Trans folks deserve dignity, not scapegoating

I haven’t been listening to a lot of the things our president has been saying and doing because he is trying to overwhelm us, but some of his rhetoric is worth commenting on. His claims about transgender people are alarming, and on top of Musk’s Nazi salute, there is good reason for us to stay alert.

In the Executive Order banning transgender people from the military, Trump’s rationale is that transgender people are delusional and therefore “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” Trump claims that trans people could not possibly have merit because something is fundamentally wrong with them.

He also says: “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”

According to Trump, being transgender is selfish. He is expressing a moral judgment on being transgender, and to him, being trans is the opposite of being virtuous.

The language in this Executive Order is one of many instances exemplifying Trump’s character assassination campaign against transgender people. The trans population is vast and diverse, but Trump has smushed them into a giant scarecrow as part of his strategy to vilify and scapegoat the entire trans population.

It might seem obvious, especially to my lovely audience, but I just wanted to say a couple of things out loud.

There is no moral value associated with any particular gender identity. The state of being transgender is morally equivalent to being cisgender. 

Similarly, there is no merit associated with being transgender or cisgender. Neither is better or worse than the other. A person’s gender identity is not indicative of their intelligence or potential, nor is it indicative of their kindness, generosity, or selflessness.

There is no deeper meaning hidden inside anyone’s gender identity. Trump has assigned them particular characteristics, but in reality, the only thing all trans people have in common is that they’re trans. 

Each transgender person has gifts they bring to our community. They also have flaws and idiosyncrasies. They are complete, complex humans whom so many of us value.

Being Jewish and knowing our history with being scapegoated and vilified, I am nervous for what’s to come. I am going to stay alert, and I encourage my cisgender peers to do the same.