By Project 2025, gender ideology and personal stories from speakers were all main themes at an event breaking down the executive orders imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration that target transgender people’s rights and existence.
Hosted by the Office of Belonging & Inclusion, the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, the April 17 event included information about five primary executive orders, a discussion from the speakers and a Q&A segment at the end.
The executive orders discussed were:
- Jan. 20, 2025: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government”
- Jan. 27, 2025: “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which bars transgender people from joining the military.
- Jan. 28, 2025: “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation,” which cuts federal funds for any transgender healthcare.
- Jan. 29, 2025: “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” bans discussions and educational learning of race, gender and identity in schools.
- Feb. 5, 2025: “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits transgender women from playing in female sports at all education levels.
Kass Malcor, a history major and speaker at the “Trump Executive Orders on Trans Existence” event, discussed how history and visibility are intertwined.
“They’re trying to change reality underneath us and just make it so that not only can’t they be in public, but if we remove trans people from public and the curriculum, they cannot be conceptualized and cannot be talked about and will end up suffering on their own,” Malcor said.
“They want to get rid of trans existence,” Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Jennifer Reed, said.
“The anti-trans legislation that is happening is not just aiming to target trans people, it is affecting trans people definitely,” Blue Chandler, a trans man and nonbinary student who spoke at the event, said. “It is overall a tool that is being used to uphold white supremacy and white nationalism and the patriarchy along with cis hetero normativity.”
Also discussed was how passports do not allow people to choose a non-binary designation “x”; instead, having to match the person’s birth certificate.
Incarcerated trans people are not being reported with their trans identity and are being reverted to their biological sex, Reed said.
People who were already in jail were moved to prisons of their birth sex. Trans women are being transferred to men’s prisons, as was explicitly mentioned in the executive order.
The event also discussed Project 2025, a right-wing political initiative with one of its goals aiming to restore the “biblically based family” in American life.
“There are so many different aspects of people’s lives that can be affected by these bills, even if you are not trans, and so often transphobia ends up affecting people of color and women in general,” Chandler said.
Throughout the event, it was reiterated that these policies and issues aren’t solely a “trans people issue.”
“It’s not just about trans people, it’s not just about undocumented people, it’s not just about people of color,” Malcor said. “It’s about everybody, and we need to be paying attention to that.”
Engaging with and being an ally to the trans community was emphasized as a crucial and necessary step, with visibility being seen as a form of resistance.
