Former President Donald Trump said on Tuesday if elected, he will ban government policies that “promote” gender-affirming healthcare for people of all ages and enact a law stating that the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female.
Trump released a campaign video on Tuesday about his plan to “protect children from left-wing gender insanity.”
“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender,” Trump says in the video. “Under my leadership, this madness will end.”
In a video released on Trump’s campaign Twitter account, Trump War Room, the former president lists the steps he plans to take if elected president in 2024 to nationally quash gender-affirming care and schooling and any federal funding that goes toward helping Americans medically transition.
His policy plans include revoking Biden-era policies regarding gender-affirming care, passing a law that states that the only recognized genders are “male” and “female,” an executive order to ensure all federal agencies cease programming that “promotes” gender-affirming care, denouncing doctors who are involved with the physical transition of minors, and investigating hospitals and pharmacy companies for their role in gender-affirming healthcare.
Trump says his plans will “go very quickly” if he’s elected.
Throughout the Biden presidency, the president’s administration has reinforced federal protections for transgender kids, especially those seeking gender-affirming care, and allowed U.S. citizens to declare their gender as “X” on their passports, among other policies.
In his video, Trump talks about prohibiting the trans-lived experience at all stages of life: He specifically mentions puberty blockers and school teachers that affirm a child’s gender identity, both of which can be seen as precursors to medical and social transitions, respectively. The former president also says he hopes to pass a law that bans children from gender transition without their parents’ consent.
He also stresses that he hopes to “promote positive education about the nuclear family” in schools, or a family structure that includes children dependent on two parents, “the roles of mothers and fathers,” and that “celebrates” the differences between women and men.
And, of course, he talks about children’s sports. Trump says if elected, he will make sure Title IX “prohibits men from participating women’s sports.”
Trump goes on to falsely claim that “the radical left” invented transgender and gender non-conforming people a few years ago.
According to Historic England, a history website sponsored by the U.K. government, galluses, an individual that was born male but lived as a woman and priestess of Goddess Cybele via self-castration, existed in the fourth century A.D., or from the years 301 to 400. Records dating back to the 17th century also reference two-spirit indigenous people, or people who are of both the masculine and feminine “spirit.”
Almost four hours after its release, Trump’s campaign video had over 208,000 views. It was met with a myriad of replies, including many referencing a photo of Trump holding a pride flag, which was taken when his 2020 campaign released LGBTQ Pride merchandise.
Update 12:03pm CT: Regarding Trump’s remarks on the trans community, Shelby Chestnut, the Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center, said the former president is “attempting to use a group of people as a pawn for his own political ambitions back into relevancy.”
“People of all genders deserve to have a leader who sees and honors their diversity and lived experience and doesn’t use their identity to stoke fear and division in our society,” they told the Daily Dot. “We know that gender-affirming care saves lives and is widely accepted and successful in its implementation.”
