If Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, he will reverse President Joe Biden’s transgender protections “on day one” of a new Trump administration, the Republican nominee said Friday.
Trump made the remark on Kayal & Company, a right-wing radio talk show in Philadelphia.
“The world is like a cuckoo’s nest right now,” he said, referring to “men playing in women’s sports,” among other transphobicthings.
Cohost Dawn Stensland raised the issue of “biological boys” in girls’ locker rooms as a result of the Biden administration’s recent rule on the enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law banning sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs.
The rule, which goes into effect August 1, states that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It notes, among other provisions, that trans and nonbinary students have the right to go by their chosen pronouns and use the restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities designated for their gender identity. Several Republican-led states have filed suit challenging the rule or vowed not to enforce it.
“We’re gonna end it on day one … the whole thing is crazy,” Trump said, and he told Stensland parents who’ve raised concerns about trans students in locker rooms needn’t be worried. Trump has often railed against trans rights and took many anti-trans actions during his presidency.
Trump actually didn’t mention the rule, but he talked about Biden enacting trans protections through executive order and said he would issue an executive order reversing that. Biden did issue an executive order on his first day in office in 2021 saying the federal government would not engage in workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and that he would “direct agencies to take all lawful steps to make sure that federal anti-discrimination statutes that cover sex discrimination prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ persons.”
The inclusive rule on Title IX enforcement, coming from the Department of Education, grew out of that. The federal rulemaking process takes longer than issuing an executive order.
As for trans people in school sports, the new Title IX rule doesn’t address that. The administration has proposed a separate Title IX rule stating that blanket bans on trans participation are not allowed but that trans athletes may be excluded from single-sex sports in certain cases. LGBTQ+ advocates have criticized the proposed rule, saying it would enable discrimination.
During his brief phone interview on the show, Trump also claimed Biden has mishandled the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas and said therefore no Jewish person should vote for Biden. He said the stock market is performing well only because he’s leading in polls and that if he loses the election, there will be a crash comparable to that of 1929. He further demonized immigrants, saying, “They’re coming in from prisons, they’re coming in from mental institutions.” And he called Biden the worst president in U.S. history.
Trump is holding a rally Saturday in Wildwood, N.J., not far from Philadelphia.