On his first day as the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden signed an executive order that protects the federal rights of LGBTQ+ Americans.However, this move has led to online backlash from a fringe sub-group of feminists called TERFs, short for trans-exclusionary radical feminists, who trended the hashtag #BidenErasedWomen to protest against the move.
On January 21, a day after being sworn-in to office, Biden signed the executive order that scrapped the definition of gender according to a person's biological sex, which was laid down by the Donald Trump-regime.
The executive order, intended to prevent the discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation read as follows:
"Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love. Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports. Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes. People should be able to access healthcare and secure a roof over their heads without being subjected to sex discrimination. All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation."
This suggests that educational institutes can will now have to allow children to use the restroom and locker rooms, along with competing in sports as the gender they identify with, rather than the one they were assigned at birth based on biological sex.
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The TERF Backlash
Soon after Biden signed the order, social media erupted with the hashtag #BidenErasedWomen, with people claiming that the order would put women born as biological females at a disadvantage against trans-women (those born as biological men, but grows up to identify as women).
A similar controversy erupted last year, when British author J.K. Rowling put out a tweet supporting a 45-year old tax expert called Maya Forstater whose contract at the Centre for Global Development was not renewed after she posted a series of tweets claiming "men cannot change into women" and that "it is unfair and unsafe for trans women to compete in women's sport".
Rowling's tweet criticised the the move by the Centre for Global Development, and wrote, "But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"
A major backlash began following her tweets, which included Harry Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson calling her out as 'trans-phobic'. Critics of her tweet stated that her statement was flawed as they believed that biological sex and gender were not exclusive to each other.
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According to trans-rights activists, the creation of restrooms and other institutions according to a binary interpretation of gender puts trans-people at risk, and have long called for higher levels of gender neutrality in schools, colleges and prisons.
Charlotte Clymer, a researcher and LGBTQ+ activist stated that there is zero evidence suggesting that "protecting trans-women against discrimination harms cis women (people born assigned as females at birth who identify themselves as women)".
The LGBTQ+ protection order was one of the 17 executive orders signed by Biden on his first day as the US President. The other orders include ramping up efforts to fight the pandemic, major changes in immigration laws, re-entering the Paris climate accords, protection of individuals adversely affected by the economic downturn due to the pandemic and promoting higher levels of government accountability.
