Banning biological males from women’s sports and women’s bathrooms, as well as keeping minors away from any form of gender-affirming care, has been a central key in Donald J. Trump’s winning campaign in the 2024 presidential election. This has all been in the name of protecting women and children from “gender ideology extremism” and “transgender insanity”, as Trump likes to call it.
Anyone with mild to moderate research skills and doesn’t just listen to their favorite right-wing podcaster/news should know how ridiculous these executive orders are, seeing the amount of holes in these bans. Unfortunately, with the amount of people using social media as their only news source, those holes are obscured from public view.
The first hole is in the sports situation. I have yet to see anyone talk about the specifics of transmen in sports, and in my opinion, it’s because once you add transmen to the mix, a lot of “logic points” are dismantled. Like, how some people wouldn’t want a medically transitioned transman in women’s sports because of his high testosterone levels, so why dictate trans women who are medically transitioned?
As I had pointed out in a separate article, the N.C.A.A. already has an effective way of allowing transgender athletes to play in sports. An idea capitalized upon by the Trump administration is that trans women in sports are harming people.
Due to this idea, the Trump administration implemented one of the first “blanket bans” on transgender women, barring trans women from any women’s sports in both K-12 schools and universities. The lack of compromise is the inherent unfairness of the ban. Due to their hormone therapy, trans women would be too weak for men’s sports, considering their testosterone levels have dropped considerably, but also “too strong” for women’s sports because of their biological difference. So, where exactly do they get to play?
There is no compromise to make the situation fair for the transwomen who are incapable of playing any gender’s sport because of this ban, which could result in lost opportunities. This same lack of awareness for the actual transgender people that these bans affect is also seen in the rule that you have to go to the locker rooms and bathrooms of your assigned sex.
(Note: “sex” is assigned at birth based on genitalia while “gender” is a socially constructed identity that you identify with based on comfortability).
Say that someone is medically transitioned to appear as their gender identity, the opposite of their sex, and they have to go to the bathroom/locker room of their birth sex.. We see why that’d cause an issue, right ? The law was created specifically to “protect” women and girls in their respective spaces. However, if I, a transgender man who is on testosterone, go into the women’s bathroom with a beard, a deep voice, and very masculine clothing, looking nothing like I was born female, that would cause some serious issues, wouldn’t it? In fact, I think my presence as a transitioned trans man in a women’s bathroom would pose more of an indirect threat than a transwoman just trying to use the women’s bathroom. Of course, while I do not yet have facial hair or a deep voice, I will eventually use the men’s or a gender neutral bathroom, even as I currently use the women’s bathroom for my own protection until the day comes where I no longer will be able to. Though not everyone, especially transwomen, would be comfortable using the bathroom of their assigned sex.
These bans make even less sense when you get to a university setting. It’s understandable, on a small scale, to make these laws specifically for K-12 schools, in order to reduce bullying (but if we raised kids to be non-judgemental and to be respectful, that wouldn’t be an issue). However, in a university setting where transgender people are likely to have the freedom to transition, as they are legal adults and do not have the same restrictions that minors have, they are more likely to look like the gender that they identify as. This would make it ultimately more dangerous to have transgender students in their “correct” bathrooms. At this point, it’s idiotic and no longer on the basis to “protect” but rather to restrict and, dare I say, to bring harm.
Even if a transgender person wasn’t medically transitioned, they may still prefer to use the bathroom of their preferred gender simply for their safety. This is particularly true for transgender women since they are more likely to be attacked for using the men’s bathroom. There’s a reason we very rarely hear about pre-transitioned trans men in the men’s bathrooms/lockers but hear a lot about trans women in women’s areas. It’s not because they’re creepy molestors but rather because being in a cute skirt with long hair and makeup isn’t the best outfit to go into a men’s bathroom/locker room in. I don’t think I need to provide statistics to explain why a trans woman, especially one that is young, would feel uncomfortable or unsafe being in the bathroom of her assigned sex if she is socially transitioned. There is no noticeable cause of violence that originates from transgender people using the bathrooms that align with their identity (unless it’s caused by others), but there is violence if they don’t.
On top of the the crushed dreams and possible violence from using your “correct” bathroom (two different incidents that I could find of this happening, one with a trans girl and another with a trans man, both going into the bathrooms of their sex but not identity and getting assualted for it), there is also the added fact that transgender teens are more likely to have suicidal ideation, not just because of the harrassment that you can receive but also simply because of the gender dysphoria that comes with it, which can bring bouts of depression and feeling of dissatisfaction. The cutting of federal funding from hospitals that perform gender affirming care for those under nineteen will only raise those statistics.
A notion has been created about gender affirming care, such as that it’s harmful chemicals given to sick and confused children willy-nilly. They can have side effects (such as the chance of balding and increased risk of heart disease), but all medicine has side effects, and, like some medicine, you are given informed consent about exactly what would happen and what the symptoms would mean. You’re also monitored by doctors during the process. When I had my own appointment for HRT (hormone-replacement therapy), the discussion of informed consent and the effects that could possibly happen (along with my own verbal agreement of each individual symptom) took around 45 minutes. As for those under the age of eighteen, not only would they need to prove that they had these symptoms for six consecutive months and have gender dysphoria that is diagnosed by a psychiatrist, they would also need informed parental consent.
According to the White House, minors transitioning medically is becoming a major rising issue. But in reality, it is actually incredibly rare that gender-affirming surgeries are performed on transgender minors. The same is said for hormone therapy, which includes puberty blockers. Among transgender youth, according to the cited NPR article, only under 1,000 have access to puberty blockers and under 2,000 for hormone therapy. This may seem like a lot, but it is only 0.1% of every teenager in the US with private insurance. People who claim that those who transition are very likely to regret it in the future are also incorrect because, like gender-affirming care for minors, that is also rare and only about 3% of transitioned individuals (5% of that 3% detransition, making it 0.4% of trans people) actually regret their choices.
It’s a fear-mongering tactic that there’s some sort of agenda by which the transender community are going to cut your child’s genitals off and groom them to be the opposite gender, but ultimately we do not. For the few transgender people who are evil, that does not reflect back on the entire community. Just how a single black drug dealer or robber doesn’t mean that every single black person is a drug dealer or robber (though people did used to believe this). The stereotype that transwomen are rapists also has little statistical backing. So little that when I went to prove that claim, I could not find a single credible source that says “transwomen are a growing problem in sexual assault.” The closest I got were Republican tabloids, but upon my search, I did find reliable sources that say that trans women/men are much more likely of being sexually assaulted then cisgendered people.
In conclusion, it’s all bullshit and due to this major bias against trans people, we can’t join the military (but trans women still need to register for the draft), or play sports, or use bathrooms because no matter which one we use, we’ll be in harm’s way. The Trump administration and other Republicans made these policies with the idea of protecting children, but if they actually had all children and people’s safety in mind, they would look at the facts instead of bias and realize just how harmful and threatening this could all be. They say to protect the children, but in reality, trans-kids do not fit into their category of a child that needs protection.
