisions with everything we have.”

Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, is strongly opposed to recently signed regulations stating that gender is binary and immutable.

“No executive action, nor any legislative action, can erase the reality of gender diversity in our society,” McBride, who represents Delaware in the House of Representatives, told US television network NBC.

Editing: Milan Gagnon