Editor: Trump has signed several executive orders that affect trans rights. It seems like his entire term is going to be him as dictator “executive ordering” everything so he doesn’t have to deal with Congress.
All of the recent attacks on trans people made me think of an ally of Trump and the Republicans who I had forgotten about. I have a question:
What do you think Caitlyn Jenner thinks of her beloved President now?
President Donald Trump ratcheted up his administration’s reversal of transgender rights on Tuesday with an executive order that seeks to intervene in parents’ medical decisions by prohibiting government-funded insurance coverage of puberty blockers or surgery for people under 19.
Trump’s order, titled “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” is certain to face legal challenges and would require congressional or regulatory actions to be fully enacted.
But transgender people and their advocates are concerned it will nonetheless discourage prescriptions and medical procedures they consider to be lifesaving in some cases, while complicating insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.
“It can’t be understated how harmful this executive order is, even though it doesn’t do anything on its own,” said Andrew Ortiz, a senior policy attorney at the Transgender Law Center.
“It shows where the administration wants to go, where it wants the agencies to put their efforts and energies.”
The order is one of several Trump has issued, less than two weeks since taking office, that target the trans community. He has directed his administration to recognize only the male and female sex — and to abandon the term “gender” altogether.
He ordered the State Department to issue passports identifying Americans only by their genders assigned at birth. He has encouraged the Justice Department to prosecute teachers and other school officials who help trans children transition, including by using their preferred names.
And he signed an order that’s expected to lead to transgender people being banned from military service.
“We’re terrified. We cry every day. Hurting my family and my kid is winning politics for Republicans right now,” said the parent of a transgender child who lives in Missouri and asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted.
“Every bone in my body is telling me I can’t keep my child safe from my government anymore, I can’t keep my family safe.”
About 300,000 American children ages 13-17 identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which researches sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
But the number who seek gender-affirming care is believed to be far fewer. An examination by Reuters and Komodo Health of about 330 million health insurance claims filed from 2017 to 2021 found that fewer than 15,000 patients ages 6 to 17 with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria had received gender-affirming hormone therapy and fewer than 5,000 had started puberty-blocking medications — though the annual number of such patients more than doubled over the five-year span.
Trump’s order seeking to disrupt insurance coverage for young people, the Williams Institute said in a brief, “will likely at least limit the availability of gender-affirming care or make it more difficult to access in the short term and could increase risk for both providers and recipients of the care.”
Much of what the order calls for would require rule changes or other federal guidance, which can take weeks to months. Though it is mostly directed toward government health insurance programs, the order could have private-sector implications, too, and is likely to face litigation from states or advocacy organizations.
Specifically, the directive intends to limit insurance coverage for hormonal or surgical treatments that help young people transition.
Excerpts or more from this article, originally published on KFF Health News appear in this post. Republished, with permission, under a Creative Commons License.
