AUSTIN (KXAN) — Transgender Texans tell KXAN they are shocked but not surprised by President Donald Trump’s executive order that declared the government will only recognize binary sexes as unchangeable characteristics decided at a person’s conception.
“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” said Trump in his inaugural address.
The order, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” doesn’t immediately change federal law or policies, but does start the lengthy rule-making process for federal agencies.
The changes include the removal of non-binary gender markers on new passports and government-issued IDs; previously, Americans could submit a judge’s court order to have the field changed. The White House confirmed this week the order will not revert issued documents.
Those new rules, if adopted, will also prevent transgender women from being housed in women’s prisons as well as using women’s sexual assault shelters and women’s restrooms.
In 2018, NBC reported on UCLA research that found “no link between trans-inclusive restroom policies and bathroom safety.” However, a 2019 Harvard study found that restricting restrooms increases the risk of sexual assault against transgender children by 17.6-26.5%. A 2011 U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics survey found that 16% of incarcerated trans women experienced sexual assault and harassment (compared to 3% of U.S. prisoners).
According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, more than 90% of sexual assault sentences in the country were handed down to men.
Each agency must update the White House about their compliance within 120 days from Jan. 20. Mentions about LGBTQ+ Americans and issues have already been removed from federal websites, according to advocacy group GLAAD.
Lambda Legal chief legal officer Jennifer Pizer told KXAN Wednesday that the executive order is vague and will create legal problems. She also said that the nonprofit civil rights organization has already prepared to take the Trump administration to court over his policy proposals.
“The language in this… gender orthodoxy executive order has not been used by the government, and flies in the face of federal statutes and Supreme Court precedent,” she said. “It would be an unprecedented type of aggressive use of federal power to try to mandate discrimination in contexts where there are existing non-discrimination protections in federal law and in the law of many, many states.”
Pizer said that she’s not certain of what changes might come over the next four years, but said she can “confidently predict a lot of litigation.”
The order also states that sex is defined at conception, giving the order Christian undertones shared by some anti-abortion laws, Pizer said.
(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.
(e) “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
Trump’s executive order
“‘Conception’ is a religious term. The biological term is fertilization,” she said. “The use of religious language in this context makes unmistakable the connection between this… gender orthodoxy order and what we’ve seen for years from the religious right in efforts to curtail access to various types of reproductive health care.”
KXAN reached out to transgender Texans for their thoughts on the order. Some have asked us to withhold their names due to concerns about their safety.
Landon Richie, Transgender Education Network of Texas policy coordinator
Transgender Education Network of Texas policy coordinator Landon Richie said the organization has also prepared for the new administration.
“Nothing was really a surprise, especially if you’ve been watching what’s been happening across the country, but especially in Texas,” he said. “I know a lot of community members have been bracing for what eventually ended up being the executive order we saw on Monday.”
While the order doesn’t immediately change the situation for transgender Americans, it did sow fear, Richie notes. That, he said, was the point.
“This worry and this fear is the intended immediate effect of of this order, right?” he said. We know that implementation isn’t going to happen overnight… but the worry still stands, and now we know for sure where this administration is planning to go in regards to policy making and attacks on trans people across the country.”
Transgender and non-binary adults made up 1.6% of the U.S. population in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. UCLA’s Williams Institute also reported in 2022 that there were just over 100,000 transgender adults and children in Texas.
“We have been in the crosshairs for years… dominated the campaign platforms of the President, many state and other national candidates, even though our existence is such a small part of the population, not a concern for a majority of Americans, and certainly not an actionable, serious concern for anybody,” Richie said. “A large part of this is optics, of wanting to keep trans issues at the forefront of people’s mind, while… not doing anything to improve people’s lives.”
But for a long-time trans organizer in Texas, this fight isn’t new for Richie.
“Our ancestors, and our elders in this movement [we] still learn from, it’s not new for our community,” he said. “A world without trans people has never existed and never will, and that doesn’t change with an executive order. While this is uncharted for a lot of us in this modern time, it’s not something that our community hasn’t faced before, and not something that our community hasn’t risen above and survived in the face of.”
Sara, transgender woman in Austin
“While I wasn’t surprised that the new President would do this, I was severely anxious, upset and scared,” said Sara, a 41-year-old trans woman living in the Austin area. She started transitioning eight years ago.
She said the potential changes to federal and state government ID has her worried about disruptions to her driver’s license and passport, which would prevent her from traveling or driving for work.
“I’ve lived in Texas almost the entirety of my life,” she said. “I’m now having to consider leaving not only my home, but my whole country. I can’t live in a place where I am not given the right to exist and my safety is put at risk.”
Transgender man in Austin
Another Austin resident, a 24-year-old trans man, said he’s annoyed and angered by powerful people who “twist facts however they like.” He started transitioning nine years ago.
“I feel some comfort in knowing we (the trans community) will survive, especially by turning to and relying on each other,” he said. “But I feel dread for the most vulnerable — people of color, immigrants, severely disabled people, etc. We will all be hurt, but I’m worried those groups will be displaced, deported or killed in disproportionate numbers.”
A 2024 study published in the journal PLoS One cited CDC data that Black Americans, American Indians and Hispanic people are far more likely to be homicide victims than white people. A 2021 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that transgender people are four times as likely to be the victim of a violent crime.
Transgender woman in Round Rock
A 35-year-old trans woman from Dallas, now living in Round Rock, told KXAN she isn’t surprised by the order. She came out to herself in 1994 and to her parents in 1997.
“Same old, same old. The U.S. government has hated us from the beginning,” she said. “Why stop now? No one tries to stop them. Anyone surprised by this is an idiot and enabling any loss of life to come from it.”
Her plan during the presidential term is the same as it has been for the last two. She said that she’s only surprised when “empowered cisgender people aren’t being hurtful” and that she doesn’t expect Democrats to stand up for her rights.
“It’s always been hard for the transgender population to live peacefully,” she said. “Personally, I just always prepare for everything to be at my throat, since that’s what the government has wanted since I was a young girl.”
Non-binary Transgender Woman in Austin
A non-binary trans woman (they/she) living in Austin told KXAN that she was expecting something like this to happen, but that she’s struggling with the uncertainty. They are also carrying the weight of seeing their community struggle with the news.
“I still have to go to work and pretend like everything’s OK, and still be there for people,” she said. “Now we have to do all that with this added constant threat of increased policing and not knowing how bad things are going to get. It’s very difficult to exist under this kind of pressure.”
She said she’s not optimistic about Democrats providing political opposition to protect transgender people. However, she warns that anti-transgender policies could affect cisgender Americans, too.
“A lot of cis people are going to find themselves being accused of being trans,” they said. “That’s more likely to affect cis people of color, especially cis women of color, because of how femininity is attached to whiteness in this country — their femininity is often stripped from them. I don’t think cis people are prepared for it.”
Ultimately, their concerns speak to what Americans could lose if the government decides what is and isn’t acceptable expression.
“If this gets ignored, if the government gets the ability to say how we’re allowed to dress, how we’re allowed to present? If we allow the government to to police gender expression, it’s going to affect everyone.”
