The first openly trans politician in Congress has responded after President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order.
Since taking office, Trump implemented multiple executive orders affecting LGBTQ+ rights. His first action mandated that the federal government recognize only two genders – male and female – stating that they are “not changeable,” per NBC.
The order also called for the elimination of what the administration deemed “wasteful” government programs promoting diversity and inclusion and pledged to “defend women from gender ideology extremism.”
In the following days, Trump rescinded the 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which had supported employment opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other marginalized groups.
His administration also rolled back policies allowing transgender and non-binary individuals to select ‘X’ as their gender marker on passport applications.
Further restrictions included a Department of State directive prohibiting U.S. embassies from flying flags other than the national flag, effectively banning the display of Pride and Black Lives Matter flags at diplomatic facilities.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order aimed at “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation,” a reference to gender-affirming healthcare.
On February 5, he enacted a policy banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams and announced plans to withhold federal funding from schools that allow such participation, per BBC News.
Sarah McBride, who made history last month as the first openly transgender lawmaker to be sworn into Congress, addressed these policies at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Greater New York Dinner on February 3.
“I enter Congress at a moment of uncertainty and fear for so many in our country—a time that will test our Constitution, our progress, and our own very compassion,” she said.
Criticizing the Trump administration’s swift actions against transgender individuals, McBride stated: “In less than two weeks at a time of domestic and global crisis – this new administration has diverted the resources of the federal government to target transgender people.
“From day one, they have taken steps to require the forced outing of transgender people with government documents and records.”
She further condemned Trump’s policies, saying: “They’re infringing on parental rights by inserting government between patients, parents, and providers in order to hurt trans young people. They’re purging patriotic transgender service members who have met the same standards as their colleagues, who have dedicated their lives to something that is antithetical to this president – selfless public service.”
McBride also criticized the administration’s efforts to regulate public restrooms.
“He’s deputized Republican politicians and appointees across the federal government to be bathroom police, banning transgender people from federal restrooms they were using without incident. As we say then, these bans open up all women to harassment and potentially gross and invasive inspections.”
Touching on further measures, she stated: “They’re censoring content and freezing funding to make sure words like ‘transgender’ aren’t included in any federally funded program. They’re threatening to gut public education if schools dare support LGBTQ students. All in less than two weeks.”
In a sharp remark about the Trump administration’s focus, she said: “They’re obsessed – we live rent-free in their minds.”
Looking ahead, McBride urged activists to “fight smarter” in the face of these policies.
“We have to be clear-eyed about the need to return to the basics of inviting people in to open hearts and changed minds,” she said. “We have to grapple with the reality of where people are beyond this room or this city or my state. Meeting people where they are is not selling out – it’s what this work is.”
She also accused the Trump administration of using transgender individuals as a political tool for broader deregulation efforts.
“We have to pull back the curtain on the fact that they are using trans people as pawns in the broader effort to gut the federal government, in order to line the pockets of Donald Trump’s best friends, all at the expense of working people.”
McBride concluded her speech with a firm commitment: “I refuse to be used as a pawn. I refuse to give them that power, and I refuse to let them get away with it.”
