On his first day in office, Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders that repealed protections for transgender people and athletes across the United States. Earlier this week, he reinforced that stance by stating his administration will recognize only “two sexes, male and female” in federal policy, explicitly excluding “gender identity” that diverges from “biological reality.” Legal experts have noted to the Los Angeles Times that these orders do not mention transgender individuals and conflict with laws in California and other blue states that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. As a result, California appears poised to challenge the Trump administration.
Georgetown Law Professor David Cole, who previously served as the legal director for the ACLU, stated, “In practice, what this order means is that the administration is not only denying that transgender people have rights, but that they exist.” He emphasized that there are about 1.5 million transgender individuals in the United States, a reality that cannot simply be dismissed by an executive order. Similarly, Jennifer Pizer, legal director for Lambda Legal in Los Angeles, believes that these developments will lead to a prolonged legal struggle. “This is an ideological crusade trying to turn the clock back. They are trying to establish the principle that there’s no duty to respect trans people,” she remarked. “Trans people exist. We can’t erase them by writing a new definition.”
Although the implications of Trump’s executive order for California and other states that uphold protections for transgender individuals and athletes remain uncertain, it is evident that a legal confrontation is on the horizon. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law School, observed, “At this point, it is hard to know what [Trump’s order] will mean in California. The executive order by itself applied only to the federal government. The impact on states with different policies is unclear at this point.”
We’ll have to see how it all shakes out.
