National Trans Bans? Both Trump And DeSantis Advocate Anti-Trans Policies On Same Day

On January 31st, Ron DeSantis in a press conference signaled his desire to end gender affirming care for trans youth. Trump then released an incendiary video with broad anti-trans measures.

On January 31, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a press conference on higher education policy. During the press conference, he was asked about gender-affirming care for trans youth, to which he responded touting his state’s imminent ban on such care. Not to be outdone, former President Donald Trump then recorded a video advocating some of the harshest national anti-trans policies ever proposed. He called gender-affirming care child abuse, advocated ending funding for “promoting the concept of gender transition” at any age, and called for national bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth and investigations on the medications used for transgender people. Both major Republican presidential candidates are on the record targeting transgender people on the same day and both seem to be trying to outdo each other in their attacks on th ecommunity. Both represent extreme danger in 2024 to trans people as a whole should they be elected.

DeSantis press conference mainly focused on higher education. He spoke against “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” in Florida liberal arts colleges and adjusting college curriculums to exclude inclusive education topics. He was asked about gender affirming care for trans youth at the end of his speech and launched into a series of anti-trans policies and false statements about the care. DeSantis declared that doctors prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy would lose their licenses, touted his ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, and blamed being transgender on “other things going on” that “just require therapy and would naturally resolve.” He closed off by claiming that people are “hacking off body parts.” See his section of the presser here:

It is important to note the misinformation in DeSantis’ press conference. Transgender identity is not caused by “other factors.” There has been no peer reviewed research establishing any causal relationship between being transgender and anything else other than a primary, innate sense of identity. The idea that being LGBTQ+ is caused by things like trauma, autism, depression, and anxiety has been used for decades and was first weaponized against gay people in the 1980s and 1990s. Exodus International, a famous ex-gay movement, for instance blamed poor family dynamics, sexual abuse, and trauma. There was even a paper that blamed homosexuality on social contagion and grooming. DeSantis is doing nothing more than resurrecting old talking points.

He also cited phony statistics around high trans desistance rates. Often, anti-trans activists will cite high desistance rates in the upper 80% level. These high desistance rates were based off of DSM-IV criteria which did not require insistent, persistent, and consistent gender identification for trans youth over the course of at least 6 months. The old criteria would classify tomboys as transgender, for instance. Modern studies show that transgender people have a persistence rate of 97.5% and very few “detransition” even five years later.

Not to be outdone, though, Donald Trump released his own incendiary video with some of the worst national anti-trans policies ever proposed. See his video here:

Trump’s video quickly gained attention among activists for transgender rights. His policies should be nothing new to people who have followed state level legislation. What is new, however, is his advocacy for specific policy objectives targeted at transgender people and care providers at the national level. The policies that Trump outlined are eliminationist in nature - they would result in extreme cruelty and suicide in the transgender community.

Here are the healthcare policies he outlined:

• Gender affirming care being seen as child abuse.

• The revocation of all gender affirming care protections in the federal government.

• Ending all programs promoting sex and gender transition “at any age.”

• Ending all taxpayer dollars being used on gender affirming care.

• Banning gender affirming care for trans youth nationwide.

• Declaring hospitals and healthcare providers that treat trans youth no longer be Medicaid and Medicare eligible.

• Liability lawsuits for doctors providing gender affirming care for trans youth.

• Investigations of hospitals and manufacturers of gender affirming care medication.

He also listed a series of education policies:

• Investigating affirming teachers for “civil rights violations” and giving them “severe consequences.”

• Eliminating federal funding for affirming schools.

• Credentialing teachers only if they promote “positive education about the nuclear family.”

• Defining “male and female” as biological sex assigned at birth nationally, erasing trans people from the law.

• A nationwide ban on trans people in sports.

• Forced outing for trans youth.

The above list of policies is essentially a list of things that several states in the United States are doing. Tennessee, for instance, is pushing a policy right now that would make gender affirming care child abuse and would target parents for allowing them to get that care. Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas has already begun investigations on the companies that make the drugs used for gender affirming care. Forced outing provisions, sports bans, and the threatening of funds are all being pushed in bills that have been passed or are moving across the country. Although the impact of these bills and laws are high, there are still many states which protect their transgender citizens. You can see my legislative risk assessment map where I detail that landscape. Should Trump become president again and enact these policies, even those people may not be safe.

While Trump’s list of policies are extreme and frightening, DeSantis is the candidate that already has experience using the mechanisms of power to enact them. He has already used executive power to, for instance, end Medicaid coverage for transgender adults by establishing his own “standards of care” in Florida that go against the national standards of care as accepted by all medical organizations. He recently took action to exclude queer topics from AP African American Studies courses using the executive power of the Governor’s Office. Most relevant to the dueling videos, he convened a handpicked Board of Medicine that banned gender affirming care for trans youth entirely - that ban is not yet in effect, but will be soon.

There are mechanisms that both presidents could use should they assume national office. We already know that Trump, for instance, famously used an executive action to remove gender identity from sex based protections in schools, workplaces, and healthcare. Could Trump or DeSantis use, for instance, the Department of Education to target transgender students, accreditation, and teachers who are affirming? Trump outlined policies that would do just that.

Could they ban gender affirming care nationwide for trans youth or even some trans adults? There are many ways that this could be pushed both legislatively and with executive orders. Legislatively, it is possible for congress to pass laws that regulate all aspects of gender affirming care. We have already seen such legislation promoted by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced a national bill to criminalize gender affirming care. Hopefully, legislation like that would be filibustered in the Senate, but this relies on the filibuster continuing to be preserved. An anti-trans president might direct the FDA to take unprecedented actions against the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy in trans youth and may go after the companies that make them with regulatory actions. In his speech, Trump also pointed at using the office of Civil Rights to go after “civil rights violations” of allowing transition. We also know that Trump has been more than willing to withhold federal funding. The weaponization of federal agency regulations against transgender people is something that I have personally kept my eye on since Ron DeSantis began using those agency mechanisms in Florida.

Watching both of the main Republican presidential candidates speak out so forcefully against transgender people is frightening. Trans people have already been used as a political football in many states and are facing unprecedented attacks on access to medication, facilities, and legal recognition. We are already seeing our rights debated in national publications like the New York Times. Having to watch national attack ads and national debates would be traumatic for the community, and yet it seems like things are progressing in that direction.

Judging from both of these 2024 presidential contenders, the 2024 election could be the most important in history for transgender people. Many members of the community fear that if one of these presidents are elected, we will have no where to seek safety under a federal crackdown on our rights. The debate over trans rights is becoming nationalized right before our eyes. It is essential that elected officials and allies prepare by becoming knowledgeable in the fights that are happening now in the states in order to be prepared to protect our rights nationwide.