President Donald Trump on Jan. 29 signed yet another sweeping executive order — this time to defund K-12 schools for supporting trans students — in a continuation of his administration’s dizzying assault on the rights of transgender and non-binary individuals across America.
The latest executive order, entitled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” calls for the president’s cabinet to come up with a so-called “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” featuring a plan to eliminate “federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
The order further states that the “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” must contain a section with a summary and analysis of “federal funding sources and streams, including grants or contracts, that directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology.”
The administration also sparked fears that educational institutions will be forced to out students to their parents or guardians — even if the student objects due to hostility in an anti-LGBTQ household. The order directs the administration to evaluate each agency’s process to prevent or rescind federal funds from being used by a school “to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor’s social transition from the minor’s parents.”
The executive order directs the attorney general to coordinate with state attorneys general and local district attorneys to “enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by sexually exploiting minors; unlawfully practicing medicine by offering diagnoses and treatment without the requisite license; or otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.”
Like other recent orders published by the White House, it is infused with transphobic and other anti-LGBTQ language, while also perpetuating racist rhetoric — including one wildly nonsensical line stating that “innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics.”
Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, who previously ran the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term, most recently served as chair of the board at America First Policy Institute, a transphobic right-wing think tank which claims it fights against “gender ideology.”
The executive order drew immediate condemnation from across the LGBTQ community, including LGBTQ legal groups. Many have insisted that the president has no such power to carry out the executive order, and others have reminded the public that education is primarily governed by state and local governments.
The New York State Education Department, when asked by Gay City News about the order on Jan. 30, said, “The executive branch lacks authority to disregard acts of Congress; as such, we are reviewing the recent executive orders. This review is informed by our belief that state and local control remains the bedrock of our nation’s education system, and this principle will not be enhanced through federal curriculum mandates. We remain committed to ensuring that schools are safe, welcoming environments for all students, which is a bipartisan issue. We will continue to work with the legislature and governor to ensure that our schools remain devoted to truth, excellence, and free inquiry.”
The New Pride Agenda, a statewide LGBTQ organization in New York, is urging the state’s leaders to step up in response to the executive order.
“Proclaimed as a ‘safe haven’ state, we now need our leaders to meet the moment with action,” New Pride Agenda’s executive director, Kei Williams, said in a written statement. “That means fully implementing our shield laws, investing in the health and wellness of TGNC communities, and responding to these threats with the urgency they demand.”
Multiple LGBTQ organizations have threatened legal action over the executive order. Nicholas Hite, a senior attorney with Lambda Legal, said the executive order consists of “patently unconstitutional nonsense designed to demean transgender and all LGBTQ+ young people, deny their very existence, and cause them harm.”
Hite said Lambda Legal is “taking a hard look at the details of this horrific executive order” and is “actively considering potential courses of action.”
“And this time, it is actively putting transgender and non-binary youth in harm’s way in our nation’s public schools,” Hite said. “Compelling federally-funded schools to disrespect the identities of LGBTQ+ youth, particularly trans youth, not only opens them up to harassment, bullying, and abuse, but in fact encourages it. And forcing schools to teach a skewed and fictitious version of history that denies our nation’s past injustices compounds the lawlessness of this order.”
Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), which was founded last year in a merger between the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and National Center for Trans Equality, also threatened legal action. The organization labeled the president as a “bully-in-chief” and said he is trying to “outlaw kindness and common decency in schools and make it illegal for teachers to call their students by the name they want to be called.”
“Our team of lawyers and policy analysts will be scrutinizing the executive order closely in the coming days for its impact on our community, and we stand ready to use every resource at our disposal, from Capitol Hill to the courts, to defend the rights of all students, parents, and teachers who deserve to feel safe and welcome at school.”
GLSEN, which works to ensure LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment, also blasted the order.
“The new administration is trying to use the bully pulpit of the Oval Office to intimidate LGBTQ+ youth and their families, but that does not change the material rights that people have under federal laws and the US Constitution,” GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers said in a written statement. “Schools should take every action to uphold the civil rights of their students instead of caving to political messaging and fearmongering coming out of an increasingly reckless White House.”
The Congressional Equality Caucus tore into the president over the executive order with a stinging statement by out gay Congressmember Mark Takano of California, who co-chairs the caucus.
“As a former teacher, I’m appalled by Donald Trump’s attempt to use the federal government to censor LGBTQI+ voices and stories in our schools and make LGBTQI+ students less safe,” Takano said. “Every student deserves to be respected at school and receive an honest education, free from discrimination. America was founded on the principles of free speech, free expression, and freedom from government censorship, but President Trump doesn’t care about any of that. All he wants is to attack LGBTQI+ people — maybe to distract the public from the chaos his Administration is wreaking across the country.”
