Trump’s Anti-Trans, Anti-Gender Executive Orders. A Conversation with Libby Adler and K.J. Rawson – 28 April 2025

For our first episode of the second Trump Administration, Carla Kaplan (chair of the Signs editorial board) speaks to Libby Adler and K.J. Rawson about the administration’s anti-trans, anti-gender executive orders. While we’ve known for quite some time that the anti-trans attacks would be coming, their speed and breadth have still been breathtaking. Adler and Rawson tease out the implications of these executive orders and demonstrate what they reveal about the Trump regime’s understandings of sex and gender. Adler is Professor of Law and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and is the author of the book Gay Priori: A Queer Critical Legal Studies Approach to Law Reform from Duke University Press. And Rawson is Professor of English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the founder and director of the Digital Transgender Archive, an award-winning collection of trans-related historical materials.

Except where noted otherwise, original writing and translations produced by the Left Renewal Blog Collective are published under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Republished and translated material remains subject to the licence and terms of its original publication.