US President-elect Donald Trump released a video statement detailing his plan to enact policies targeting transgender issues that reflect what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently tabled in the legislature.  

In his video, Trump promised to sign a bill that legally recognizes only two genders, male and female, which would be based on the gender assigned at birth.

He also proposed a ban on “so-called gender affirming care,” adding, “Ridiculous, a process that involves giving kids puberty blockers, mutating their physical appearance, and ultimately performing surgery on minor children — can you believe this?” The 79-year-old said the directive would halt federal support for medical treatments related to gender transition.

Trump also said that individuals who have undergone “gender-affirming” treatments as minors will be given a legal avenue to sue their doctors if they later regret their transition. 

The announcement comes two weeks after it was reported that a government-funded study attempting to prove the efficacy of giving puberty blockers to so-called trans kids was buried by researchers after the results were contrary to what they had hoped.

It also comes after the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) found there is not enough evidence to support the safety or effectiveness of puberty blockers, and banned the prescription of them to youth aged 16 and under.

Conservative pushback

The 45th and 47th President’s policies reflect a broader conservative pushback against what Trump describes as “left-wing gender insanity.” Last month, Alberta’s Premier, Danielle Smith, tabled three monumental legislative changes related to transgender policies, billed as protections for vulnerable children, parental rights, and women.

One of Smith’s three bills will make it illegal for doctors to prescribe so-called transgender kids with hormone blockers until they are at least 16-years-old. Teens aged 16 and 17 could receive these treatments, but only with approval from parents, a physician, and a psychologist. The bill also prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for all minors.

Smith said the law will protect kids from making “life-altering and potentially permanent decisions.”