What will happen to the population in America who consider themselves third gender, migration or rebellion – what are the options?

President Donald Trump passed a controversial order on transgenders. (Photo- AFP)

Donald Trump made many big announcements as soon as he took power in America. One of these highly controversial orders is to cancel the recognition of the third gender. According to Trump, from now on there will be only two genders in the US – male and female. Trump has given the executive order, but what will happen to the population who call themselves transgender after this?

President Donald Trump passed a controversial order on transgenders. (Photo- AFP)

On January 20, the whole world’s eyes were on Washington. As soon as he became president, Donald Trump started fulfilling his promises. He gave several important executive orders, one of which is to recognize only two genders in the country. For years, there used to be a third gender in the US, which will no longer be officially recognized. Does this mean that those who consider themselves transgender will not have the same rights as ordinary Americans?

What is the population of transgenders in America?

In the US, a little more than five percent of people under the age of 30 consider themselves transgender or non-binary, that is, those who do not identify themselves with any gender. This data is from the Pew Research Center and is two years old. Meanwhile, the number has increased a lot, but no one has any definite data on this.

The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School also did a research on this, in which it was found that more than 16 lakh people above the age of 13 in America consider themselves transgender. Apart from this, there are also those who are not happy with the gender they got at birth, but are unable to express it openly. Almost the same number is of non-binary people, who do not identify themselves with any gender.

What does it mean to be transgender

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the term transgender is used to describe people who identify as or desire a gender different from the gender assigned to them at birth.

American President Donald Trump – Getty Images

Got a place in the year 2015

Despite being a modern country, LGBTQ+ was not immediately accepted in America, rather thousands of protests and campaigns were run for it. The wind changed a bit since the nineties. Later in the year 2015, the Obama government made a place for transgenders in many federal policies. Same sex marriages were also recognized in the same year. Along with this, trans couples were also allowed to adopt children. Adoption agencies do a home study to see what kind of environment is there for children, after which they do the legal process. Sometimes the application also gets rejected but this rate is the same as it happens during adoption by normal couples.

Obama-Trump-Biden, continuous changes

Even amidst a lot of controversy, the Obama administration agreed to allow the third gender to join the army. Later, Donald Trump banned it, but the Biden government overturned it by issuing an executive order as soon as it came to power. Now this decision has been reversed again. Trump not only banned transgenders from joining the army, but also directly abolished the recognition of the third gender.

Even before Trump came to the White House, the wind had started blowing against transgenders. A report by The Conversation quoted the American Civil Liberties Union as saying that 532 anti-LGBTQ bills were made across the country this year.

• Out of these, 208 bills limit the rights of students and teachers.
• About 70 bills are related to religious exemption and impose many restrictions on transgenders.
• 112 bills are related to health. Such as transgenders taking medical treatment to get their preferred gender.

What can happen now?

Trump talked about only two genders. This means that whatever gender the hospital staff assigns to the baby at the time of birth, male or female, that will be its gender. Let us tell you that doctors give a gender to the child on the birth certificate after looking at the external organs. Those who consider themselves trans could change this gender. For this, they used to take both legal and medical help. But now they will not have this right.

What will happen to those who consider themselves transgender?

A large population has changed their gender identity or is in the process of changing it. It is not yet clear whether they will have to return to their assigned identity or whether they will be able to live in the same way. It is certain that their paths are almost closed from sports to the army and they will hardly be recruited for government jobs. After losing recognition, transgenders will also have to make changes in their legal documents.

Can they leave the country?

Till now, many states of America, such as California, Massachusetts and Washington, were considered more modern than other states, where transgenders were accepted. Now, restrictions can be imposed here too. In such a situation, one way can also be migration. Let us remind you that with the announcement of Trump’s victory, many videos started appearing on social media, in which third genders were talking about going to other countries. Among these, countries like Canada, Germany and Netherlands were discussed the most. There is openness towards transgenders here and American people get entry easily. In such a situation, it is also possible that for some time the trans population goes to live in other countries, and continues to protest from there. However, there is a right-wing wind in Canada and Germany too, so it does not seem that the third gender population will be welcomed there in the same way.

One way is that they keep doing human rights movement while living in their own country. Many NGOs are working a lot on their rights. They can also go to the Supreme Court for this. The court also has the power to overturn Trump’s executive orders, though it rarely gets involved.