Executive Order on Gender Ideology
Thoughts from a parent
By now, many of the major TERF media outlets have weighed in on President Trump’s Executive Order regarding Gender Ideology. It’s difficult to add any more facts. But as the site devoted to parents impacted by trans ideology, the perspective from a parent might be in order. Some thoughts….
The Executive Order is beautifully written. It is clear. It is comprehensive. It accurately addresses sex, not gender. The EO strategically leads with women’s rights. It doesn’t mention trans issues at all. All the more impactful coming from a President accused of eroding women’s rights. It reverses previous rulings, rescinding “all guidance documents inconsistent with the requirements of the order” and lists them all from A to K.
In another important move, the order doesn’t rely on religion to justify the decision. It is based on common sense as in “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” That is important because some in the gender affirming camp wish to characterize all TERFs as religious fundamentalists. No. Even an atheist can arrive at the conclusion that gender ideology deprives women of their rights and is abusive to children.
But there are things we could wish were different. I wish the affirmation of biological sex didn’t need to be enforced via executive order. I wish it had been arrived at this organically, based on science. I wish the medical community had proactively come out against “gender affirming care”. There certainly are enough studies to support that.
I don’t want the truth to be dismissed because some people don’t like the messenger. President Trump can be a controversial figure. He is 100% right on this topic. Will that be lost because some people find many of his other Executive Orders to be objectionable? I fear so. Just check out the Wikipedia entry on Executive Order 14166.
For us parents, what does it mean for our children who have socially transitioned or medicalized or had surgery or estranged themselves? Will they desist or detransition? Will they come back home? I don’t know. I hope that the tide will turn, that being trans will be like being an aging hippie - tragically uncool as one ages. I am hopeful that this order will prevent children from heading down this path. For PITT parents I hope this hasn’t arrived too late for our children to be saved.
I completely understand why many people find Trump controversial, uncouth, and possibly criminal depending whether you think our justice system is truly impartial. But if I had a kid abducted by a cult, and one party came out strongly against that cult and the other party was the cult’s major recruiting arm, I’d quickly recognize that politics makes strange bedfellows and put my kid’s health above all else.
The good thing is that this law was written BY a woman, FOR women. May Mailman is a lawyer with the Independent Women's Law Center. Although the Law Center is right leaning, this EO is very "centric"(common sense) and easy to read/process for most people. I appreciate that there wasn't a bunch of silly flame throwing, "stick it to the libs" rhetoric. This is an issue that has many children involved and the EO needs to be gentle, yet firm. I think it was well written and well thought out and very truthful. I hope that it brings some common sense back into this nightmare gone wrong.