Trump signs executive order to punish schools that discuss trans issues
Donald Trump another anti-trans executive order. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Donald Trump has signed an executive order that seeks to punish any schools discussing transgender issues.
On Wednesday (29 January), Trump continued to sign executive orders that push boundaries, with one directing the acting education secretary to provide a plan to end “indoctrination” in schools within 90 days.
The order calls on Denise Carter to tie federal funding to whether schools teach in a way approved by the White House.
Last year, a non-binary and bisexual teacher shut down LGBTQ+ “indoctrination” classroom fears by sharing a video that explained why “the introduction you’re afraid of isn’t real”.
Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Washington Post: “Whether the federal government can influence curriculum in this way is a completely open question.
“If they were actually able to compel school districts to alter their curriculum, that would be the first time the federal government had done that. Ever.”
The move follows Trump’s previous claim that the US school system is dominated by “everything transgender” and his pledge to stop so-called “transgender lunacy” on the first day of his new administration, when he vowed to oust trans people from practically every area of public life.
LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD has warned that Trump’s “obsession” with implementing anti-trans executive orders will “come at a cost for every American”.
The president has already signed orders restricting trans healthcare options for those under the age of 19, declaring transgender military personnel “unfit” for service, and one that proclaims there are “only two sexes”.
A GLAAD spokesperson responded by saying: “The more the Trump administration focuses on spreading lies, the less it is focusing on solving problems and improving people’s lives.”
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