Transgender, Nonbinary Community Braces for Challenges after Trump’s Executive Order

Transgender researchers, activists, and community advocates discuss the implications of Trump’s ‘two sexes only’ executive order

By Tanay Gokhale

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order stating that the federal government will only recognize two sexes, male and female. The order is a devastating outcome for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals in the United States.

A January 31 Ethnic Media Services media briefing brought together trans researchers, activists, and community advocates to discuss the challenges that the community will face in the upcoming months.

Access to Resources

Trump’s executive order is expected to have far-reaching impacts on access to and delivery of federal resources and essential services to nearly 1.6 million transgender individuals and 1.2 million non-binary individuals. The panel disagreed that biological sex at conception is the only determinant of a person’s gender, as stated by the executive order.

“The definition of biological sex as at conception is actually biologically ridiculous because there is no sex at conception,” said Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, the Williams Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute, adding that the order “seems to be all about meanness more than anything else.”

He pointed out that traveling is already a challenge for Trans people because they often face harassment in other countries, an ordeal that will be exacerbated by passports that do not align with their actual gender identity. In their home country, the Trans community will face similar hurdles in accessing other federal services such as homeless shelters, and healthcare.

The order halts federal assistance for gender-affirming care for youth and declares that trans women incarcerated in women’s prisons are to be moved to men’s prisons. Both these directives could lead to disastrous health and physical safety outcomes for incarcerated trans individuals and youth who want t gender-affirming care.

The order is facing some resistance

After the announcement, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota sued the Trump administration for its ban on gender-affirming care for individuals below the age of 19. Families of transgender children and doctors followed suit, and two federal judges temporarily blocked the order.

A federal Judge blocked a planned transfer of three Trans women from a women’s to a men’s facility because the move could put them at risk.

“There’s so much uncertainty about what comes next because it’s all going to be bottled up in the court system,” said Jordan Willow Evans, a Republican Trans political leader. “At least to me, as a Republican, absolutely irresponsible governance, to do a rug pull on your own citizens and effectively paralyze the government with indecisiveness until the courts can settle it out.”

“This is a travesty, and it comes purely on the back of a very small and a very marginalized people,” she added.

A Cultural Shift

Panelists were concerned that the order and the administration could cause a wider cultural shift by enabling and galvanizing anti-trans elements of society.

Anti-trans rhetoric can lead to anti-trans violence and hate crimes, said Dr. Meyer. He pointed to research that showed a marked increase in hate crimes in cities that hosted Trump rallies in 2016.

Gael Mateo Jerez-Urquia, who works with the nonprofit San Diego LGBT Community Center said that following the election, her organization witnessed an increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in the San Diego region.

“There was a significant spike in the days following the election and post-election because of Trump’s anti-trans theme throughout his campaign,” they said, “and since then, there has been an even greater increase in anxiety among both young people and adults regarding Trump’s executive orders.”

There was also a 200% increase in LGBTQ youth accessing the national hotline, and 45% of LGBTQ youth are considering fleeing to a different state along with their families, which suggests high levels of anxiety in the community.

Dr. Meyer stressed the importance of research in fostering a more accepting society for transgender, and nonbinary individuals. “Cultural changes happen when there are researchers, when people are writing, (and) when activists are promoting certain views. As a researcher, I would say I’m very, very concerned because the federal government can curtail a lot of sources of information,” he said.

“Undoing of the American Dream” For Transgender Immigrants

The country’s immigrant transgender population has felt the impact of Trump’s executive order and the anti-transgender messaging in his campaign more acutely. India Currents spoke to Shaurya (name changed), a Bay Area-based transgender community organizer activist who asked to be quoted anonymously for fear of retaliation; even though they are now an American citizen, they are wary of attracting any undue attention that would endanger loved ones who are not.

Shaurya explained that many transgender and nonbinary immigrants flee the discrimination and violence in their home countries to find a safe haven in the United States. Even so, this group still faces discrimination and stigma from members of their own country’s diaspora which continues the regressive attitudes from their home country.

“I think the biggest struggle right now is our identity being erased when we say gender is only binary, male or female,” said Shaurya. “You see people who are emboldened now to carry out their biases against vulnerable populations.”

Like many other transgender immigrants in the country, Shaurya came to California seeking sanctuary. Trans immigrants come from all over the country and become important resources for the community, contributing to the economy in various ways. But now Shaurya is observing fear and anxiety within their community, as access to homelessness shelters, healthcare, and other social services becomes more difficult.

“I think it’s just the undoing of the American dream, happening so quickly for trans people who have escaped violence [in their home countries] and come here,” said Shaurya.

They believe now is the time for privileged individuals outside of the vulnerable Trans and nonbinary community to express solidarity with them.

“Call senators, call elected officials, because you have privilege, and you’re less vulnerable if you are not trans right now, and tell them why you support the trans community,” said Shaurya. “And on the most human and individual level, just check in with the Trans people in your life… because most transgender people are feeling very lonely and left behind right now.”

Read: Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump

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Tanay Gokhale is a California Local News Fellow and the Community Reporter at India Currents. Born and raised in Nashik, India, he moved to the United States for graduate study in video journalism after trysts with environmental research and travel writing in India.

Courtesy: India Currents (Posted on Feb 19, 2025)