Transgender kids and parents from across Texas protested against laws denying gender affirming care for minors at the state Capitol. SCREEN SHOT, VICE VIDEO.
“When they’re going after trans people, with their right hand they’re picking the pocket of American workers, they’re fleecing seniors, they’re undermining unions. And this is all part of that politics of misdirection and distraction and division.” – Rep. Sarah McBride
The massive disruption we have seen since Trump took office is being led by the billionaires behind Project 2025, using Trump to do it. Trump’s flurry of executive orders is designed to overwhelm, demoralize, disorient and strike fear into the American People. The immediate attack is aimed primarily at transgender people, immigrants, Black Americans, and other marginalized communities.
With regard to gender issues, one of Trump’s first signed orders states: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” It orders federal agencies to “enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations” using this narrow definition of gender, and to “end the Federal funding of gender ideology.” Gender-affirming care for minors is threatened. It is being characterized as “child abuse” to sound more empathetic. By referring to gender affirming care as ‘gender ideology’ this non-scientific terminology does not recognize the diversity of human biology, but makes it sound like a belief system. “
Some of the most immediate impacts will likely be felt by the more than 2,000 transgender people currently held in federal custody. The order calls for forcing transgender women into men’s prisons and detention centers, putting them at a severely heightened risk of sexual assault”, says the ACLU. The order also mandates withdrawing trans health care from incarcerated people. Other effects on trans people include being unable to change gender on documents, and being banned from the military.
Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly trans member of Congress, has stated, “When they’re going after trans people, with their right hand they’re picking the pocket of American workers, they’re fleecing seniors, they’re undermining unions. And this is all part of that politics of misdirection and distraction and division.”
Andrea Ritchie, the co-founder of Interrupting Criminalization, said, “We owe it to trans youth and communities to push back with all our might, to refuse to deny care, to challenge administrators who try to shut it down, to support providers under attack, and to contribute to mutual aid efforts that will ensure continuity of care.” We all need to see that defending LGBTQ+ people from harm is in the best interests of all of us.
Karel Riley works with the People’s Tribune, and its bilingual sister publication, Tribuno del Pueblo, as a writer and contributor on human rights and women’s issues. “I’ve been a feminist since early adulthood. As a clerical worker, I joined a union drive with AFSCME seeking comparable wages to men for female-dominated jobs, and we were partially successful. In the mid-80’s our union participated in the historic Hormel strike in Minnesota. Later, I joined others in support of a local welfare rights organization,” she says.
