Donald Trump has ordered it be the policy of the US to ‘not fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support’ people transitioning

Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the trans community which some readers may find distressing.

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to ‘protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation’.

Within 24 hours of being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump wasted no time signing off on a list of executive orders, including an official policy declaring there are ‘only two genders’.

Since then, he’s signed a new executive order regarding the future of transgender people in the military, and yesterday (January 28), Trump signed off another executive order relating to transgender care.

Trump’s newest executive order on transgender care

Titled ‘Protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation,’ the executive order accuses medical professionals of ‘maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions’.

Branding it a ‘dangerous trend,’ the executive order calls it a ‘stain on our Nation’s history’ and calls for it to ‘end’.

“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding. Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization,” it argues.

Trump orders it to be the policy of the US to ‘not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures’.

Who’s impacted and what specific care will be restricted

Donald Trump is restricting transgender care (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

The executive order notes by ‘child’, it means anyone under the age of 19.

Calling gender affirming care ‘chemical and surgical mutilation,’ the order states the policy will ultimately ban those under the age of 19 from the ‘use of puberty blockers, including GnRH agonists and other interventions, to delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex [and] the use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, to align an individual’s physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex’.

The order will also see the ban for those under the age of 19 of any ‘surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions’.

The order is aimed at cutting transgender support from federally-run insurance programs – including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.