At a conference for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to “stop the transgender lunacy” on the first day of his presidency.
“It will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he asserted. He also vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation and get transgender people out of the military and out of our elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools,” Trump said.
Transgender issues have become a culture war flashpoint in US politics, as Republicans have sought to restrict policies on access to medical care and sought to ban books even addressing the topic in public schools and public libraries.
Last week, the US Congress passed its annual defense authorization bill, despite the last-minute inclusion of language that would block certain gender-affirming treatments for the transgender children of service members.
Only about half of House Democrats voted for the typically bipartisan measure. During a phone call with reporters ahead of the vote, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Democrats had successfully removed all of the other anti-transgender provisions that were in earlier versions of the bill.