Trump Is Leading Government Back to Reality

In "Mere Christianity," C.S. Lewis spoke of progress, noting, “If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” I doubt President Donald Trump would ever describe himself as a “progressive,” but by Lewis’s definition, he is leading the nation in the progressive direction back to the right road on the critical issue of gender identity.

Trump’s executive order on gender identity is an about-turn for the federal government. The order reaffirms the simple truth that there are two sexes—male and female—and that there are good and necessary reasons to make this fact explicit when interpreting laws and regulations.

A woman is an “adult human female” and can be defined no other way for all laws, regulations, and guidance. Housing men in women’s prisons and taxpayer funding for male prisoners’ “transitions” is obviously wrong and will be prohibited. Coerced speech is a violation of the First Amendment, and no one should be punished for expression like declining to use false pronouns. Title IX was intended to promote opportunity for women and girls, not allow males to invade their private spaces and sports as the Biden administration twisted it to mean.

This ideology is out of touch with public opinion because it is out of touch with reality. Americans are waking up to the dangers of this ideology, and these executive orders recognize that.

A recent New York Times poll shows that a large majority of Americans oppose key components of gender ideology activism. Seventy-nine percent oppose males in women’s sports, including 67 percent of Democrats. Seventy-one percent said that children should be protected from dangerous “gender transition” puberty blockers and hormones, including 54 percent of Democrats. Protecting children from the life-altering, often irreversible damage caused by these drugs includes going after the source. A pending U.S. Supreme Court case could provide a useful tool for doing so.

Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will be argued this term. The litigation began when the state of South Carolina disqualified Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds. What does an abortion facility have to do with gender ideology? Quite a lot, actually. Given the organization’s eugenicist roots, it should come as no surprise that Planned Parenthood, in addition to killing children in the womb, brags about being a leading provider of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones which can ultimately lead to sterilization. Neither ending a life nor permanently damaging a healthy body is health care. South Carolina was right to defund Planned Parenthood.

If the Supreme Court rules correctly that Medicaid recipients do not have a right to challenge a state’s decision about which providers should be disqualified from receiving Medicaid funds, other states should follow South Carolina’s lead. Moreover, with states as the laboratories of democracy, Trump and majorities in both houses of Congress should take note of how South Carolina’s policy could be implemented throughout the federal government.

When Trump delivered his inaugural address stamped with his signature optimism, confidence, and bravado, Americans of a certain age and admirable taste in music might have thought back to 1971 when then Roger Daltrey of The Who first growled the now-famous lyric, “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.” Trump supplemented his ambitious words with immediate action, signing a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office. Among the executive orders he signed on a range of issues, his order reversing course on gender identity may turn out to be the most momentous.

By leading the federal government in a 180-degree turn back toward reality and common sense, Trump began a long-overdue federal confrontation with a toxic ideology that has wreaked havoc on Americans’ health, safety, opportunities, and freedom. His executive order was a tremendous step in the right direction.

Future generations will likely marvel that a nation as advanced and sophisticated as ours was ever deceived into believing men can become women and that—with enough drugs, hormones, and surgeries—healthy physical bodies could be manipulated to resolve anguished minds instead of providing the compassionate counseling people need.

There is much work left to be done to relegate this lie to the ash heap of history. Then, as The Who said in 1971, “I’ll get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.”

Lathan Watts is the vice president of public affairs for Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal).