Trump administration moves swiftly to roll back transgender rights

Government agencies act rapidly to enforce Trump’s executive orders restricting transgender rights, prompting legal challenges.

U.S. President Donald Trump greets attendees before signing the "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 5, 2025. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

By Clarisa Sendy and Adelina Indah

The Trump administration is moving quickly to enforce its recent executive orders rolling back transgender rights, triggering a wave of legal challenges. Federal agencies, healthcare providers, and educational institutions have already begun implementing the changes, which affect transgender individuals in the military, sports, healthcare, and prisons.

Since the first round of executive orders in Trump’s new term, the military has paused transgender recruitment, hospitals have canceled gender-affirming treatments, and prisons have started transferring transgender inmates from women’s to men’s facilities. The sweeping policy shifts have sparked immediate lawsuits from civil rights groups and affected individuals.

On Wednesday, Trump signed another executive order targeting transgender athletes, fulfilling a key campaign promise. The directive threatens to cut federal funding from schools that allow transgender girls and women—whose sex at birth was male—to compete in female sports. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has already signaled plans to adjust its policies in response, affecting nearly all of its 1,100 member schools.

"From now on, women’s sports will be only for women," Trump declared at a press conference, surrounded by female athletes and their parents.

Government agencies work to eliminate "gender ideology"

Federal agencies have been directed to root out so-called “gender ideology” from government programs. This has led to the removal of transgender-related content from several federal websites. The White House also cited its stance on transgender issues as a justification for restructuring the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), arguing that foreign aid had been funding projects featuring transgender themes, such as a Colombian opera and a Peruvian comic book.

At the same time, the administration has begun reversing protections for transgender individuals in federal prisons. Late Tuesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the transfer of three transgender women from women’s prisons to men’s facilities, ruling that the move could violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The administration countered that transgender women have historically been housed in male facilities and that it had selected prisons where risks to the inmates would be minimized.

Legal battles are also intensifying over the military’s treatment of transgender service members. Lawyers representing current and prospective transgender troops have asked a federal court to block Trump’s new ban, arguing that it constitutes unlawful discrimination. The plaintiffs claim that the administration has already begun pushing transgender personnel out of the armed forces.

Memos sent to top military officials last week directed them to halt the processing of transgender applicants, reassign staff working on gender-related policies, and enforce strict regulations requiring individuals to use facilities corresponding to their biological sex.

At least one transgender Army trainee, a 28-year-old woman, was removed from barracks and placed on a cot in an empty classroom. According to court filings, she was told she might be expelled from the military unless she signed a form stating she was willing to “live in male bays, utilize male latrines, and be partnered with a male battle buddy.” However, a Justice Department lawyer testified in court that no transgender service members had officially been discharged due to the executive order.

New restrictions on transgender healthcare

The administration’s crackdown on transgender rights has also extended to healthcare. On January 28, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming treatments to minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for individuals under the age of 19.

The order states that “this dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end.” It gives the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 60 days to develop an implementation plan and 90 days to publish updated guidance.

However, many healthcare providers are already scaling back services in anticipation of funding cuts. Several major hospitals have stopped accepting new transgender patients, and some have canceled routine hormone checkups and surgeries.

Lawsuits have quickly followed. On Tuesday, a group of minors and their families sued the Trump administration, arguing that the order is discriminatory, exceeds presidential authority, and intrudes on states' traditional role in regulating healthcare.

Kristen Chapman, one of the plaintiffs, said that a Virginia hospital abruptly canceled an appointment for her 17-year-old transgender daughter the day after Trump’s order was signed. The family had already relocated from Tennessee to Virginia to escape state-level restrictions on gender-affirming care.

"I am heartbroken, tired, and scared," Chapman said.

Broader legal and political battle over transgender rights

More than 25 states have implemented restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, with Tennessee’s laws among the strictest. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing a Tennessee case that will determine whether such bans can remain in place nationwide.

During oral arguments in December, the Biden administration argued that Tennessee’s restrictions were discriminatory and ignored the medical consensus supporting gender-affirming treatments. With the Trump administration now in power, legal experts anticipate that the federal government will reverse its stance and defend state bans.

Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers and advocacy groups continue pushing for broader rollbacks of transgender rights. The Trump administration’s rapid policy shifts suggest that transgender individuals will face increasing legal and institutional challenges in multiple areas of life—from schools and sports to military service and healthcare.

As lawsuits mount and policies evolve, the coming months will shape the future of transgender rights in America, setting legal precedents that could endure for years to come.

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