Through the presidential campaign season we saw a barrage of anti-trans rhetoric. So, it is not surprising that yesterday President Trump issued an executive order addressing transgender people in sports.
But the title and language of the executive order are interesting. The word trans only appears once in the order and in that case it is used in an innocuous way.
The title of the order is “Keeping men out of women’s sports.” Likewise, in the rambling half hour press conference, Trump kept referring to men in women’s sports. On one hand, my reaction was this doesn’t apply to me since I am not a man. But also interesting that transgender men are never mentioned.
There is a long history of greater fear and discrimination against trans women than men.
In the Nazi concentration camps trans women were more likely to be identified with the same pink triangle as gay men than were trans men.
Perhaps the difference in this response is due to the misogyny that poisons our culture. Yesterday’s press conference was a blatant pitting of cis women against trans women.
Allowing men to divide us is the oldest trick in the book.
We must learn to see that trans women’s issues and cis women’s issues are intertwined. We are both victims of patriarchy. In order for any of us to find equity, we must stand together.
