President Donald Trump’s new executive order shows that his new administration will be filled with hate, not love. On his first day in office in his second term, Trump issued an executive order proclaiming that the government would only recognize two sexes, male and female. This order rescinds the progress made during the Biden administration of allowing transgender people to choose a different gender on their passports and get rid of the choice of choosing “X.” This order does not take away any previous documentation that has been given out before the order, but it makes it impossible for things like passport renewals for trans people. There have already been devastating effects from this order, including trans women prisoners being transferred to male facilities, and more adverse effects will continue to show. From an order that claims to protect women, this executive order will do the opposite, and studies show that bills and executive orders that negatively affect the lives of trans people, who only make up 1% of the U.S. population, lead to an increase in suicide rates. Really, instead of being about protecting women, the administration is focused on gaining control over minority groups and dismantling initiatives intended to bridge the gap towards equity and inclusion. Executive orders like these and other initiatives taken by the Trump administration show that theirs will be an administration fueled not by love, but by hate. 

The executive order states in its reasoning that, “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.” It claims that gender-inclusive language not only harms women but harms the American government as a whole. This wording posits that previous gender-inclusive language within the government’s federal websites and operations, such as passport services, is un-American and unconstitutional. It also describes that transgender people pose a threat to America. This is dangerous and fear-mongering rhetoric that should not have a place in our government. It has dangerous implications for the future of gender inclusivity laws. Not only that, but since this executive order, President Trump has been determined to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices in an effort to end “wokeism.” The executive order also rolls back policies that aim to tackle gender and LGBTQ+ discrimination in schools. While many conservatives have attacked DEI, anti-discrimination policies that were made because of DEI have had overwhelmingly positive effects on the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

The changes in passport policies because of this order will make it much more difficult for many transgender and intersex people to obtain proper identification. The option to choose “X” on a passport will be taken away, and a person has to choose the sex they were born to on their passport. However, because this order only affects federal policies, a transgender person could end up having a federally issued passport with a sex that does not match their state-issued license. This could cause many problems while traveling or when it is necessary to have multiple identification records when applying for loans, etc. It is also unclear how the government will enforce these new policies or if they will even be able to. 

This executive order changes policies that have been in place since 2012 by the Supreme Court for transgender inmates to undergo a sexual victimization risk assessment when determining where to place inmates. On Jan. 26, a female transgender inmate sued the Trump administration over the executive order. The inmate, who uses the pseudonym Maria Moe, was originally in a female facility but was since the order was placed in a special housing unit as a temporary place until she was moved to a male facility. 

The order deeply concerns LGBTQ+ rights activists like Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. “This [executive order] is clearly a plan from the Trump Administration to erase transgender people’s existence under the law,” Seldin said in an interview with Time Magazine. Clearly, the goal of the order is to create fear and a sense of hopelessness in transgender people. Despite the progress that has been made over the years in trans rights and legislation, the new administration aims to take away this progress under the guise of protecting women when, in reality, the aim of the order is to make transgender people fearful for their futures in America.