With a decisive shift compared to the Democratic administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has published new guidelines that redefine the concept of sex, now described as “immutable and biological,” limited exclusively to the categories of male and female.
The measure was accompanied by the launch of a a website called “Protecting Women and Children,” which not only supports the new policies but also advocates for the exclusion of transgender individuals from women’s sports and bans access to transition-related healthcare for minors under the age of 19.
Kennedy stated that the goal is to “restore common sense and biological truth” to government regulations, in line with the executive order signed by Donald Trump on his first day in office, which requires the government to officially recognize only the sex assigned at birth. However, civil rights organizations have condemned this move as an attack on rights, based on an anti-scientific and harmful ideology.
The new protocols represent a drastic step backward in the protection of transgender and non-binary people, deny the validity of gender identity, and undermine access to essential medical care. Several experts argue that biological reality is much more complex than the rigid dichotomy imposed by politics, as intersex conditions and genetic variations exist that do not fit into a simplified classification.
The HHS justified the restrictions by presenting them as measures to protect women, claiming that recognizing sex as an “immutable” biological category is necessary to ensure the safety and opportunities for female athletes in sports. Supporting this argument, the agency’s new website features a video by Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky swimmer and activist who promotes banning queer athletes from competing in female events. In the clip, the athlete thanks Donald Trump and the HHS for their “brave defense of truth and common sense.”
The world of sports has also decided to adapt with significant changes, such as the decision by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to update its regulations, now allowing participation only for women in female competitions.
Reactions have been swift: Matthew Rose, Senior Advocate for the Human Rights Campaign, has denounced the operation as a propaganda initiative that ignores real health emergencies and uses public funds for a discriminatory crusade.
Through these new measures, the GOP continues its campaign against transgender rights and fosters an atmosphere of exclusion and marginalization at the expense of one of the country’s most vulnerable communities.
