This was especially true on Wednesday at the White House. Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. Dozens of women and girls surrounded him. There were members of Congress there. Governors. The pomp and circumstance didn’t hide the ugliness of the moment.
He spoke of trans athletes as invaders and threats to women’s participation in sports. In fact, he called it a “war on women’s sports.” He lied about the gender of an Olympic boxer. It was all highly transphobic. Still, the applause poured in. People laughed at Trump’s attempt at jokes. Meanwhile, the price of eggs is still high.
That’s all the top line of what Trump said. That’s the message the administration wanted to send. Superficially, it was protect women. Protect women from the threat that is the trans athlete. Protect women, as Trump said, from getting “beat up.”
“From now on women’s sports will be only for women,” he said.
Of course, that’s already the case.
But there’s an important part of this story that Trump didn’t discuss. It’s the part the administration doesn’t want you to focus on. It lays bare the lie that this administration wants to “protect women.”
The theory of the case of this order, and the overall message of the anti-trans movement, goes like this: Trans women aren’t really women. They are men. (This is false.) Thus, girls and women need protection from them. (This is also false.)
Also, any woman who doesn’t fit the description of what they believe a woman should look like is a man masquerading as a woman.
The belief is that trans women have an unfair advantage competing against non-trans women. We can get into the many reasons this is wrong, but that’s for another day.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican (and a vocal supporter of the executive order), in November introduced a resolution to ban trans women from women’s restrooms at the Capitol. This was done after the election of Congresswoman Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), who became the first out transgender representative sent to Congress.
“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man,” Mace told reporters at the time. She added that McBride “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”
See that? That’s always the message. Women must be protected. Their spaces must be protected. This is said over and over. Protect women, protect women, protect women.
Of course we should protect girls and women but this story, this executive order, comes with an interesting caveat. Because if you look at the man who signed it, and also look at some of the key men around him, they do not seem to care about protecting girls or women. In fact, it’s the opposite.
Trump, who signed an executive order under the premise of protecting women, was found liable for sexual abuse. He is also on tape saying he can just grab women by their private parts. Dozens of women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct going back to the 1970s. A number of people close to Trump have been accused of sexual misconduct against women. They have denied the allegations against them.
Matt Gaetz was Trump’s original pick for U.S. attorney general. He withdrew because of accusations he had a sexual relationship with a minor while a member of Congress.
Elon Musk, a close ally of the president’s, saw his SpaceX company sued after employees said they were fired after complaining about alleged sexual harassment.
Is that what protecting women looks like?
This executive order will protect no one. It’s garbage. Trump doing it is like a fox signing the Hen Protection Act. He’s only doing this to score political points with a base that hates the trans community.
We’ve talked about what the order won’t do. Here is what the order will do.
‘This order could expose young people to harassment and discrimination, emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look,’ Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement on Tuesday. ‘Participating in sports is about learning the values of teamwork, dedication, and perseverance. And for so many students, sports are about finding somewhere to belong. We should want that for all kids – not partisan policies that make life harder for them.’
This order will damage the lives of people who have done nothing except be their real selves.
That’s the shame of all of this. All behind the curtain.