This is episode 9 of The Spectrum. It was recorded on February 7, 2025. 

The subject of this episode is Trump’s fourth executive order attempting to erase transgender people from America. I was posted on January 28, 2025. It is titled, “ENDING RADICAL INDOCTRINATION IN K-12 SCHOOLING”. It should really be titled, “Making minorities invisible”.

This order appears to exist because Donald and other white men like him think that anyone who isn’t a white man shouldn’t get any classroom time devoted to a subject that isn’t about them being the hero. It forces schools to avoid actual history and it wants schools to discriminate against transgender students.

Like all the orders that discriminate against transgender people, this is one is not based on facts but on made up claims about the nature of biology and pretending that gender is not a real thing.

It threatens to cut off federal funds to schools who teach the truth abut gender or diversity.

It threatens school employees with legal action for a bunch of things, most of which are already  illegal like sexually exploiting minors and offering diagnosis or treatment without the appropriate license. This is just noise as there is nowhere in the country where that would be permitted.

However, he also threatens employees who “unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.” That is such a vague statement that it could mean anything. Could using a name or pronoun get you a jail sentence or fired?

Fundamentally, this is about indoctrination, but it’s Trump that wants to do the indoctrinating by making discussion of real history, real biology, real psychology and real people forbidden subjects. Teaching those things is simply education. You only forbid subjects when you don’t want people to know the truth. This is an evil policy, like all his policies that seem to make transgender and nonbinary people invisible. Any policy that tries to prevent helping groups that have historically been discriminated against is evil. It is a desperate attempt by an old man to turn back the clock and it will ultimately fail because it will create support for the very groups he wants to repress.

We still have one more transgender ban to get through. Donald really needs to get a new hobby. But, he and the people around him, seem to love hurting people. When hour politics is built around who you hate there is something fundamentally wrong with you.

Policies like this will lead to the deaths of transgender students and Donald Trump will be responsible for them.

If you have an experience of LGBT life you would like to share. If you are a transgender student or parent of one and would like to share your views on what is happening, please contact me at spectrumpodcasthost@gmail.com. 

Trump’s executive order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/