Transgender Rights Under Trump: Policy Battles and Legal Fights transcript

We are at a really interesting time when it comes to trans rights. Right now there are only two genders, male and female. We know that that is not fact because we exist and we're here. President Trump and the folks around him have really gone out of their way to make transgender issues a centerpiece of almost essentially every policy decision and consequential decision they made. The National Park Service has removed all references to transgender people.

President Trump's ban on transgender troops from serving in the military. We are seeing an absolute barrage of legislation, court cases, attacks in pop culture when it comes to trans people. I'm speaking about the transition of our children and transitioning them toward the point where we then mutilate them. I think trans is kind of over. People rejected it pretty soundly at the ballot box. And we've also really seen important firsts when it comes to the community.

Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress, the first openly transgender attorney, will argue in front of the US Supreme Court, the first openly trans actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. This historic era is both newfound acceptance for transgender people, but there's also the backlash. I want every trans activist who hears this to know you lost. You are losers. Since around 2015, we began to hear more about policies and laws that were specifically targeting the trans community.

In 2024, we saw a record number of anti-trans bills that were proposed across the country. President Trump signed an executive action stating that the U.S. government will now recognize only two sexes, male and female. The executive order that defines two genders in the context of the federal government really lays down in clear terms the Trump administration's views on gender in general. They believe there is male, there is female, and there is nothing else.

And that affects a lot of things that the federal government does through forms for federal workers and different classifications, notably for passports as well to the State Department issues. We're going to need to see this play out in courts across the country because there are laws that protect transgender people. We have the 2020 Bostock ruling. What the Supreme Court has said already is that you can't discriminate against someone based on their gender identity or sexual orientation in the workplace.

That decision came out in 2020. Basically, the court was being asked to interpret Title seven of the Civil Rights Act. So recent executive orders issued by the President as complicated the application of Bostock, The Biden administration issued an arrest guidance which says that employers are barred from enduring workers and that workers should be allowed to use bathrooms that corresponds with their gender identity. That guidance was based on the Biden administration's interpretation of Bostock.

So according to conservatives and the current Trump administration, they sense that that interpretation is wrong. Trump's multiple executive actions taking aim at the transgender community already being met with legal challenges. Executive orders certainly do not carry the weight of the law, but they do still carry weight and the practical effects that they can have on the government, the government sphere and folks who come into that purview in a variety of different ways.

President Trump signing an executive order today, restricting support for gender transitions for anyone under 19 years old. Gender affirming care for minors. Many medical associations have called it life saving for many people. It can include a range of care, from mental health care to hormone therapy, puberty blockers to even gender affirming surgeries. Surgeries are very rare among youth who are seeking gender affirming care.

In total, there are 27 states that have some limit on gender affirming care for youth. Taking away care will result in premature, preventable deaths of kids in its fall 2024 term. The Supreme Court heard arguments over a Tennessee law that bans gender affirming care for transgender minors. And the care we're talking about here are puberty blockers and hormone treatments. The plaintiffs here are basically arguing that this is a law that discriminates against them and that it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

The state is saying we need to protect these kids and that the science around this gender affirming care is unfounded and that there are side effects that are too risky. And so they say that it's within their right to try to pass this sort of legislation. But the 20 plus states on the other side put forth very forceful arguments against allowing these medical treatments for minors. What's really going on here is a discrimination against a disregard for young people who are trans based on the way that arguments when it really seems like they could uphold Tennessee's law here and say that, you know, states can ban gender affirming care for transgender minors.

Another executive order from President Trump, this order saying the federal government will not pay for or support a child's gender transition. Any institution providing the care would be cut off from federal funding. The president cannot order hospitals around the country not to provide gender affirming care, but he believes he can withhold funding from facilities that provide those services when it comes to federal funding, federal grants that a lot of these institutions rely on.

It certainly has made some medical providers feel like they're in the crosshairs if they don't follow the president's order. 18 states have enacted laws prohibiting transgender people from using public bathrooms and facilities according to their gender identity. 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women's restroom. Congresswoman Nancy Mace is a Republican from South Carolina and she's been very vocal about trans issues.

She introduced a bill that would explicitly ban transgender people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in the Capitol. And she has said that that was because Sarah McBride was coming to Congress and pretty soon after she introduced it. Speaker Mike Johnson said that he would restrict bathrooms in the Capitol to be only for people's biological sex. Now that we have a GOP power trifecta with the House, Senate and White House, some of these messaging bills that we would have just brushed aside previously could now actually have a good chance of becoming law.

And that will be something worth watching. President Trump signed an executive order today that seeks to ban transgender women from playing sports in schools that receive federal funding. The argument being made by the proponents are that it is protecting girls and women from trans people, infiltrating sports, and also keeping people that could have an unfair advantage out of these sports. Basically, Republicans say this could keep a lot of scholarships away from cisgender women.

NCAA says it will adopt the standards for transgender athletes outlined in a new executive order announced by President Trump. How many athletes are there in the United States in NCAA schools? 510,000. How many transgender athletes are you aware of? Less than ten. Less than ten out of 510,000. Yep. And it's all out now. Critical race theory and transgender insanity. It's all gone from our schools and from our military.

And I believe it's gone to the hatred has really, really ramped up. It's really scary. Here we are in a brave new world, a second Trump presidency, the country shifting increasingly to the right. We don't know. It's really going to play out over the next several years. A lot of these things have to be tested by courts. We're in that test period right now.