Trump’s Revenge: President Trump Slashes Trans Rights on First Day

In his return to the White House, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has issued a devastating decree attacking the rights of transgender Americans.

Just hours after his inauguration in Washington, Trump signed a raft of dramatic executive orders. These included withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, restricting immigration rights, increasing oil and gas drilling, and controversially renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Among these actions, Trump delivered on his promise to target the transgender community and end what he previously described as “transgender lunacy”, issuing a decree titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.

In the order, he claimed that “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”

Key provisions in the order include the federal government defining sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female,” and excluding any concept of gender identity.

The decree mandates that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, reflect an individual’s sex assigned at birth. Additionally, federal agencies must revise or remove all policies, regulations, and forms that include provisions that are inclusive of the transgender community.

Federal funds are also barred from supporting programmes or services that “promote gender ideology.” Prisons are required to house transgender inmates according to their sex assigned at birth, and access to “intimate spaces,” such as bathrooms and changing rooms, must be restricted based on biological sex rather than gender identity.

In response, Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s leading LGBTQ rights organisation, condemned Trump’s order.

“Trump’s executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities,” said Robinson.

She vowed to fight against the erosion of LGBTQ rights under Trump’s administration, stating, “The incoming administration is trying to divide our communities in the hope that we forget what makes us strong.”

Robinson added that, “we refuse to back down or be intimidated. We are not going anywhere, and we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got.”