As the nation awaits Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration day, House Republicans have released a new rules package, which indicates the party plans to fast-track anti-trans rights
Just as the new year arrived, GOP representatives released a new package which lists anti-trans provisions as one of several bills that will be considered during the current House session which commenced on Jan. 3.
According to LGBTQ Nation, no bill number is provided but a description of the bill reads: “The bill to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with Title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Fears of the incoming hate storm are compounded by claims from Trump that he will enact anti-trans policies on his first day in office via executive orders, according to the Washington Blade.
During the AmericaFest 2024 rally in Phoenix, Arizona in December, Trump claimed one of his first actions would be to pass an executive order recognizing just two genders. “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” he said to the crowd. “With the stroke of my pen on day one we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” he continued.
The bill is accompanied by 11 additional bills which would simplify immigrant deportations by expanding qualifications. Another bill targets doctors who fail to provide the “proper degree of care” for fetuses surviving an abortion.
Anti-trans rhetoric was a predominant theme in Trump’s campaign, and though the GOP’s plans may not come as a surprise, they certainly pose a huge threat to the existence LGBTQ+ community as their reality draws nearer.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat representing Massachusetts says we’ve seen these moves before during the provision debate. “We must fight off efforts by politicians to force themselves into exam rooms. They think that they know better than trained healthcare providers and patients. They do not. The only expertise they are exhibiting is an expertise in oppression, suppression, and repression of health care freedom, and their attacks will not stop there. Freedom isn’t lost all at once. It happens one inch at a time. And as the Senate author of the Trans Bill of Rights, this is an inch that we cannot give.”
