Picture this: In a nation not much dissimilar to our own, a powerful and rich, but not very smart tyrant ruled over his kingdom by attempting to alter what was true, and some people believed him. This was the reason he attained and sat on the golden thrown as long as he did. He convinced enough of the people that he would make the kingdom regal again, defeat all dragons and other enemies foreign and domestic, and bring prosperity to average folks.
But then, tragedy struck. After days upon days of torrential storms gushing rivers of rain from the heavens, great floods submerged cities and towns alike washing away property and lives as if they were toothpicks into the vast and bottomless sea. Those who survived joined in protest demanding action be taken by the monarch to save the remainder from impending doom.
Looking outward from his high-towered glass and steel castle, he pronounced his intension to vanquish the rain with a Royal Order hereby eliminating the word “clouds” from the official language over the realm. He asserted that without the existence of the aforementioned “clouds,” rain would cease, the physical landscape would toss off its watery burden, and life and prosperity would return to the kingdom.
The autocrat based his action on the certainty that he could trick people into believing that a thing cannot exist outside of language, because that which is not named, is, therefore, not real. Right?
And now it seems that yet another no-so-very-bright would-be dictator has taken on the very same tactic, this time in an attempt to drain away a raging river that has changed the social, cultural, and political landscape for the better. This “sea change” has occurred over the past centuries with the ever-increasing power and strength with each succeeding wave of the feminist women’s movement and the movement for LGBTQ equality, which have challenged patriarchal control over people’s bodies and their very lives.
The Trump administration has ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s highest public health agency located in Atlanta, Georgia, immediately to cease using seven words and phrases in all future documents in preparation for next year’s budget.
The now forbidden words and phrases are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based.” Only with the phrases, “science-based” and “evidence-based,” were analysts given alternatives: “CDC bases its recommendation on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.”
The administration offered no other alternatives, and gave no official reasons for its ruling on language usage. One need not have acquired a doctorate degree in political science, however, to understand this order as constituting the latest assault in its ongoing war against women’s reproductive freedoms, the rights of LGBTQ people, and multicultural initiatives.
While still campaigning on March 30, 2016, in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Trump asserted that women who have abortions should be punished.
Since taking over the Oval Office, Donald Trump and his administration have either attempted or have actually reversed many Obama-era policies on issues of sexual and gender identity and expression and on abortion rights.
In March, for example, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC among other agencies, discontinued questions regarding sexual and gender identities in surveys going to seniors. HHS also eliminated information about LGBT people from its website.
In a memo sent from Trump’s Department of Anything-But-Justice to US attorneys, department heads, and federal agencies, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions reversed an Obama-era policy that protected trans employees from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Session made clear that his department would no longer interpret gender protections in Title VII to include gender identity and expression.
In a related story, Session also delivered his ruling that will severely limit the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate for contraception when it goes against employers’ religious or moral beliefs. Included in the memo, Sessions ordered officials to:
“…effective immediately, incorporate the interpretative guidance in litigation strategy and arguments, operations, grant administration, and all other aspects of the Department’s work, keeping in mind the President’s declaration that ‘[i]t shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom’.”
Since Trump’s inauguration, the White House website has removed reference to LGBT issues and policies from the previous administration, and reversed Obama’s executive order permitting trans students to use school facilities most closely aligning with their gender identities.
As the Trump administration promoted its “American Heroes Week” earlier this year, the alleged Commander-in-Chief let it be known in a hammering three-tweet series that he does not include trans people in the category of “American Heroes,” especially those currently and previously serving in the U.S. military.
“After consideration with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow…… ….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming….. ….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Trump’s not-so-surprising assaults on trans people has the heavy thumb print of Vice President Pence who, in his first congressional campaign in 2000, argued for public funding of so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ people. On his website at the time, his disdain for same-sex attractions and sexuality stands out:
“Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”
Pence opposes marriage equality and LGBTQ non-discrimination protections, and as governor, helped to pass the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration law in Indiana allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people. The state was forced to amend the law after experiencing serious political and financial push back.
Those in power continually attempt to omit, delete, minimize, distort, and completely erase the contributions, presence, existence of individuals and groups as if they have made no significant and important contributions. The result often is that many groups’ histories, stories, and voices have gone underrepresent.
I must warn Donald, however, that though he may attempt to erase words, he will never erase people and the issues for which they tirelessly and passionately fight. Only days after the decree of that other once-mighty King, when the rain failed to end, the people rose up in unified outrage forcing the tyrant from his tower and ending his reign.
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