Erasing transgender people in the land of the (not so) free.
The newly-reelected president of the United States of America, TV personality and convicted felon Donald J. Trump, pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” on day one of his presidency, as if one person’s policy can actually change other people’s sexual orientation and gender identity, or even gender expression.
Speaking at the AmericaFest 2024 conference of young right-wing extremists, Trump stated: “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military, and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.”
As FYI: transgender people had a contentious relationship with the US military – e.g. from 2016, they were allowed to serve using their chosen gender UPON completing transition; from 2018, they could only enlist if they were “stable” in their chosen gender for 18 months; and from 2019, they were expected to be stable for 36 months. From 2021, however, all the restrictions were removed, and medical care for transitioning service members was provided by the military, along with the handling of changing the official records.
Continuing his attack on transgender people, Trump similarly pledged to keep them out of sports, stressing that US will only stick to the gender binary of male and female. “It will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
But typical of Trump’s hate-filled motherhood statements that trigger his ultra-conservative fanatics, interrelationships were not tackled by the TV character – e.g. how this could also impact intersex people.
Trump was president from 2016, but lost to Biden in his reelection bid in 2020. He then won over Vice President Kamala Harris this 2024.
