People have one question after Trump signs order to protect children from ‘chemical and surgical mutilation’

Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community which some readers may find distressing.

It's been just over a week since Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States last Monday (20 January).

The 78-year-old Republican leader, who is also the first convicted felon to assume the presidential role, has taken no time introducing a series of executive orders following his inauguration.

Trump, who previously declared that the US government would recognise 'only two genders' filed the executive order on Tuesday (28 January).

And another is being aimed specifically at the transgender community as Trump signed the order to protect children from 'chemical and surgical mutilation' - though it's left people thinking the same thing.

The order, which is titled 'Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation', was filed yesterday (28 January) states the US government will not 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called "transition" of a child from one sex to another'.

Section 1, titled 'Policy and Purpose', reads: "Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilising a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.

"This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end."

Defining a child as being an individual 'under 19 years of age', it continues: "Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.

Donald Trump previously declared that the US government would recognise 'only two genders' (Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images)

"Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilisation."

The order defines 'chemical and surgical mutilation' as the use of puberty blockers to 'delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex', hormone treatment 'such as androgen blockers, oestrogen, progesterone, or testosterone', and surgical procedures 'that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimise or destroy their natural biological functions'.

After catching light of the news, a social media user wondered how Trump's latest executive order would impact circumcision - a surgical procedure that surgically removes the foreskin of the penis.

Many's of Trump's executive orders directly affect minority communities in the States, including members of the LGBTQ+ community (Miguel Sotomayor / Getty Images)

"So circumcision is banned too right?" asked one Instagram user, while another penned: "Came here to say this exact thing."

A third said: "So we are protecting them from circumcision too, right?"

According to the National Library of Medicine in 2022, it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of men are circumcised in the US - though the number has been decreasing over the years.

A study conducted by the JAMA Network in 2022 further says that transgender teenagers having access to hormone replacement therapy medications resulted in a considerably lower rate of depression, as well as a lower risk of suicide for school students.

The Stanford University of Medicine also found in another study that same year that transgender people being permitted to access hormone replacement therapy as teenagers - as opposed to later, as adults - resulted in a more positive mental health outcome.

Unfortunately for thousands of transgender Americans, however, Trump's new order directly prohibits federally run insurance programs - such as Tricare and Medicaid - from covering gender-affirming care, and adds that the Department of Justice would pursue litigation for anyone opposing this.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]