What is the context?
Donald Trump ends several policies protecting LGBTQ+ rights, starting with the new government which no longer recognizes non-binary identities
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US President Donald Trump announced that his government recognizes only two sexes – men and women – as he began his second term by repealing a series of protections for LGBTQ+ people across the United States.
The decree requires the government to use only the term “sex” rather than “gender” in official documents and ends the recognition of gender identities outside of the binary.
“This week, I will also end the government’s policy of attempting to socially integrate race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said during his inauguration speech Monday.
LGBTQ+ advocates and allies describe the Trump administration as harmful to the community, citing its promised policies against gender-affirming care and education in schools.
Here’s what you need to know.
What has Trump committed to doing on LGBTQ+ rights?
Trump began his second term by signing a number of executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ rights, including recognize two sexesa blow to non-binary Americans who identify as neither men nor women.
Former President Joe Biden introduced a gender-neutral policy. “X” marker in passports during his presidency.
The new executive order also states that federal funds will not be used for “promote gender identity“, government guidance documents on trans issues will be removed and trans prisoners will not be held in women’s prisons.
Trump also signed an order ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) across the federal government, and all government personnel working on such programs have been placed on immediate administrative leave.
The orders are consistent with Trump’s election campaign, during which he pledged to “protect children from left-wing gender madness“.
He also promised to ban gender-affirming health care for trans minors and the participation of trans female athletes in women’s sport, with the aim of “keeping men out of women’s sport”.
Under this plan, any clinician who provides trans health care to minors will be excluded from the Medicare and Medicaid benefit systems. Teachers who suggest to children that they might have a gender identity different from their biological sex will face “serious consequences”.
Parents will be able to control what their children learn in school, he says, with Trump promising to cut federal funding for any school that promotes “gender ideology” or other “inappropriate” content for children.
What is Trump’s record on LGBTQ+ rights?
During his first presidency, Trump sought to roll back anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in various contexts, including health care, job, adoptionschool toilets, accommodation And homeless shelters.
Many included religion-based exemptions that would allow LGBTQ+ people to be excluded on grounds of faith.
The first Trump administration also banned trans Americans from serving in the military — a policy Biden reversed — and removed LGBTQ+ content from federal websites.
He reassigned the post of US special envoy for LGBTQ+ rights so that he remained vacant through 2021, according to the U.S. State Department.
All references to LGBTQ+ people were removed in a 2020 draft update to USAID policy, and repeated cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were highlighted in Trump’s budget proposals.
By the end of his first term, nearly a third of US court judges were Trump’s lifetime appointees – including 40% had demonstrable anti-LGBTQ+ bias, according to an analysis by Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ rights organization, found in January 2021.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump spent millions of dollars on online and television ads aimed at fueling misinformation about his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris’s policies on trans issues.
What did LGBTQ+ groups say?
Several LGBTQ+ organizations have spoken out against Trump’s planned actions and their negative impact on LGBTQ+ people across the country.
His anti-transgender executive order “and others like it…targeting the transgender and non-binary community from day one will cause harm, especially to young people,” said Janson Wu of the Trevor Project, a community charity. suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ people. people.
Many groups, including American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human rights campaign (HRC), are committed to mobilizing their networks to fight against political changes.
“Any attack on our rights threatens the rights of anyone who does not fit the narrow vision of how they should look and act,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“The new administration is trying to divide our communities in hopes that we forget what makes us strong. But we refuse to back down or be intimidated.
“We are not going anywhere and we will fight these harmful provisions with everything we have.”
This article was updated on January 22, 2025 to include the latest developments.
(Reporting by Lucy Middleton; editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa.)
