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Why Biden Is Being Praised For Pulling Proposal To Protect Trans Athletes
ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court, took to Instagram Tuesday to praise President Joe Biden’s choice to withdraw a proposal protecting transgender athletes.
“I think this is a very important and good move to withdraw this proposed regulation,” Strangio said in the video.
Biden’s proposal would have prohibited schools from enacting bans on transgender student-athletes trying to participate on the teams that align with their gender identity while allowing schools to enforce some restrictions on competitive sports.
But Strangio believes trying to push the proposal through ahead of felon-elect Donald Trump’s second term would open the door for more harm to the transgender community.
“The regulation would have been immediately withdrawn when the Trump administration came in. Even worse, they could have left the notice of proposed rule-making in place, which would have given the Trump administration easy access to, in essence, gut protections for trans people in schools through that proposed regulation just sitting there,” he said.
Attorney and transgender rights activist Chase Strangio speaks to supporters outside of the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024.Strangio has been at the forefront of the culture war being waged against transgender people in the United States. The attorney argued before the Supreme Court earlier this month, challenging a Tennessee law which bans transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care.
The Supreme Court has yet to render a ruling, but Tennessee isn’t an outlier on this topic, as 26 states have passed laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors.
Support for limiting minors from accessing things like puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery is seemingly growing not just in the U.S., but internationally as well.
Those in favor of these types of bans argue that there have been a number of children expressing regret later on in life, resulting in lawsuits and traumatic “detransitioning.”
In response to this perspective, ACLU spokesperson Gillian Branstetter told Daily Kos following the Supreme Court hearing that limiting access to transgender medical care for minors under the guise that it might cause irreparable harm is misguided.
“Leaving them to experience their puberty also leaves them with permanent physical changes that could require extensive surgery and medical care to reverse [should they have to wait until they are 18],” Branstetter said.
While studies are ongoing, the portion of people who have reported regret after transitioning remains around 1 percent.
Anti-trans legislation was a major campaign tool for Donald Trump and other right-leaning politicians, with millions spent on anti-trans ads and hundreds of anti-trans bills popping up across the country every year since 2020.
On Capitol Hill, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace and House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed through an anti-trans bathroom ban in November effectively targeting the single transgender member of Congress, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride.
Johnson also managed to muscle through an anti-trans provision in the latest defense spending bill, banning transgender minors in military families from using military health insurance TRICARE for any gender-affirming care.
Biden signed the defense bill into law Monday, but not before expressing his dismay and saying the anti-trans provision “interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children.”
“With the time remaining in this administration, the Department is focused on several priorities including court-ordered settlements and helping borrowers manage the final elements of the return to repayment,” the Department of Education wrote in its statement.
And while Strangio applauded Biden’s actions on transgender athlete protection, he called Biden’s choice to sign the defense bill a “disaster.”
