0
0
Reader’s Discretion Advised:
This piece discusses sensitive and potentially controversial topics related to political policies, social issues, and marginalized communities. Reader discretion is advised.
On Inauguration Day, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order targeting transgender rights, asserting that there are only two genders — male and female, — biological sex is determined at birth, and cannot be altered. For many transgender people in the U.S. and around the world, this action deepened their fear and threatened uncertainty.
The US-based trans+ helpline, ‘The Trevor Project,’ reported a 33% increase in calls to its emergency crisis line on Inauguration Day. Anxiety is likely higher within the transgender community, as the percentage does not include the people who didn’t feel safe, didn’t have time, or have the resources to make such a phone call.
Individuals legally registered to receive gender-reaffirming therapy within the transgender community comprise less than 1% of the total US population. While this number is relatively small in the broader context, this statistic does not account for trans+ individuals who aren’t publicly out and are not accessing medical care.
Trump’s Executive Order, along with his long-standing stance on trans+ rights, appears to be a direct attack on the trans+ community. Following drastic reductions in mental health support funding under his administration, the impact on the trans+ community will only worsen. Among many other issues surrounding security, the US economy, and society, his immediate focus on restricting gender expression to ‘male’ and ‘female’ — coupled with the lack of public recognition of this as a hate crime — is deeply concerning.
Hunter Schafer, a transgender actress, was recently issued a male passport, despite having been previously listed as female and identifying as such her whole life. Prior to Trump’s second inauguration, US citizens could request for an ‘X’ as a gender designation on their passport. Under the new administration, this is no longer possible. As a result, many trans+ people who have legally changed their gender on their medical records will, once again, be forcefully misgendered.
Schafer expressed her disappointment and anger with Trump’s new policies via TikTok, sharing her fears of facing potential difficulties and additional questioning over her gender identity while traveling. “I will always be a trans woman. We will never stop existing,” Schafer stated.
While hostility toward trans+ individuals existed before to Trump’s return to power, the passage of the Executive Order fostered a toxic and unsafe environment for both members and allies of the trans+ community.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a key figure in Trump’s government, spurring controversy over his open embrace of far-right ideology and public disownment his transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson. According to the billionaire, Wilson was “tricked” into consenting to trans-related medical care for her when she was 16.
In response, Wilson accused her father of actively misgendering her and subjecting her to cruel treatment since childhood. Furthermore, Musk’s prejudice intensified after Wilson began dressing femininely and came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She claimed in a public interview that Musk was an absent father throughout her life and expressed her intent to sever all connections with him.
Given the billionaire’s close ties with Trump’s electoral campaign, his financial support, and his public endorsement of German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the Germany’s February general elections, Musk’s growing political impact is alarming. It is disheartening to see those wielding immense socio-political and economic power holding discriminatory values against their own children.
Social norms aside, Trump’s Executive Order recognising only two genders is biologically inaccurate. In rebuttal to this rhetoric, Dr. Eve Feinberg from Northwestern University compared it to the claim that there are only two types of cancer. Given this, the dangers posed by Trump’s cabinet to several marginalized communities, including the trans+ community, the broader LGBTQ+ community, and Black and minority ethnic groups, will only continue if left unchallenged by the opposition, or even from within the party.
Edited by Zhanserik Temirtashev
Image: “people walking on road” by Delia Giandeini, 2019 via Unsplash
Average Rating