Sarah McBride laughs off Trump’s anti-trans executive order: ‘He just declared everyone a woman’
Summary
Representative Sarah McBride, the first out trans congresswoman, criticized Donald Trump’s executive order defining gender as strictly male or female.
McBride points out that biologically all embryos develop as female until the SRY gene activates weeks after conception.
The order, which ties gender to reproductive cells at conception, unintentionally categorizes all humans as female from conception based on biological facts.
McBride’s remarks highlight scientific flaws in the policy.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/sarah-mcbride-trump-executive-order-trans-b2683936.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world1007
Comments164
Anyone who thinks this shit is funny is in for a rude awakening.
They do not fucking care. They will use this the exact same way that they would have used it if it was worded correctly.
You don't get out on technicalities in fascism; if the autocrat in charge wants to do the thing, he will do it. All of these things will be used as cudgels against perceived political enemies, and marginalized US citizens.
I want people to try to be less pesimistic, the point is that technicalities like this will waste time. Every one of these exectuive orders is going to be challanged in court, and while the GOP controls the higher courts, these cases will start in the lower ones. With any luck, the lower courts will stay the order until things can get resolved. Every appeal, every challange takes time to process and judges are under no obligation to resolve things quickly.
The goal currently isnt to try and overturn the order, thats just pissing into the wind. The goal is to waste their time for 2 years and hope the house flips, if it does, we can send 47 back to his golf course for the rest of his term because he wont be able to accomplish anything.
The Senate flipping is also a very real possibility in 2026. There are 22 Republican seats up for grabs and only 13 Democratic ones.
Man, I'm tired of people calling realism "pessimism." It's kind of a huge problem actually when you think about it.
And then we'll have Couch Fucker McGoo as president.
(not intending to kink shame)
Nobody likes Vance. He'd be a completely ineffectual president. Which is preferable in my opinion.
I'm, not sure about that. vance is probably a lot more likely to be worn as a sock puppet. drumpf will at least give them a hard time everytime he doesn't want to do something.
Yeah, I'd rather have a puppet Vance than a party completely kowtowed by a rapist felon.
25th Amendment
I'm into weird TF porn, so now I'm thinking about being turned into a woman/couch hybrid, it's kinda hot ngl.
I mean I was kinda hoping agent 47 would be incredibly busy this term. I can imagine a level set inside the inauguration with the dinner and all that.
This. In much the same way an elder god doesn't give a damn about conservation of energy or the square cubed law, a dictator with effectively un-checked power doesn't care about wording of executive orders or LAWS. Be careful.
Cthulu has woken from eons (4 years) of slumber (not being president) to ravage the planet, while looking like a moldy cheese puff.
Edit: thankfully he's not nearly as powerful as this metaphor implies, but the point stands. The law won't stop him, I don't trust the Dems to stop him, the only thing that will is worker's might.
He doesn't have fucking unchecked power, he has a slim majority in congress, a full diaper, and a constitutional deadline before he stops having any power. Don't give him an inch, make them fight for every grain of sand.
With this Supreme Court and federal judge stack? Who decides constitutional issues? Who’s going to challenge the Supreme Court legally? The majority GOP senate? Or the majority GOP house of representatives? He has all three branches of government. Who can challenge all three legally? Anyone with a chance (vast wealth) were sitting behind him at the inauguration. In the sense of “checks and balances,” he literally has unchecked power.
The reason why this is good news is that the more bizarrely worded the order, the easier it is to get it throw out in court, America even now runs on the WORD of the law, not the intent.
Yeah except not really. Have you paid attention to recent SCOTUS decisions? They aren't even bothering to make cogent arguments in some cases, and hearing others that never should have standing in the first place.
Cogent arguments?
Can you clarify your question, please? Are you asking what a "cogent argument" is?
yes
Oh. Try Google.
The "de-fund the police" (but really adjust teaming to include psyche pros to ensure proper handling of at-risk people who do not warrant a response escalation) movement may show them how that's done.
Defund seems literal to me
Theres two possible interpretations due to the at conception bit I think. Either he made everyone a woman, or he abolished gender all together. Either way this EO make Trump the single largest gender changer in history as he just changed the gender of either ~150 million or ~300 million people.
It's fun to think about the hypotheticals, but the reality here is that it does not matter the exact words in the EO. We know what they mean, and they won't let some silly technicality stop them.
I really would like to see some people ask for a divorce off the fact that they were married under false pretenses. They believed they were marrying a man.
"At conception" leaves no room for interpretation - he abolished gender altogether.
Remember that sex =//= gender.
From what I read of the executive order, it seemed like he specifically got rid of gender and only recognizes sex since that isn’t an identity thing.
Oh, true, the article right there says “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” he declared.
Well, that's just dumb.
It reads to me more or less like "It's the official policy of the United States that mass and weight are the same thing."
Like I can understand the confusion that some people would have over such similar concepts, but to claim they're the same is just ridiculous and very easily disproven.
It’s definitely 80 year old senile old man logic.
He didn't actually write any of these orders. I am not sure he would even be capable.
The question becomes who did write this order.
It sounds like an 80 year old dudes opinions either way.
I totally get what you are saying. I think it would be cool to know who actually drafted all these up. It is clear Trump did not. Understanding who is writing these and who is actually calling the shots in the Trump apparatus is paramount to unraveling the truth about what is going on.
I think it is past time to keep pretending the President is the one who makes decisions. It is clear there are a lot of people that the American public does not even know that are the real policy makers.
It's terrifying that whoever wrote this order obviously lacks basic education.
Demented Fartypants McGee over there as commander-in-queef to the most powerful military in the world. No biggie.
E pluribus unum, baby.
Read it carefully, and then read it like a Republican.
This does NOT mean "a female is a person who can produce the large reproductive cell."
The BELONG is the key word here. They'll argue that anyone with XX chromosomes belongs to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. An embryo may not produce large or small reproductive cells, but they still belong to the sex that produces the large or small reproductive cell. Even if an adult is infertile, they still belong to the sex that produces the large or small reproductive cell. It's not like per-pubescent children or post-menopausal women don't have a sex marker on their passports.
That is how this is meant to be read, and that is how it will be interpreted by conservative courts.
In truth the definition is a bit circular, as it defines "sex" as:
And then in turn it defines male and female in terms of "belonging to the sex that produces..."
But I don't think the courts will really quibble with that. It's clear what the intent of the order is. And that is how it will be interpreted.
You do not have to actually be capable of producing the large reproductive cell to be a member of the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. Is this definition all-encompassing and without issues? No. But legal definitions rarely are perfect, and courts have to find ways to still apply laws that reflect the intent of their drafters. And while the wording of the order is clumsy, the intent is quite clear.
The simple existence of XY females (Swyer syndrome, 1 in 100,000 females) and XX males (de la Chapelle syndrome, 1 in 20,000 males) makes this binary declaration imperfect.
The law isn't code.
Yeah, courts often interpret poorly written stuff based on the intention gleamed from it.
I just found it funny how poorly written it was.
I read it as it defines "belonging to the male sex" as being able to produce small reproductive cells at conception, because the alternative is just cyclical nonsense. You are male if you belong to the male sex at conception. How do you know if you belong to that sex at conception? Who knows. You would have to have an outside definition to interpret it, in which case why bother writing that...
I'm not sure what is more disconcerting. That the people in charge truly are a bunch of fucking idiots.
Or that those idiots have outplayed and outsmarted the Democrats at damn near every turn for 20+ years.
If only that were at all true...
One team is trying to govern, and the other team is trying to win.
If Democrats lied constantly, denied science, sowed fear and hatred, and used the law to enforce their personal religious beliefs... They'd be indistinguishable from Republicans.
This assumes the Democrats aren't also keenly aware of what is happening and either doing a real sorry job of putting up any viable opposition or are in on the game. The two-party system is a front
This assumes a fair playing field.
They didn't outsmart them, they just are trying to destroy everything. Their actions aren't bounded by such qualifiers as "good things happening".
One gender for everyone!
You've heard of non-binary gender, get ready for its upgraded form: unary gender
Ope we're all gay now. Time to grab the most outrageous outfit you can come up with and get in the parade everybody.
Nope, you can still be straight if you’re attracted to males outside the US, executive orders aren’t worldwide
They are in America! YEAH!!! MERICA!!!
Urinary gender???
Any of y'all wanna join the Peepee Club? Urine!
Wanna come to a club where people wee on each other?
You ever drink Baileys from a shoe?
On this blessed day, we are all old greg
You've seen my downstairs mixup.
TWO GENDERS ENTER! ONE GENDER LEAVES!
Mad Musk: Beyond Genderdome
You kids are spoiled with all your gender identities. Back in my day, we only had one gender, and we were grateful for it!
You were lucky! We had to share a gender with everyone in the village!
And when that prick Jane had it, it always came back bent!
For some reason this makes me think of the inscription on the One Ring.
One gender to start them all, one gender defines them
One gender to bring them all, and in togetherness find them
It began with the forging of the Genders. Three were given to the Transgenders, eepy, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Non-binaries, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine genders were gifted to the furry-folk, who above all else desire power. For within these genders was bound the strength and the will to govern each gay community. But they were all of them deceived, for another gender was made. Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master gender, and into this gender he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.
One sex to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them.
"Human Beings", like the Greendale mascot.
If you're not female, you're dead! Not a threat, just a fact.
We’re all yesgendered now! Hooray!
I think the bigger issue is hiding in plain sight:
Personhood does not begin at conception.
We all know that's why the mistake was made. It's not exactly rocket surgery.
It’s a P2025 script. Oklahoma made it into law into September, with the same ridiculous misunderstanding of basic biology. It doesn’t matter, they know who they are supposed to oppress.
The Vatican has entered the chat
And if it legally does, since I'm a chimera, can I use the carpool lane?
You should apply for a second birth certificate, on the grounds that both of the "people" who were conceived were actually born. You should seek a second SSN, claim them as a dependent on your taxes.
That would be an interesting approach to how to deal with me being trans. "Actually you only issued my brother his birth certificate, I'm the sister, here's the proof I was born"
Trump: "You must identify with the gender you were at the time of conception."
Science: "Everyone starts out as women and don't become men until 6 weeks after conception."
Trump: "That is exactly what I meant. Everyone who knows science must identify as a girly girl."
Trump decided he wanted to be the first female president obviously. Don't you liberals understand 5d chess!?
"Trump beat Hilary to being the first woman president" is honestly hilarious to me. Sad, but also hilarious.
He literally just wants to be the first female president
Can anyone clarify how the 6wk part override the zygote being XX or XY at conception? (Automod deleted my last inquiry)
The chromosomes being set at conception seems to be the sticking point for those in favor.
Trumps EO states that sex is no longer determined by chromosomes and is now done by reproductive organs. Someone please correct me if im wrong.
My charitable reading is that Donald has transitioned 175million people against their will. He should be ban from going near any school we don't want him trying to forceably transition more people.
Maybe one could argue that sex doesn't produce reproductive organs, the sex organs do?
I thought it was specifically at conception? So chromosomes..??
At least McBride can now use the women's restrooms in the Capitol. And so must all the other politicians!
Does this make him officially the first woman president? So progressive.
If it's retroactive, then we haven't had a single male president.
EO != law
Donvict and his supporters (yeah, I know, don't blame the precious voters!) don't really understand science.
Someone should sue JD Vance for addressing Trump as Mr. President. Illegally addressing him as a man. Clearly sewing doubt in the direct orders of the president, it's detrimental to the entire country.
Bad headline IMO, she's more so pointing out more flaws in it which is different than laughing it off
"This is logically flawed because " won't really bother a bunch of Young Earth Creationists. You're arguing with people who will retreat to the baseline argument "because God said so" in a pinch. Getting into the messy details of embryonic development won't save you, because that's not how their nominations to the FBI, the DOJ, or the Federal Judiciary are going to interpret any of it.
Actually it being poorly written helps a lot with court challenge. That was one of the reasons why so much was overturned in his first administration. There was a fear that this time he'd sign better written executive orders that would survive challanges instead we're getting a lot of them like this
The truth is, they don't care how poorly written it is, they're just trying to flood the zone with stuff, and they win no matter the outcome. If it's not challenged, they have policy, if it is challenged, it occupies time and resources and most importantly, if it's challenged unsuccessfully, they have legal precident.
It also takes up their time and resources to which I say: good. Slow it all down
They'd rather be able to steam roll through it all. Make them waste time defending everything so they can't sue as much about things they do care about or move on to putting other things in effect
This is where I'm at too. Even rubber stamping shit takes a non zero amount of time. We should be bouncing back anything that has so much as a misplaced comma, let alone shit like this.
They have more time and resources as many of the challenges are spun off and subcontracted to their cronies. And they don't especially care if things grind to a halt, that's also a win for them, they can play victim to the public with it and scream about how they really want to get on with running a government.
Many of the orgs fighting them also aren't governmental like the ACLU, the EFF, and other groups. Plus even localities like cities are even filing lawsuits against his EOs
Biden had tons of his stuff blocked in courts and got all the blame for the courts blocking it. The public isn't really good at paying attention to why something happened only that it didn't
Yeah, Biden got blamed because his orders failed in courts that were stacked by Trump, pointing to it like it was a sign of his incompetence.
Dems will be blamed for Trump's agenda being stalled causing any and all problems for people stemming from his policies that do go through.
They're great at twisting everything against the Dems (and, honestly, the Dems suck at pushing back in any effectual manner)
No it doesn't slow them down. They will do the fucking thing anyway. Why do you think they'd stop just because they used the wrong wording?
Who the fuck is going to stop them?
It has slowed them before. Make them have to keep rewriting it to survive challenges
Make them deal with the companies who don't trust the next admin won't just go the opposite way. Apple for instance is keeping TikTok delisted from the App Store despite trump trying to extend it
Make them have to deal with federal worker strikes
Make them have to deal with local & state officals who won't comply with invalid orders
There is a fight. Don't let them get away without one
How is it not already abundantly clear that this is not "before." There is no precedent for what is currently happening
Who "makes" them exactly? This is fascism now. The person with the biggest army gets what they want, and everyone else better shut the fuck up or die.
It's YOUR TIME AND RESOURCES! They do it on public employee time and with tax money. They are weaponizing the state against the people. There isn't an upside to this.
So stand down and never fight? Absolutely not
There is a fight, don't let them go without one
Progress will happen at the local and state level. The goal at the federal level is damage control
https://www.openculture.com/2024/11/the-cias-simple-sabotage-field-manual.html
And every challenge is a chance to kick it up all the way to the Supreme Court where it can be enshrined as constitutional precedent.
You think the supreme court won't side with whatever schlock trump puts out? You should listen to a few of their hearings. The ones on free speech and transgender issues are specifically telling.
Not all cases make it up to SCOTUS. Massive numbers of suits are being filed right now, they can't take them all up with just 9 justices. Many of these lawsuit are intentionally filed in places with more dem appointees on the district and appeals courts
SCOTUS is insane, but they are also not in lock step with Trump. They have their own agenda that often align with Trump but not always. For instance, they just ruled 9-0 on the TikTok ban while Trump was calling for the courts to rule the opposite way
We won't we every fight, but there's fights we can win. Use every tool we can against them
https://newrepublic.com/post/190366/gorsuch-supreme-court-tiktok-ban
This assumes the courts will challenge it.
There are already groups that have pledge lawsuits on this specific executive orders. The courts don't just decide to do a lawsuit, people and organizations
Others have already filed multiple lawsuits on multiple of his executive orders. There's 4 different lawsuits already filed against his one trying to overturn birthright citizenship for instance. ACLU, group of 22 state attorney generals, separate group of states, and some other orgs.
Also note that they're also filing many of these in courts with more dem appointees who are much more likely to grant injunctions, rule favorably, etc. This is a tactic called judge shoping that republicans have historically loved to exploit and now it's being used against them. Most cases never reach SCOTUS so this stuff matters. SCOTUS can only take up so many cases with 9 justices and there's already massive numbers of suits here
No, it assumes that they will give a shit what the court says if they rule against them.
The average intelligence of his hanger ons has dropped through the floor. Not to say there arent some possibly smart ones but those ones are probably having to spend way more energy keeping themselves sane, imagine being stuck in a room with both Trump and Musk youd have to expend so much willpower just to not go into a suicidal and homocidal rage.
You're acting like this is still a country of law and order.
"God made me a woman at conception and changed me to a man. I'm correcting God's indecisiveness."
This exactly. It's disconcerting to see how many people seem to be laughing this off.
They have zero interest in logic and consistency. We know what they mean, the actual words they used don't matter.
Its so stupid that the government of one of the world's most powerful countries is occupying itself trying to restrict people's healthcare and bathroom usage based on some poorly understood and arbitrary rules about zygotes. Meanwhile, the planet burns.
It’s easier to wage an imaginary culture war than it is to try to make any real changes
it's a distractions and a very effective one at that.
So this means we did get the first female president! Yippee
I KNEW IT!
I'M A LESBIAN!!!!!
I've known my whole life and it's a relief to FINALLY to be able to come out officially.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT RUMP!
The president Donald Trump is the president with more women in their cabinet ever.
Dude is literally drowning in pussy
I wish, that'd be a hell of a headline.
"Muffled at Last, Serial Snapper Grabber Snatched to Death"
Binders of women
So far, only one cabinet member has been confirmed by the Senate, Marco Rubio for Secretary of State...
So I guess you're still not wrong. ;)
Haha this is so awesome, she should tell that one to a trans person being denied healthcare.
VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO, because they're all hilarious, woahfully ineffective at combatting conservatives and the far right, but hilarious.
Isn’t that every despot’s idea, though? Make all laws used to control people nebulous enough that they can be applied to anyone for whatever reason? Just because it’s inept doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.
We'd all better march down to the DMV and update our genders then...
It's required by imperial edict now.
No! That's where the pants pocket removal squads will get you.
You can have my pockets when you pry my cold dead hands from them.
I feel like an invulnerable Goddess, in my sleep Trump tried to turn me into a man. I went Ultra Instinct and slapped that shit without waking up, and when I finally do get up I find that the whole country is one giant lesbian slumber party.
This shit aint nothing to me ma'am, Madame President could suck my gock if I wasn't post-op.
Trump scientifically and detail obtuse, color me derped!
I would laugh my ass off that this bites him in the ass because it makes all scientific distinctions useless when making more laws. Just because his dumb ass doesn't understand the nuance.
There's an easy way to redefine this. If Trump can grab you by it, and you just let it happen because he's a star, you're a woman.
So everyone's a man given his tiny baby hands?
Damn. So that means all males (including me) are technically transgender.
I think I'll have some coffee, then.
No, it really doesn't. All ethical arguments aside, veterinarians/doctors/scientists/animal breeders often sex-select sperm for breeding purposes, very common as far as animals, I assume common enough in assisted human pregnancies. Anyways, bio sex is literally determined by the male input, not the female, it is quite literally decided at conception even if you can't see it yet. (Why I know this? Farmer. You have no idea how violent and dangerous Holstein bulls are. Even before selected sex sperm was an option, dairy farmers went with artificial insemination rather than risking getting killed by one of those bastards. Most people, even farmers, have not seen an intact, full grown, Holstein bull. Jersey are the same way, but not quite as bad. For whatever reason, beef breed bulls, dangerous as they are, are much calmer than dairy breed). Ever met one of those guys with like 7 daughters? It's quite often not a coincidence, think back to history class and medieval rulers getting divorced because their wife wouldn't produce a male heir, and then the new wife wouldn't either, nor the next wife, and the doctor who said something like "Maybe it's you, your Majesty" was executed.
Huh, didn't know they were sexing semen for artificial insemination. Do you know if they can catch intersex semen? Intersex individuals/animals do exist and have been well documented.
As far as I know, intersex is caused most often by a double fertilized egg, or that thing that happens when one twin absorbs the other in utero, chimeraism or mosaic. Something similar causes Down syndrome, an extra chromosome gets in there somehow.
that's one meth-powered wall of text if I ever seen one lmao
No, moron, that's actual reality.
Ok thanks for sharing 🙏
8 science deniers so far.
Huh, weird, I only count two.
I bet you throw an absolute fit at anti vaxxers, and yet here you are, thinking politics defines the reality when you want it to, same as.
I don't think science is political. Neither are facts. The fact is that all human embryos develop as female until triggered to become male. Defining gender as immutable and at conception thusly defines every human as female. There is no shortage of conditions where genes get turned on and off, chromosomes get duplicated or damaged, and it affects what sex characteristics are developed. Defining sex at conception is entirely a political act, and without merit or basis in science or reality.
FYI, you can go back and delete your posts anytime.
"I don’t think science is political" It is very, very obvious you do, otherwise you wouldn't "know" this much and be intentionally ignoring the fact that sex selected artificial insemination of sperm (not embryo) exists. You're choosing wordiness and obsufacation instead of a real argument. I was plain, you should try it.
FYI, You can shut your politician ass up anytime.
Common misconception. We say it's sex selected, but it's actually chromosome selected, and the criteria is chromosomes that determine sex characteristics.
Regardless, the order as written does not define sex as the presence or absence of the Y chromosome in humans. It defines it as "what type of reproductive cell (based on size of all things) a zygote would produce if unaltered at the time of conception". At that time, without any other hormone changes, or activation/deactivation of genes affecting sex characteristics, the resulting organism would produce eggs instead of sperm.
To make a long story shorter. Intersex people exist, and infertile people exist. What sex would they be, based on this XO? As written, there are only 2 options, and neither apply to those people.
Also, this...
... doesn't actually exist. Looks like you are using a misunderstanding of science politically.
that's sex election, you facetious twat, and it most certainly exists