US President-elect Donald Trump, during a speech on Sunday, December 22, promised to sign executive orders to end transgender surgeries on children, prevent biological males from participating in women’s sports, and end the promotion of the ideology gender in schools and the military.
“With a single stroke of my pen, on day one, we are going to stop the transgender madness,” Trump said at Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest in Phoenix.
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“Under the Trump administration, the official policy of the United States government will be that there are only two genders: male and female,” he added. “It doesn’t sound too complicated, does it?”
Trump’s comments over the weekend reflect promises the president-elect made during his 2024 presidential campaign. His remarks suggest immediate changes to federal policy when he is sworn in as president in less than a month, on January 20, 2025. .
Joseph Meaney, a bioethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in the United States, told CNA, EWTN News’ English agency: “It’s good to know that President-elect Trump has committed to making male and female the only genders recognized by the federal government of the United States.”
“This will reverse the radical agenda that the Biden administration attempted to implement in favor of transgender ideology,” Meaney said.
The president-elect said his first-day executive orders will include ending “child sexual mutilation” in the United States, a reference to transgender surgeries performed on children in about half the country.
Irreversible transgender surgeries — which include genital surgeries to make them appear more similar to the genitals of the opposite sex, breast surgeries to remove a girl’s healthy breasts or implant prosthetic breasts in boys, and other cosmetic surgeries — are still legal for boys in 24 states of the country.
According to a report From the medical watchdog group Do No Harm, at least 5,747 children underwent transgender surgeries between 2019 and 2023. This figure is based on publicly available data, but researchers believe the number is likely higher.
President Joe Biden’s administration has supported doctors performing transgender surgeries on children. The current Department of Justice, along with families represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit against Tennessee’s ban on these procedures. The case is currently before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Trump also said, “We will keep men out of women’s sports,” referring to the possibility of biological males participating in women’s and girls’ sports in about half the country. He also said he would eliminate transgenderism “from our elementary, middle and high schools.”
This would also be a radical departure from the Biden administration’s policies. Biden’s Department of Education revised his interpretation of Title IX rules to apply all prohibitions on sex discrimination, including the prohibition of discriminating on the basis of a person’s self-affirmed “gender identity.” These discrimination rules apply to primary and secondary schools, universities and other educational institutions.
However, judges in 26 states have stopped enforcement of the Biden administration’s rules after state attorneys general filed legal challenges, arguing that the executive branch lacks authority to redefine “sex” discrimination to include “gender identity” discrimination. Legal experts warned that the new regulation would override state-level policies that restrict women’s and girls’ sports, locker rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms to only biological women and girls.
Biden administration officials had been working on new regulations that would have explicitly banned state-level laws that restrict girls’ and women’s sports to only biological girls and women. However, the administration withdrew that proposal on Friday, December 20.
Trump also promised to eliminate transgenderism “from the military.” Under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense has used taxpayer-funded programs to pay for gender transitions for military members and their families. During Trump’s first term, he banned the military from allowing most people with gender dysphoria to serve in the military, citing concerns about mental health and military readiness.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter for the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.