The incoming tRump administration has announced plans to eliminate ALL health care for transgender people in this country. Originally, he had stated that all gender affirming care would be banned for anyone under the age of 18, but now he has gone far beyond that to state that he intends to sign an Executive Order on Day One to outlaw ALL care for trans people of any age, and to revoke anything that affirms our proper gender identity such as Passports. Here is what he stated on a video released on Truth Social:
“On day one, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on gender-affirming care — ridiculous. I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age. I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.”
This ban will affect all federal funding for any gender affirming care, so that would include agencies such as Medicare, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Defense TRICARE and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. If done at a Federal level, this will almost certainly encourage every Red State in the country to follow through with also banning all trans health care at a state level.
For myself, I live in California, and Gov. Newsom is working right now to build a wall against interference in health care that will be restricted by this new dictatorship. Newsom hopes this will ensure that women and LGBTQ people will retain their care. However, since I am on Medicare, and also on VA Health Care, all of my personal health is administered through the Federal government, so I would lose all access to medical assistance, including emergency care.
I also run a trans support group called TG Rainbow, where we work very hard to help trans people, along with our allies and families, to navigate the health care system to get the help they need in order to stay alive. We have people of all ages, from minors through the elderly. For myself, I transitioned 20 years ago, and all my documentation shows that I am, and always have been female. That includes my birth certificate, drivers license, and passport. How I will personally be affected with his ban on any ID that does not reflect birth gender is hard to say at this point, but my health care will be immediately stopped if this goes through according to his plan. Others in the midst of transition, or just starting out, will be prevented from moving forward, and would, in essence, be forced to de-transition. I have known people forced to de-transition before, and it has never ended well.
It should also be noted that his plan is also to allow “victims to sue doctors” who have done any sort of trans procedure on children, including the prescribing of hormones. This will have the chilling affect on any trans-friendly doctors in the same way that doctors are now second-guessing anything they are doing for the health care of a woman who is, or even might be, pregnant. Instead of providing needed health care to keep patients alive, they are instead getting lawyers involved to make sure they keep their medical license, no matter what happens to the patients. Dystopia will arrive on 20 January 2025.
One last thing I wanted to add to this article is to share the statement that I sent to everyone on my TG Rainbow email list on the day after the election:
“We awaken today into a new world. There had been so much hope that this new world would be one of joy, acceptance, wonder, and love. Instead, come January 20th, we will live in a country that embraces hatred and retribution as its guiding principles. And one of the horrible realities of this new country is that it was brought into being partially by a very specific kind of hatred and intolerance against transgender people. Exactly like Germany in 1933, trans people have become the first target, the so-called boogie man of the Far Right. More than twice the amount of money was spent by the GOP on anti-trans ads than on any other subject. This resonated with the base that has again elected one of the most vile and despicable human beings ever produced by this country. A literal con-man, grifter, scam artist, wannabe dictator, and along with being a convicted felon and sex offender, has gotten more votes in this country than the rival who could have moved us forward into a bright and hopeful future.
“A majority of American voters have now put back into power a person who is known for his disdain of democracy and the rule of law, and his love of, and emulation of, despots the world over, past and present — a person who openly despises and wants to institute laws against us in the trans community. A large portion of the American people have now embraced fascism in all its forms, something I certainly never would have believed possible, yet here we are. He, and the party and the people who support him, have made it clear that trans people and our allies are a target. We now have much to fear for our own lives, our well being, our future.
“It is very disheartening that there are people in this community, people who are members of TG Rainbow itself, who actually embraced and voted for this man, and his proposed policies. I never would have believed that any of us would think so little of ourselves that this statement would ever be possible, yet here we are. If any of you wish to be removed from the TGR email list because of your beliefs, always feel free to drop me a note, and I will be glad to remove you from our list.
“We have always embraced the idea of love and support for all people, but I have to admit that this idea has reached a very strained point at this time. Our path forward has just become a lot harder. The gains that we as a community have experienced in the 20 years since I was able to transition, may soon be a thing of the past. I've never before feared for the future, but that has now changed drastically. I fervently hope that I am proven wrong, but I fear that will not be the case.”
