This past week has been heavy. Hearing about the threatening proposals in regard to immigrants, gender identities, abortion rights, equity and more has been disheartening to say the least. There comes a feeling of helplessness when reading the news each morning, and it is clear where it stems from: President Donald Trump. This past week of Trump’s administration has been full of talk and mass panic in many regards.
On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order to help with “protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship,” as quoted from the official White House website, which essentially questions birthright citizenship. According to the States United Democracy Center regarding birthright citizenship, the 14th Amendment established “The United States guarantees citizenship to all children born inside its borders, regardless of the immigration status of their parents,” and it has been an effective guarantee that has been in place for over a century and a half. Trump is trying to make sure this is not the case.
Another guarantee that has been in place for an extensive amount of time is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. This act makes it “illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.” However, since Trump’s reintroduction, he has taken it upon himself to revoke this act. The order, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” will directly harm minorities in the workforce. Doing so is supposed to give everybody an “even playing field,” but when considering all of the factors that go into decisions for employment, this could be detrimental.
The Trump administration also does not wish to recognize any sort of gender discrepancies, and this is clear through an invoked executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Trump’s blatant transphobia has been apparent for years, and it is now going to seriously affect trans and nonbinary people to an incredible degree.
Under this newfound order, on top of not allowing people to legally transition or identify as anything besides their sex assigned at birth, intersex people are not recognized at all. As quoted from the official white house website, “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable…” It is going to be interesting to see how this pans out if taken further. Not everything should be up to the government, and there is no true benefit to controlling the way a person identifies.
Some of these recent orders Trump is attempting to pass simply do not make sense, as there are things that should not be tampered with. Many of the orders signed have not moved forth at all, due to being blocked in court as for being “blatantly unconstitutional.” It is strange to see someone in office holding unconstitutional viewpoints regarding people living in America. People across the globe are being directly affected by these orders. It is ruining the lives of families and individuals who have worked hard to live their free lives. Seeing friends and peers living in fear is disappointing.