I feel that I can genuinely tell you that we're in some uncharted waters right now. "First buddy" Elon Musk's lackeys are fiddling with the very basis of our government's ability to cut checks to those it needs to pay, while Project 2025 cronies slip executive orders under President Donald Trump's Sharpie at every opportunity. That is, when Trump isn't imposing tariffs against our neighbors. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is busy rounding up friends and families, and plans are afoot for a major expansion of detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Meanwhile, no one in a position of power seems even tangentially interested in truly throwing up any roadblocks right now.
It is hard to focus on any one thing as we swirl in a maelstrom of horrors, where airplanes are falling from our skies, farmland is being intentionally flooded, and, by the time you read this, all of the above might seem like the quaint news of yesteryear. Yet focus, I must.
On day one, over 60 Biden-era executive orders were rescinded by Trump, four of which were LGBTQ specific. That same day, he signed the "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" executive order, with a definition of sex as binary, determined at conception – yes, long before anything has been formed – and based on gamete size. This targeted everything from bathrooms to prisons to passports.
Within days, we saw more: changing gender markers with the Social Security Administration was halted, the trans military ban was back, a gender-affirming care ban was rolled out, and a trans sports ban – complete with forced outing by teachers and other school officials – was issued.
Anything even remotely trans-related was hastily scrubbed from the administration's many webpages, with some clumsily edited – for example, replacing LGBTQIA with LGB, without changing other language throughout – while other pages were simply removed wholesale.
Even research was hampered: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a restriction and revision of all previously submitted or under consideration research, requiring the stripping of a number of so-called forbidden terms: gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, and biologically female.
What you are seeing is an attempt to strip all rights from transgender and nonbinary people, coupled with a complete ban on even acknowledging that transgender people exist.
I also want to point out some of the language in these orders. Let me quote from the "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness" executive order.
"Consistent with the military mission and longstanding [Department of Defense] policy, expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. 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."
In short, this is saying that a transgender or nonbinary person is, at their heart, dishonest. Ironic, perhaps, given that the statement itself is dishonest, as tens of thousands of trans and nonbinary people have served honorably in the armed forces.
Or consider the aforementioned "Defending Women" executive order, which again sets up the notion that "ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex" – I suppose that would include me – are acting to "coerce" others to allow us to use women's spaces.
I happen to be a woman, so I'm not sure what other spaces they expect I use in this instance. I can only presume none at all.
Of course, none of the executive orders are based on science, or on the actual reality on the ground. You can boil them all down to the barest of bones and see that all they truly say is, "transgender people are icky and we want to get rid of them."
Not that science will concern this administration, given the previously noted changes to research papers from the CDC.
I've said this before, and it remains true: a presidential administration is more than the person who is elected president. That may be no truer than it is today, with a commander in chief who is far more interested in his grievances and his grift than actually serving as a leader.
Behind him, and to the right of Musk – who hasn't been elected to anything – you'll find the people we all warned you about – those who penned Project 2025 and are now seeing it to fruition. Their actions will affect us all: not just nonbinary and transgender people, but also the rest of the LGBQ community is next – as is anyone else. We will all lose.
I hate to be a downer. Indeed, I feel that – given the much higher priority the looting of our treasury and the gutting of the civil service, and the immediate and painful effect of this on everyone – the needs of transgender people will be left to continue with little fanfare. It's hard to care about trans rights when one can't buy groceries. Trust me, I get this. It'll be tough for me to eat if I'm no longer around, too.
Nevertheless, we are a big part of what is going down right now, and we need you to stand up, for us – and for yourself. Trans people are but the first step of a far bigger rollback, and you are next.
The die is cast, and it is time for us to act – together.
Gwen Smith hopes to see us all survive these times. You'll find her at www.gwensmith.com
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