In his inaugural address, President Trump promised that the U.S. government’s policy will honor only two genders male and female. This proclamation has serious consequences: passports will only have the gender assigned at birth, parents will not be able to get medical care for transgender youth that is now available in roughly half of the U.S. states. Bathrooms in schools will have to be designated “male” or “female.” Teachers will not be able to provide support for transgender students. Those students who have already transitioned are not allowed to participate in sport teams that align with their genders.
That’s not all. The Trump Administration wants the Federal Bureau of Prisons to force the estimated 1,500 transgender women in custody to be housed with men. The Pentagon has been accepting troops since June 2016 and according to the research studies of The Rand Corporation, their gender identities are not affecting their performance in the military.
XX or XY Chromosomes Don’t Tell The Whole Story
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes stated in U.S.A. Today that there are over thirty different examples of intersex people such as those with XXX chromosomes or ambiguous genitalia. The Judge is waiting for a ruling from the Pentagon shortly.
More Bills Introduced in 2024
The Williams Institute, U.S.C.’s think tank that studies LGBTQ policy, reported that 655 bills were introduced last year. Not all have passed but enough to scare the transgender community. Although transgenders are less than 1% of the American population (probably a higher percentage but don’t want to reveal themselves), they are targeted!
Trans activists say the use of the term “gay” as an umbrella term erases the historic importance of trans and gender non-conforming people in the Stonewall Riots. In that LGBTQ bar in the West Village, the LGBT equality movement was born in June 28,1969 yet the U.S. Park Service has erased the word ‘transgender’ from the website commemorating the Stonewall Riot.
Generation Z Is Driving the Numbers Up
According to The New York Times, 2/23/25, the most recent Gallup telephone poll. shows that a quarter of Generation Z, those who are between 18 and 27, identify as LGBTQ, with 1.3 percent identifying as transgender. In 2020, the Transgender count was 0.6%. Members of Generation Z were most likely to be transgender, 4.1 % compared with 1.7 of millennials and less than 1% in each older generation.
They are the least understood of the LGBTQ population yet have existed throughout the ages. New York Times Opinion writer Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of her recent book Cleavage, sums up the hate against transsexuals: “the point is to isolate our small vulnerable, maligned community and mock us for our differences. The point is to use our tiny misunderstood population as useful scapegoats upon whom Mr. Trump can blame all of society’s ills.”
It is not uncommon for transexuals to be murdered. Just last week, Samuel Norquist, a transgender man, had been killed in neighboring Ontario, but his body was found in the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York. The detectives said he had been subjected to “prolonged physical and psychological abuse” between December and his death.”
Education is Key
If you want to learn about how it feels to be trans in a straight world, share the journey with two former Saturday Night Live writers, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele across the U.S. The 2004 documentary on Netflix is entitled “Will and Harper.”
Will and Harper are best friends. They met in 1995 when they worked at SNL. Will has not seen Harper as a transwoman. Like most of Harper’s friends, Will got Harper’s coming out letter at the same time as everyone else.
Married to a woman for a long time and father of two children, the former Andrew (“dead name”) Steele reveals to Will that she knew at age three that she was different. In kindergarten, she was forced to use the boys’ bathroom by his Midwest teachers although he kept trying to use the girls’ restrooms.
The SNL performers toasted Harper’s transition. Harper’s children said after their parents got divorced, it all made sense – the extensive wardrobe of dresses. Harper is wearing a dress when he picks up Will near Van Cortlandt Avenue where they use to play golf.
Will admits he didn’t know how he would feel in person seeing his old friend as a woman. He asks Harper how it feels to have “boobs,” or “top surgery,” and if he wants to date. “I want someone to love me,” replies Harper.
Of course with SNL writers, you find humor: Will asks Harper if her driving has gotten worse because she’s a woman now. When they are in Las Vegas, Will goes to a costume shop and buys a wig and mustache and says to the dinner waiter “I’m David Abernathy.” Harper thinks the waiter is onto him.
On this journey, they stop off to see Harper’s sister who said after receiving her letter that she was sorry that he must have been so unhappy for so many years living as a man and hiding his gender identity.
Wherever they go on this cross-country trip, Will mentions that Harper is a transsexual. A waitress calls Harper “sir,” and Harper retorts “ma’am.
Harper does not encounter much adversity although he’s apprehensive about it until they get to Torona, California where Harper’s simple house has been vandalized with a sign on the front door “Go Home!”
Will is sensitive to Harper’s fear and buys her a pair of diamond earrings so she’ll feel pretty.
The trip and relationship have been successful so Will stays on to drive East to New York.
When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know
For more detailed advice, see book, co-authored with a mother of a gay son and a psychiatrist, Jonathan L. Tobkes, M.D.
