President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to address the transgender athletes participating in high school sports. Trump’s order threatened the loss of federal funding if public schools permit transgender students to participate in sports — the latest attack against trans people that attempts to harm trans children.
School sports long have been a vehicle for young people to find a place in a school community. Outside the general question of why the president is targeting this community, this order begs the question: Is the participation of trans students in sports really an issue meriting a presidential order?
A recent WGN-Ch. 9 story reported on the process used for years by the Illinois High School Association to allow students with gender dysphoria to compete in sanctioned athletic events. Last year, more than 320,000 students participated in such programs in Illinois, and the IHSA granted three waivers.
The Trump administration is threatening funding cuts to Illinois’ public schools to address a circumstance that is as likely as someone winning the lottery or experiencing a shark attack. For a president who regularly laments the “weaponizing” of government, he is directing the awesome power of government to attack a handful of young people — who just want to play ball like all kids — and those of us who dare to stand with them.
The order on trans participation in school sports was at least the third executive order issued from the White House in less than two weeks that targets trans people. Attacks on trans folks, including children, are routine by this White House.
Trump moved to limit the ability of trans Americans to travel, ending the use of the “X” marker on U.S. passports and barring people who have transitioned from changing the gender marker on their passports. This means that many folks who are traveling are likely to be carrying documents that do not match their gender identity or presentation, which could put them at risk of being outed, harassed or even threatened simply for traveling. Government should not be deciding our gender — but Trump is asserting the power to make that decision for each of us.
The White House also threatened school funding for schools that allow students to use the restrooms consistent with their gender identity and, confusingly, also has called for the end of schools advancing “gender ideology.” Trump fundamentally misunderstands the role that parents play — often tirelessly — in working with school officials to assure that their trans child is respected and affirmed in school, allowing those students to learn and mature in a safe environment. We have worked with hundreds of parents in Illinois who love a trans child. The president does not appear to care about the real-life struggles many of these parents have experienced in assuring that school officials respect the gender identity of their child.
Most cruelly of all, Trump wants to bar congressionally approved funding to any hospital or clinic that provides gender-affirming care to people younger than 19 years old. Setting aside the fact that this order may deny care to adults, who are free to make their own health care decisions, this overreaching executive order substitutes the president’s misinformed view for that of every medical association in America. It infringes on the rights of parents and people to make lifesaving health care decisions with their doctors. Trump’s actions are putting at risk trans, intersex and nonbinary young people.
Faced with the onslaught of these actions, many of us are fighting back. And the fight is made more difficult by the feeling of fear and isolation experienced by LGBTQ+ families and their loved ones in the face of these attacks by the White House and the president. As one parent of a trans student recently noted to us, “Imagine what it is like when the most powerful person in the world is trying to erase your child’s existence.”
We are calling out these bullying tactics for what they are and asking courts to block their enforcement. Most of all, we hope that Americans will see that problems of our nation are not improved by picking on youths — especially the 0.0009% of youths in Illinois who already are vulnerable to harassment and harm.
This is certainly not making America great.
Aisha N. Davis is a senior policy counsel and Edwin C. Yohnka the director of communications and public policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
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