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Trump’s first week in office sees flurry of anti-LGBTQ executive actions

Issuance of two orders and rescission of seven specifically targeted the LGBTQ community

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President Donald Trump (Photo via White House/X)

On the first day and in the first week of his second term, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders taking aim specifically at LGBTQ people while rescinding seven actions by the Biden-Harris administration that expanded rights and protections for the community.

As detailed by the Human Rights Campaign, the anti-trans order, titled ā€œDefending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,ā€ would prohibit the federal government from recognizing people and populations whose birth sex does not match their gender identity, while facilitating discrimination against LGBTQ communities “in the workplace, education, housing, healthcare, and more.”

Additionally, the order directs the attorney general to allow “people to refuse to use a transgender or nonbinary personā€™s correct pronouns, and to claim a right to use single-sex bathrooms and other spaces based on sex assigned at birth at any workplace covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federally funded spaces.”

The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security are further instructed to stop issuing documents like passports, visas, and Global Entry cards that conflict with the new, restrictive definition of sex that excludes consideration of trans and gender diverse identities.

The order also would prohibit federal funding, including through grants and contracts, for any content that is believed to promote “gender ideology,” while implementing restrictions on the use of federal resources to collect data on matters concerning gender identity.

There would also be consequences for particularly vulnerable populations, such as rules prohibiting trans women from accessing domestic violence shelters, forcing trans women to be housed with men in prisons and detention facilities, and prohibiting correctional facilities from providing gender affirming healthcare of any kind.

The second executive order targeting LGBTQ people would end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the federal government. HRC points out that “The preamble to the order includes a mention of the Project 2025 trope ‘gender ideology,’ while the language does not actually define DEI ā€” meaning that “confusion and differing understandings of what DEI entails are likely to extend the regulatory process and may, in the meantime, have a chilling effect on any efforts that could potentially be considered ‘DEI.'”

Of the Biden-era executive actions that were repealed, HRC called special attention to “President Bidenā€™s directive to agencies to implement the Supreme Court ruling inĀ Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that Title VIIā€™s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex includes prohibitions of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The organization notes that the ruling, decided in 2020, remains binding precedent.

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The White House

Trump threatens Maine’s Democratic governor over trans athlete ban

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine after the state’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills refused to say that she would enforce his administration’s ban on transgender women and girls competing in sports.

Their brief but heated exchange during a meeting of the National Governors Association at the White House on Friday kicked off when Mills agreed only to abide by “state and federal law” and Trump told her, ā€œWe are the federal law. You better do it because youā€™re not going to get any federal funding if you don’t.”

“See you in court,” Mills responded.

ā€œGood,” Trump agreed, “I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Two days after Trump’s issuance of the executive order”Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” on Feb. 5, the governing body responsible for overseeing high school sports in Maine said trans athletes would still be allowed to compete because the ban was in conflict with provisions of the Maine state Human Rights Act.

The president previewed his proposal to condition federal funding on states’ compliance with the policy during a meeting on Thursday of the Republican Governors Association.

Earlier on Friday, Mills vowed in a statement that ā€œIf the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children from the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides.”

Echoing her comments, the state’s Democratic Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement Friday morning that “Any attempt by the President to cut federal funding in Maine unless transgender athletes are restricted from playing sports would be illegal and in direct violation of court orders.”

ā€œFortunately, though, the rule of law still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend Maineā€™s laws and block efforts by the President to bully and threaten us,” he said.

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The White House

Trump bars trans women and girls from sports

The administration reversed course on the Biden-Harris policy on Title IX

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued another executive order taking aim at the transgender community, this time focusing on eligibility for sports participation.

In a signing ceremony for ā€œKeeping Men Out of Womenā€™s Sports” in the East Room of the White House, the president proclaimed “With this executive order, the war on womenā€™s sports is over.”

Despite the insistence by Trump and Republicans that trans women and girls have a biological advantage in sports over cisgender women and girls, the research has been inconclusive, at best.

A study in the peer reviewed Sports Medicine journal found ā€œno direct or consistent researchā€ pointing to this conclusion. A different review in 2023 found that post-pubertal differences are ā€œreduced, if not erased, over time by gender affirming hormone therapy.ā€

Other critics of efforts to exclude trans student athletes have pointed to the small number of people who are impacted. Charlie Baker, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, testified last year that fewer than 10 of the NCAA’s 522,000+ student athletes identify as trans.

The Trump-Vance administration has reversed course from the Biden-Harris administration’s policy on Title IX rules barring sex-based discrimination.

ā€œIf youā€™re going to have womenā€™s sports, if youā€™re going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that youā€™re going to preserve womenā€™s sports for women,” a White House official said prior to the issuance of the order.

Former President Joe Biden’s Title IX rules, which went into effect last year, clarified that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

The White House official indicated that the administration will consider additional guidance, regulations, and interpretations of Title IX, as well as exploring options to handle noncompliance by threatening federal funding for schools and education programs.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump ā€œdoes expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in womenā€™s sports.ā€

One of the first legislative moves by the new Congress last month was House Republicans’ passage of the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would ban trans women and girls from participating in competitive athletics.

The bill is now before the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a three-seat majority but would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.

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The White House

Trump signs order to restrict gender-affirming health care for minors

HRC and Congressional Equality Caucus denounced the move

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President Donald Trump (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order barring gender-affirming health care for minors, the latest action by the newly seated administration that takes aim at the rights and protections of transgender Americans.

The executive order, which prohibits the federal government from engaging in activities to “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” trans medicine for patients younger than 19, is based on arguments that these treatments lead to financial hardship and regret later in life.

In reality, scientific and medical organizations publish and maintain clinical practice guidelines on gender-affirming care that are based on hundreds of peer reviewed studies assessing the relative risks and benefits associated with each intervention.

ā€œEveryone deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions for themselves and their families ā€” no matter your income, zip code, or health coverage,ā€ said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. ā€œThis executive order is a brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based health care supported by every major medical association in the country.”

Robinson added, “It is deeply unfair to play politics with peopleā€™s lives and strip transgender young people, their families, and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions. Questions about this care should be answered by doctors ā€” not politicians ā€” and decisions must rest with families, doctors, and the patient.ā€

HRC noted that in practical terms, the federal government will effectuate this policy by taking such actions as “removing coverage for gender-affirming care from federal health insurance policies, modifying requirements under the Affordable Care Act, and preventing hospitals or other medical providers who accept Medicare or Medicaid, or who receive federal funding for research or education, from providing gender-affirming care of any kind to people under the age of 19.”

ā€œThis executive order to deny young transgender people access to the evidence-based, medically-necessary and often lifesaving care they need is an attempt by Donald Trump to insert himself into doctorsā€™ offices across the country and override their medical judgment,ā€Ā said U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.

ā€œDecisions about a young personā€™s healthcare belong with the patient, their families, and their doctors,” he added. “Politicians should not be overriding the private medical decisions of any person, period.ā€

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