The Freedom From Religion Foundation says the anti-transgender rights executive order that President Trump signed last night is religious overreach.
The “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” order seeks to eliminate the rights and legal status of transgender and nonbinary Americans, following the Christian nationalist script that Project 2025 and Speaker Mike Johnson have laid out.
Government decisions, including those affecting gender identity and expression, must remain free from religious influence. FFRF notes that imposing laws or executive orders derived from religious doctrines on citizens violates the constitutional principle of secular governance.
Trump’s executive order states that the U.S. government will recognize two sexes: male and female. It directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to “require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex.” The order also rescinds several guidance documents from the Biden administration, such as the “White House Toolkit on Transgender Equality.” The order states, “‘Sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.’”
Nevertheless and confusingly, in his inaugural speech, Trump used the word “gender” as synonymous with “sex,” saying, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Associated Press reports: “The American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association hold that gender is a spectrum, not a binary structure consisting only of males and females.”
Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order, and no federal taxpayer money could be used to fund gender-affirming care. Transgender women in federal prison are to be transferred to men’s prisons and no longer provided with gender-affirming medical treatments — affecting up to 1,500 incarcerated trans women.
FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott advises that the order appears to conflict with rules adopted under the Administrative Procedures Act. Trump’s administration will have to follow the Act in order to rescind or adopt new rules. Elliott adds that the government has a duty of care for the incarcerated.
Similarly, the order instructs the attorney general to “correct the misapplication” of the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, which determined that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against transgender individuals. This order is expected to be litigated.
In addition to this order, Trump rescinded President Biden’s executive order protecting the right of transgender individuals to serve in the U.S. military, an action expected to pave the way for a new executive order with an official ban.
Trump is expected to soon issue a ban on trans people in the military, which, unlike the first order, would evict all currently serving transgender service members. The order is expected to demeaningly render transgender individuals as “unfit to serve” via a medical discharge. Nearly 15,000 service members would be kicked out for their identity, not for failure to meet qualifications. This mass eviction would undermine national security since the military fell short by 41,000 recruits last year in its recruitment goals.
Human Rights Campaign, which the Freedom From Religion Foundation last year gave $50,000 to through the Henry Zumach Freedom From Religious Fundamentalism Award, calls the U.S. military “the largest employer to transgender people in the country.” The organization has promised to push back.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation opposes any legal decision or policy rooted in religious doctrine, including those that aim to restrict the rights of transgender individuals. Our Constitution guarantees that the government must remain secular, ensuring equality and fairness for all citizens, regardless of personal identity or religious belief.
“Laws that discriminate against transgender individuals based on religious ideologies infringe on the rights of those who do not share those beliefs,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “True religious freedom demands freedom from the imposition of religious beliefs. When government policies affecting gender identity are influenced by religious doctrine, they violate the First Amendment and threaten the rights of everyone, including transgender individuals.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national association of 40,000 members whose purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Photo by Tomasz Zielonka on Unsplash
