This week President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports. The measure, called the No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order, is the fourth in a series of actions to roll back transgender rights in the U.S. The orders make good on Trump’s campaign promises.
Among the executive orders are banning transgender service members from the military and restricting gender-affirming care for minors. That order is currently being challenged in the courts. The White House says the latest EO on sports is intended to protect women’s access to safe and fair athletic opportunities.
But extremism experts and those within the trans community who spoke with NJ Spotlight News say the moves point to what they call a dangerous political strategy that sows division.
“It’s a very simple way for them to divide and conquer the populous,” said Aisling MacDonald, trans resiliency project manager and trainer at Garden State Equality. “It’s a strategy we’ve seen before from different administrations. First, they attack SOGI minorities (sexual orientation or gender identifying minorities) and then use that as a wedge to take away people’s basic human rights.”
“The statistics speak for themselves. Trans identifying people are much more likely to be assaulted or face discrimination than they are to cause those things to other people,” said MacDonald. “And you can find this data across the world.”
