Since the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20, numerous executive orders attacking the rights of trans Americans have been signed and implemented. Each one of these orders has essentially placed a bullseye on the backs of millions of queer, trans and gender-nonconforming Americans who want nothing more than to go about their day-to-day lives without fear of being verbally or physically assaulted or berated.
On his first day in office, Trump signed the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order, mandating that all federal agencies must define gender strictly based on biological sex assigned at birth.
The order states:
“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers … This unhealthy road is paved by an ongoing and purposeful attack against the ordinary and longstanding use and understanding of biological and scientific terms, replacing the immutable biological reality of sex with an internal, fluid, and subjective sense of self unmoored from biological facts. Invalidating the true and biological category of ‘woman’ improperly transforms laws and policies designed to protect sex-based opportunities into laws and policies that undermine them, replacing long standing, cherished legal rights and values with an identity-based, inchoate social concept.”
Other than being filled with random SAT-level vocabulary words in an attempt to paint the Commander in Chief as articulate and intelligent (when has Trump ever used words like “inchoate” or “immutable?”), the order also states federal documents, including passports and visas, no longer allow individuals to self-select their gender identity. Furthermore, Trump’s first order also restricts trans individuals from accessing single-sex facilities aligning with their gender identity in federally funded spaces.
Trans folks are already feeling the impact of this policy — in fact, HBO Euphoria star and openly trans actress Hunter Schafer took to TikTok to show her renewed passport changed her gender marker from the “F” for female to “M” for male, despite her other documents having the female marker since her transition.
“My initial reaction to this, because our president is a lot of talk, was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ … and today I saw it on my new passport,” she said. “I’m not making this post to fearmonger, or to create drama or receive consolation. I don’t need it. But I do think it’s worth posting to sort of note the reality of the situation — I was shocked … I guess I’m just sort of scared of the way this stuff gets slowly implemented because things just sort of start happening, as we’ve seen in historical rises in fascism. I just feel like it’s important to share that it’s not just talk.”
A week after his first order targeting trans folks, Trump reinstated his policy barring trans individuals from serving in the U.S. military. The administration justified this ban by asserting that being transgender is incompatible with the military’s standards of honor and discipline.
The verbiage of this order likens identifying as trans to “many mental and physical health conditions” which are “incompatible with active duty,” including conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment, bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidal tendencies and conditions requiring prior psychiatric hospitalization.
“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the order states. “Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
Just a day later, Trump moved his executive attacks onto trans youth with the “Protect Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order, in an attempt to eliminate federal support for gender-affirming medical treatments for minors.
This life-saving treatment for trans youth has been barred in North Carolina since 2023 with House Bill 808, which also banned the use of state funds and Medicaid dollars from being used for such care, directly or indirectly. Doctors providing such care could face civil penalties and lose their medical licenses under the new law.
The Trump order, however, has made it more difficult for trans youth in North Carolina and other states with similar bans to travel to receive care. Hospital systems across the country have started to halt patient intakes, and some have even stopped providing any form of gender-affirming treatment to youth out of fear of losing federal funding.
On Feb. 5, Trump signed yet another order: the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in female sports at federally-funded schools and institutions. If athletic organizations or schools refuse to adhere to the Trump order, they run the risk of being in violation of Title IX, which could jeopardize access to federal funding.
This policy has faced legal challenges from transgender athletes and advocacy groups, arguing the order itself is a Title IX violation as it enshrines discrimination into national policy.
These executive orders have sparked numerous lawsuits from civil rights organizations and state governments. For instance, San Francisco-based health and LGBTQ+ rights groups have filed federal lawsuits challenging the administration’s actions, asserting that they violate constitutional rights and endanger essential services for transgender and non-binary communities.
As legal battles continue, the future of these executive orders remains uncertain. The outcomes of these challenges will significantly influence the rights and recognition of transgender individuals in the United States.
North Carolina’s own history with legislative attacks against trans folks
In regard to trans issues, North Carolina has had its own time on the wrong side of history spotlight when the GOP moved to pass House Bill 2 (HB2), which barred trans folks from using the bathroom correlating with their gender identity. Back then, the ban brought extensive backlash to the state — most specifically in the form of losing nearly $4 billion in economic development.
The General Assembly quickly moved to revise the bill to remove the language regarding trans folks and bathrooms, but nine years later, the song hasn’t just changed its tune — it’s completely changed genres. Trump’s approval of policies targeting and attacking trans Americans sends the message to North Carolina Republicans that they were “right all along,” and if you think that’s an exaggeration, take it from the mouth of Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party.
“It’s a vindication that North Carolina legislators were right to confront this issue, and it’s unfortunate that it took seeing women athletes injured or defeated to raise the alarms that biological males do not belong in women’s spaces or sports,” Mercer said. “This is a 70/30 (polling) issue right now because it’s rooted in what most people believe to be right versus wrong.”
Republicans in North Carolina are feeling vindicated, validated and those who lost their political careers due to the HB2 backlash are now praised within the party as martyrs for a cause. Now, they’re aiming to strip the powers of fellow elected officials who oppose their agenda.
North Carolina’s attorney general has the ability to sue the federal government and throughout the state’s history, the attorney general has maintained that power to serve as a check and balance to the federal government.
In fact, current N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson (a Mecklenburg-based progressive Democrat) has filed four lawsuits against the Trump administration over executive orders regarding freezing federal funds, revoking funds from health care institutions, financial data privacy and birthright citizenship.
However, with a gerrymandered, Republican and MAGA-loyalist General Assembly majority, North Carolina GOP leaders are atempting to strip Jackson’s power through their own proposed bill. Their goal: Make it impossible for Jackson or other elected Democrats to do the job they were sent to do.
“The attorney general has had that ability and that authority in the past, and it’s only by recent action that this power is being taken away without any clear, concrete reasons other than to try to push a specific agenda,” N.C. Rep. Renée Price (D-Caswell, Orange) said in a recent interview with The Daily Tar Heel. “I appreciate having different points of view, and I like to listen to people who come from a different background. However, what’s happening right now is more retaliation.”
North Carolina Republicans are just getting started, and with four more years until there’s potential for national reprieve from the MAGA agenda, we need to do everything in our power to voice opposition to their attempts to strip our individual rights.
No matter if your representative has a “D” or “R” next to their name, contact their office. Send a letter. Fax their legislative assistant. Tell them just how these policies have harmed North Carolinians in the past, and nine years passing isn’t going to change that. If you are able to and have the resources, the North Carolina General Assembly falls under open meetings law and all votes must be taken in open session and be made available to the public. You are allowed to attend these meetings, and you are allowed to submit comments on proposed bills. Often, bills will have to go through committees before being voted on, and those committees will receive public comment. Speak at those meetings and let your voice be heard.