On January 20th of 2025, the first day  President Trump was in office, he signed an Executive Order- the order, officially called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” It has the goal of protecting women by, in short, invalidating the identities of transgender individuals and brushing their gender off as “gender ideology.” The order only recognizes two genders, that being male and female, and that those two genders are determined by what’s in an individual’s pants. The executive order also undoes other White House documents, such as “The White House Toolkit on Transgender Equality,” “U.S. Department of Education Toolkit: Creating Inclusive and Nondiscriminatory School Environments for LGBTQI+ Students,” and “Supporting Intersex Students: A Resource for Students, Families, and Educators.”

The order says in the last paragraph of section 1 that the language will be clear and concise. After all, Trump says what he means and means what he says. Okay! Let’s look at this together, shall we?

In section 2 part D and E, it says: “female/male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.”

Alright, well there’s already a problem there. At conception, we’re all just a fertilized egg- no genitalia to be seen. We don’t actually get our biological sex developed until we’re 6-7 weeks in development. So, what does this mean? Well, according to the National Library of Medicine, fetuses are all phenotypically female, if not anything at all. It’s only after these 6-7 weeks in development that the Y chromosome starts to develop. By saying that we’re the gender that belongs to us at conception, he’s basically stating that we are all phenotypically female.

So congrats, Donald Trump! You’re officially our first female president!

But in all seriousness, this new executive order is deeply terrifying for all transgender individuals living in the United States right now. The stereotype that trans people, more specifically transgender women, are transitioning to perve on the gender of their choice is nothing more than that- a stereotype. By pushing this type of panic, it increases the ever growing violence against an already targeted group of people. There’s about 3 million people in the United States that identify as transgender- which seems like a lot, until you realize that’s only about 1.14% of the adult population. And of these 1.14% of people who are transgender, they are 2.5x more likely to experience violence than the average cisgender person. What’s even worse is that in 2021, 56 trans people were killed. Of those 56 people, black trans women were 3/4ths of the victims. 

Also, something that this bill seems to forget is that intersex people, born with both functional genitalia, exist. What are they supposed to do? Choose a side? Intersex individuals typically have traits of the two other sexes. Should they choose with one they look most like? Or the side that has the most hormones? This in itself can cause so many problems, given that 1 in 100 Americans are intersex according to the Cleveland Clinic. Another executive order Trump signed on January 28th called “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” should, in theory, suggest that surgeries done on infants to reassign their intersex genitalia to a binary are illegal now, right? Why, of course not! The order focuses partly on taking away HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for minors, and partly on the very rare case of minors getting sex-reassignment surgery. Nowhere in the order does it address the mutilation of intersex individuals at birth. 

So, within all of this chaos, what can we do? It’s kind of a loaded question. Sometimes it feels like everything is hopeless. But, no matter how bad it gets, there’s always a way to help make it a little easier. For my cisgender readers out there, check up on your transgender friends. Don’t try to force the topic of what’s going on right now. Some people don’t want to talk about that as of right now, and that’s okay. Given that transgender youth is at a much higher rate for suicide, a simple “Hey! How are you?” could mean so much, just as it would with any other person. 

Another thing to do is ask what a person’s preferred pronouns are, no matter whether or not you think they look a certain way. As a transgender man myself, I struggle with asking for pronouns. But, whenever someone asks me, I feel a lot more comfortable and welcome in whatever space I’m in. Slip ups are natural, but as long as you actually make an effort, most people will understand. Also, if you see someone getting harassed based on their gender, do something! It doesn’t have to be a huge gesture, but telling a trusted adult or checking up on whoever the victim was and talking to them can be a huge step in stopping hatred.

And for my transgender readers out there, stand up for yourself. It’s a scary world out there right now, but we can’t let ourselves be beaten down. If someone uses your birth name, correct them. Don’t engage with people who can’t even refer to you in the way you’d like. Obviously don’t risk your life- but if you feel brave enough, take that jump in being your authentic self. And if you’re not ready, that’s okay! Do whatever you can to make yourself safe and comfortable in these times. It’s okay to feel hurt, scared, angry, and all these other emotions that feel bad. But, if you can, vent your frustrations through healthy mediums. One way I get these frustrations out is through art. You don’t have to be good at the general things considered art- in fact, you don’t have to be good at art in general! Some people aren’t good at poetry, so they draw. Others may not be good at drawing, so they make music. Some people don’t like making music, so they make zines. However you may go about it, your voice is needed now more than ever. 

Be safe, be kind, but don’t take disrespect from anybody.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222286/#:~:text=During%20early%20development%20the%20gonads,the%20development%20of%20the%20testes.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/

https://apnews.com/article/trump-transgender-passports-prisons-eggs-sperm-da1d1d280658a8c85c57cfec2f30cefb

https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117016/documents/HMKP-118-JU00-20240321-SD011.pdf

https://blindinjusticeblog.com/2019/09/10/transgender-stereotypes/

https://usafacts.org/articles/what-percentage-of-the-us-population-is-transgender/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16324-intersex