There has been much ink already spilled over the results of the US election, and no doubt much more will be spilled before inauguration day and the days following, but I cannot help but add my two cents about the potential impact a second Trump presidency will have on gender activists.
Two days after his election, Donald Trump released a video where he outlined his plan to deal with gender ideology, or what he called “the chemical, physical and emotional castration of our youth.”
The video contained many undertakings that were foreshadowed during the campaign, like passing legislation that would make “male” and “female” the only sex descriptors recognised by the US Government and that these would be determined at birth; removing men from playing in women’s sports; and ensuring parents are not forced down a gender-affirmative pathway for their children.
But the items that sparked my interest were those that related to the cessation of funding for so-called gender affirmative practices.
Trump said that he would “sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age, ask Congress to stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.”
He went further to say that any hospital or health care provider that chemically or surgically transitions minors would lose its Medicaid and Medicare funding, and that schools that promoted gender ideology would similarly lose federal funding.
It wasn’t only about the potential loss of funding for programs and procedures. Trump put doctors and others on notice about potential financial liability, including “the creation of a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who have unforgivably performed these procedures on minor children” and a Department of Justice investigation into whether pharmaceutical companies and hospital networks were downplaying the risks of hormones and puberty blockers and using them in a way for which they were not licensed. Evidence that this was the case—even in part—would likely see large class action lawsuits of the type for which Americans have become infamous.
If the President-elect makes good on even a portion of these promises, my sense—or at least my hope—is that the gender movement will grind to a halt.
There is no doubt that the gender movement has been very lucrative for its early adopters. Scott Newgent, who underwent female-to-male gender transition as an adult has testified on multiple occasions that the combination of hormone treatment and surgery for him to transition has cost close to US $1 million in six years, which is part of a gender-affirming industry that is predicted to top $5 billion by the end of the decade.
But if suddenly, the tap of government funding is turned off and the floodgates are opened for potential litigation, it is quite possible that health professionals, educators, and others who were so quick to embrace the gender-affirmative movement will very quickly back away.
It was easy enough to push gender ideology when it was popular and profitable, but President Trump was given a very clear mandate to cut the funding and put an end to what he called “gender insanity.” Come 20 January, this movement will not only be less popular and less profitable; it could be financially risky.
And here’s the thing. Progressivism has no martyrs. How many do you think will continue to push the trans stuff once the money dries up and it could start costing them instead?
Look at Bud Light. In April of last year, it was subject to a sizeable boycott and a dramatic loss of profits after using transwoman Dylan Mulvaney to promote its brand. Just last week, however, the same company released a new advertisement for the same beer that openly parodies “woke culture.” Because once the money dried up, so did its commitment to progressive causes.
A sudden stop in the American trans trend will have a ripple effect around the world, because so many other cultures import their popular culture from the US. It can’t come soon enough.