Kiwi Eng sat among fellow students and faculty Thursday as they discussed the uncertainty of the future with a mix of emotions swirling within them. The words of hope resonated with them, but they couldn’t help but still feel aggrieved at what is to come.
“Very informative, very eye-opening, and at the same time empowering and frustrating that all of these things are happening,” said Eng, a senior gender, sexuality and women’s studies major. “Very angering that our country is in the state that it is, and our freedoms as queer individuals is constantly targeted by people who don’t understand us or people who continuously want to erase our existence.”
Following executive orders signed by President Donald Trump to restrict transgender inclusion policies, Temple professors held a panel in the Howard Gittis Student Center Thursday afternoon to discuss the impact on the LGBTQ+ community.
The event was sponsored by Temple’s Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program and featured experts who spoke on legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community amid President Trump’s executive orders.
The panel consisted of Temple professors Jennifer Pollitt, Dara Purvis, Brad Windhauser and Tom Waidzunas in addition to Ricci Levy, CEO of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for freedom of sexual expression.
Speakers addressed concerns in the community stemming from the executive orders, like the fear of federal documentation being withheld, a ban on transgender women from participating in sports for their assigned gender identity, a ban prohibiting trans people from serving in the military and the extension of a recent ban on federal funding’s usage for youth gender-affirming care. The event explored potential responses and calls to action.
Upon entering the event, attendees were greeted by a table adorned with an assortment of LGBTQ+-themed accessories like flags, stickers, crocheted goods and resource guides with QR codes.
Pollitt, assistant director of Temple’s gender, sexuality and women’s studies program, helped coordinate the event to create an informal, welcoming space for attendees to find community.
“I thought it was really important to bring someone who was a legal scholar in combination with an advocacy and education group in combination with the heads of the gender, sexuality Women’s Studies program,” Pollitt said.
On Trump’s first day back in office, he ended the Joe Biden administration’s diversity, equity and inclusion frameworks that aimed to enable fair treatment for minority groups, including the LGBTQ+ community. Several of Trump’s executive orders, including those that target transgender people serving in the military and gender-affirming healthcare for minors, have already faced temporary blocks in federal courts.
Purvis, a law professor and scholar of family law, sexual orientation and gender identity, opened the discussion with an overview of the legal framework surrounding the executive orders and LGBTQ+ rights. She addressed the constitutional rights and federal laws that protect the community before breaking down the executive orders’ implications and their immediate impact.
“It’s direction, it’s not law,” Purvis said. “That’s the important thing. It is a direction to the executive branch, which includes agencies saying, ‘Here’s how I, the president, want you to implement, to execute the law.’ It doesn’t overrule statutes. It doesn’t change the language of statutes. It doesn’t overrule Supreme Court decisions. But it can have a lot of impact.”
Purvis also emphasized how there are sympathetic lower courts and lawyers actively fighting the orders.
In contrast to the legal focus, Levy stressed the importance of education in activism and the need for coalitions and collaborations to combat current challenges. Levy also emphasized organizations like her own that are working to protect LGBTQIA+ rights and the value of learning from history to avoid repeating past mistakes.
Other speakers included Windhauser, a professor of English and a member of the GSWS program, and Waidzunas, an associate professor of sociology and director of the GSWS program. Both reassured current and prospective GSWS students about the program’s future and growth, while also emphasizing the importance of community involvement, active listening and providing allyship and support for those around you.
“I would urge you to just take up queer spaces,” Windhauser said. “Just show up to things, things that don’t cost money. It doesn’t mean going to bars, but if there’s an open mic, show up. If there’s a free art community, show up. Go online. Make your community. Connect with people by using social media.”
The panel discussion was followed by a brief Q&A session where several attendees expressed their fears in a heartfelt and emotional moment. In response, both the panelists and the audience offered support, creating a sense of solidarity and reassurance.
“This is a developing situation, and so it’s probably going to be necessary to have more of these panels as there are more executive orders put out and as more decisions are made,” said Dariel Benton-Updike, a senior Spanish and women’s studies major
Activism is about imagining the future you want and figuring out how to get there, Levy said. In a powerful moment of the event, she chanted “Never again, never again, never again,” and urged the audience to repeat after her as a palpable reminder to take action to defend queer rights.
“Light is the enemy of the oppressor,” Levy said. “We need to shine a light.”
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