In his Presidential inauguration address on January 20💎, Donald Trump stated that the “golden age” of America has begun. While he proudly proclaimed that the day he was sworn in will be recognised as “Liberation Day”, ironically, his words were aimed at curbing the liberties of a large section of American citizens. Among the many drastic measures he announced, was the declaration that henceforth, the American government shall only recognise two genders—male and female. To this end, he signed an executive order titled, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
Under the pretext of women’s rights🐻, the order seeks to eliminate the recognition of openly queer persons by law, especially those who belong to the transgender or intersex communities. This has caused a furore not only in the US but across the globe, among advocates of queer and trans rights. Such was the impact, that Right Reverend Mariann Budde—the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC who gave the sermon at the inaugural prayer service—made an appeal to the President to “have mercy upon the people in the country who are scared now.” In her concluding words from the pulpit, she stated, “There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
ꦓThe implications of this order are already being seen in the US. A week after being sworn in, Trump has signed orders to revise the government policy on transgender troops, which in the future, can turn into a ban on their recruitment in the military. Furthermore, the executive order also mandates that the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security ensure that “males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.” Organisations like Human Rights Watch have pointed to the grave danger of gender-based violence that this order is pushing trans communities into.
ཧR Santorini (name changed), 41, a Ph.D candidate from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, says that this order has made people like them from the LGBTQIA+ community “mad and sad”. “Those who don’t know anything get to make these decisions on behalf of us. This order is based in traditionalist fantasy, not biological reality,” they say. Santorini has been in Taipei, Taiwan, for their research and fieldwork for more than a year now. “It has been quite upsetting and triggering for me to travel abroad with documentation that has my dead name in it.” When President Trump ordered changes to government-issued documents like passports, visas and global entry cards in accordance with the sex-binary, Santorini felt both relief and guilt to have not yet updated their travel documents with an “X” gender-marker.
෴On the question about what gender they identify as, they say, “My hesitation about coming out as non-binary was partially social, and partially rooted in problems with the label itself as a definition from the negative.” Santorini has been out as bisexual/queer since they were 21. In 2021, they came out as non-binary. At that juncture, they felt safe to do so and thought it was important to come out, as representation and visibility are crucial to inspire confidence and safety in future generations. “However, it no longer feels so safe for people to come out as queer,” they rue.
༒For Santorini, it took a long time to come to terms with their gender identity. It was relatively more easy to accept their sexuality. “However, as I met more trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people and was exposed to different feminist ideas, I became more comfortable with my own gender-queerness,” they recall. Santorini feels that they had a fair degree of privilege in terms of being open about their identity, as they are in academia. Others around them have not been as fortunate.
🌱Santorini has friends who identify as non-binary in personal spaces, but won’t come out professionally, as there are tensions around the issue at their workplaces. Santorini came out at a time when they could do it with minimal professional consequences. “At that moment, coming out meant both liberation as well as health benefits. It is only when we are openly non-binary that we can get gender-affirming care like hormone therapy and/or surgery through health insurance. Even with insurance, it is a struggle to get appointments for such care as the wait for top-surgery is over a year-long. But for such appointments also, the primary criterion is having gender dysphoria on record,” they explain.
🌳With the current order passed by Trump, such medical care for transitioning individuals within the queer community seems uncertain in the coming days. Not only does the order state that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology”, it also rescinds all guidance documents that are meant to support trans and intersex individuals in public institutions and educational spaces such as schools. This means that those individuals who had hopes of transitioning, can neither expect financial support from the state nor be counseled about their gender dysphoria.
⛦Santorini believes that Trump’s order will further promote fear-mongering rhetoric against families of queer people. “Conservatives support parental control. They deploy rhetoric about “grooming” only against trans kids and families that support their transitioning. On the other hand, they have no issue with medical systems and parents choosing and ‘fixing’ the gender for children who are born intersex. If you look at the history of medicine, many gender studies scholars have pointed out how intersex children have been medically forced into gender binaries,” Santorini says.
🎐When asked whether they feel relatively safer in Taiwan, ever since the order has been passed in the US, Santorini says they do. “It is a moment of peril for trans people and most of us might feel safer outside than in the US at this time. But as Judith Butler has written, this order is straight out of a global playbook. Transphobia is transnational. A lot of governments have very similar interests in enforcing a hetero-patriarchal family. Trans issues and border control are being raked up by conservative governments everywhere to idealise traditionalism.”
🧔Giving the example of Taiwan, they say, “In Taiwan, legislations for protecting trans rights are very much gaining steam thanks to the work of local activists. You can finally, for instance, change your documentation without surgery here. But legislation is not the same as broader social acceptance. The hateful rhetoric here on social media is the same as in US, Germany or India.”
💯Santorini says that they are unable to gauge the full reality of Trump’s policy till now. But the problem, they believe, is not just the policy changes. “The crisis that will unfold with the US President’s stance is that his dog whistling will embolden hate and violence—first in hateful rhetoric online, which is eventually followed by material violence.” It remains to be seen whether advocates for queer rights in the US will challenge the execution and implementation of this order in the daily lives of Americans in the near future. But what remains clear is that the battle ahead will be multi-pronged—both at the level of policy as well as within the larger society.
