President Trump signed executive orders on Monday asserting that the U.S. government recognizes only two genders that are “not fluid,” reversing the Biden administration’s guidance on LGBTQ+ rights.
One of the new decisions says that “male” and “female” are defined based on reproductive cells and at the time a person is conceived, and states that government-issued identifiers such as passports and visas must reflect that definition. In recent years, the US had begun allowing people to select a third option, X, on passports to indicate an unspecified or other gender identity.
Trump’s directive also calls on federal agencies to eliminate any statements or policies “that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology,” which it defines as “an ever-changing concept of self-assessed gender identity that enables the false claim that men can identify as and thus become female and vice versa.”
Federal agencies will “enforce laws regulating sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically different sexes,” the order states, saying such measures were necessary to prevent men from gaining access to ” intimate sexes of the same sex’. spaces” for women.
It also directs federal officials to ensure that people it defines as men are not housed in women’s prisons or detention centers. Additionally, the executive order calls on the Attorney General to block the use of federal funding for medical treatment or gender transition procedures for prisoners.
Kellan Baker, executive director of the Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker, an organization focused on LGBTQ+ health equity, noted that the order did not appear to make any distinction based on whether someone had medically transitioned pursued or had changed his identity. documents.
“It seems like it’s trying to wave a federal policy wand and make transgender people disappear — which is an impossibility,” Baker said.
Baker said the detention policy changes are not immediate and must proceed through the federal rulemaking process. But if this were to happen, he said, it could put transgender people in federal custody, especially transgender women, in grave danger.
Under a broader order that reversed dozens of executive orders issued under then-President Biden, Trump also reversed a trio of orders on LGBTQ+ rights, including one that directed federal agency leaders to revise their rules against sex discrimination to ensure to ensure that people receive equal treatment under the law, “regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
The Trump administration will likely face challenges over the executive actions. Kevin Jennings, CEO of the LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Lambda Legal, said in a statement that many of the changes called for in the executive orders will take time to roll out, but “we will monitor closely and be prepared to challenge when they occur. effect.”
“We are exploring every legal avenue to challenge these unlawful and unconstitutional actions,” Jennings said.
During his campaign, Trump attacked “left-wing gender mania” and then-Vice President Kamala Harris hammered the idea of providing gender-affirming care to federal prisoners. He said he would push to block the use of federal funds for medical care involved in gender transition, including surgical procedures.
Trump also stated that he would seek to remove health care providers from the Medicaid and Medicare programs if they provide gender-affirming care to young people, which he calls “mutilation” — a move that experts said could cut off hospitals and clinics from critical flows. of federal funding.
The executive order issued Monday does not broadly address medical care involved in gender transition, beyond restrictions involving prisoners, although experts said changes in how sex discrimination laws are interpreted could strengthen protections for transgender patients could become weaker. The Biden administration had previously implemented federal regulations that provided broad protections against discrimination based on gender identity by federally funded health care facilities.
The American Medical Assn. has expressed support for increasing access to gender-affirming care, calling it “an important tool to improve health outcomes for the transgender population” and saying it supports both public and private insurance coverage for the treatment of gender dysphoria. The American Psychological Assn. has also opposed a ban on such care.
Sign up for Essential California to get news, features, recommendations from the LA Times and more delivered to your inbox six days a week.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.