On Transgender Awareness Day, March 31st, 2022, the White House gave a press release in support of this national outline and to outline the “support the mental health of transgender children, remove barriers that transgender people face accessing critical government services, and improve the visibility of transgender people in our nation’s data.” These three critical points work to move our country toward understanding and improving equality. Acknowledging the role of gender in the lives of children is a huge step in this direction, which has also been controversial throughout history. Even today, Republican legislators across the country are fighting against gender and sexuality education for children, arguing that teaching concepts like homosexuality and gender transitions have the power to influence children negatively. Others, myself included, argue that supporting children in their developing identities is critical to the growth of happy, loving individuals.
This press release acknowledges the anti-trans legislative push that began during the Trump Administration and continues under Conservative lawmakers today, especially in Republican states like Mississippi, Idaho, and Texas. It references Biden’s stance that these bills are “un-American” and harmful to the country and to those who it serves to protect. In addition to confirming the importance of support for trans children, the press release also outlines plans to improve access to public resources like housing and healthcare for trans individuals, as well as increase visibility in data. These issues are connected to many facets of oppression that trans individuals face, including increased mental health challenges, higher rates of houselessness, and increased risk of interpersonal violence. In my own opinion, this Administration is taking steps to return our country to a place of acceptance for individuals with different identities far more than the previous one. However, sometimes these actions can feel performative, even if they come from a place of seeking equity and inclusion for all.
In exciting news, as of April 11th, the US Department of State will make history as the first federal government to extend the third option for gender to passports. This option will be marked as an “X” and is designed to include genderfluid, non-conforming, and non-binary people who do not fit into the “F” or “M” categories require no medical documentation nor symmetry to other identity documents. Both medical documents and matching legal documents can be significant barriers to entry for individuals, so removing the need for these is a critical part of this step. In other travel news, TSA will be improving its screening technology and identity validation to be sensitive to different identities, reducing the need for hands-on screenings and increasing awareness of gender presentation that differs from one’s documentation. The Department of Homeland Security is also working to ensure that partner organizations like airlines and traveler programs like PreCheck follow in accordance with these updates.
The press release goes on to detail resources for trans children and families, including increased mental health resources and training for educators on inclusivity and support for these students. These resources come in response to the higher risk of self-harm and suicide in trans and non-binary youth which can be a result of the oppression they face in schools. It also focuses on healthcare resources, including publishing research on the positive effects of gender-affirming healthcare and trauma-informed care on the lives of trans youth, advocating against the narrative that these things are somehow harmful. Even with the privatization of healthcare in the US, I feel as though there is a lack of emphasis on the importance of education and support for diverse and inclusive healthcare professionals, along with support for insurance-covered gender-affirming care. Access to healthcare should be considered a human right, and its inaccessibility to trans individuals who already face so many barriers to receiving equitable treatment is an injustice. In my opinion, increased funding for successful public healthcare is a concrete systemic change that would increase access to not only gender-affirming care but also everyday healthcare for trans and non-binary people.
The Administration is working to increase access to federal benefits like retirement funds, job applications, student federal aid, and employment discrimination filings by removing some of the barriers to entry in paperwork such as the social security documents. Some of these changes are as simple as adding an “X” as a gender option on these forms. Budgeting changes were proposed as well, including funding for research on representing gender and sexuality in the census report. In terms of healthcare, work is being done to protect trans patients and promote gender-affirming care as a health benefit, along with continuing research into health equity and HIV/AIDs.
According to this release, the White House also advocates against discriminatory legislation and for civil rights protections for these individuals. It does so by condemning bills that discriminate against trans individuals and pushing for the passage of the Equality Act in the Senate. At the beginning of his term, President Biden signed an Executive Order which asserted the stance of the Administration as firmly in support of the human rights of LGBTQ+ individuals as they are protected under the Constitution. This order called on our governing departments to enforce anti-discriminatory practices and protect the rights of the people they serve.
The White House also includes information on the support for trans people in service and veterans, which includes reversing the ban on trans people serving in the Armed Forces. This Executive Order was supported by the Department of Defense through anti-discriminatory policies within the services and healthcare for veterans. For trans protection on a larger scale, the White House initiated a council to combat interpersonal violence against trans individuals and strengthen anti-discrimination policies in prisons and community safety programs. Additionally, they are working to protect incarcerated trans people and promote the safety of trans and Two-Spirit indigenous folk.
In the education field, an Executive Order that sought to protect gender-diverse students from sexual harrassment and sexual violence was introduced, which the Department of Education will support in its Title IX revisions. This department also released resources for trans students and their families for accessing education regardless of identity. For economic and housing departments, the press release states that the Fair Housing Act will be enforced to protect these individuals and that they will seek to protect trans people who are experiencing houselessness while providing them with increased resources. The Department of Labor takes a similar stance, working for equal access to employment and nondiscrimination policies to protect those in the workforce.
Within the White House walls and in the Federal government, we can expect to see improvements in the employment and representation of gender- and sexuality-diverse individuals. Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Secretary for Health, became the first trans person confirmed to the Senate in March 2021, and the press release cites a 14% representation of LGBTQ+ people in the Administration. Personally, I would love to see this number rise along with an increase of gender-diverse BIPOC in the Federal government. Internal diversity can be a powerful indicator of the motivations for the support activism for different identities.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I don’t pretend to understand the experiences of trans individuals, but I do have some experience with performative activism and support for my identity. Sometimes it can feel like there’s a great disparity between what people think we want and need and what would actually benefit us. Rainbow capitalism, which describes the for-profit marketing of pride and LGBTQ+ interest by corporations, is a great example of this. These companies might assume that we want rainbow sneakers (and that assumption is generous on my part), but in reality, we want them to stop funding conservative politicians.
I can see how some of these statements, namely the repeated emphasis of this letter “X” that will reverse discrimination, can seem performative, but I do feel like these policies go deeper than a checkbox. It’s important to acknowledge how far we have come to be able to see this as a small step and not an earth-shattering rejection of the gender binary. Small steps are still steps, and I would argue that in conjunction with these other pieces like increased funding and access to resources along with the passing of legislation like the Equality Act really do add up to big steps in the right direction.
I appreciate this press release and what this Administration is striving for, but I also want to acknowledge the place of trans individuals in its creation. In all honesty, I have no idea if trans people were consulted in these actions, but I do know that it is such an underrepresented population, especially in the political sphere, and that trans people have such a wide range of identities and experiences that could not possibly be showcased with a few opinions. There’s a research concept called community-based participatory action that I think applies well here because it advocates for the community improvements to center the needs and desires of that community above those in power or the researchers. I would always encourage people to start with the population they seek to help, with the understanding that we have so much further to go, and these conversations must outlast a single day like March 31st. My hope is that it continues with this Administration and is followed through with legislative and Supreme Court decisions these upcoming years.
By Sydney Sullivan