LGBTQ + non-profit, Illinois lawmaker show polarized opinions on Trump’s binary gender order

ILLINOIS (25News Now) - The head of a Central Illinois advocacy group and a state lawmaker share polarizing thoughts on President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which only recognizes the male and female genders for U.S. citizens.

The executive Director for Central Illinois Friends, Deric Kimler, called it “harmful,” to transgender and non-binary people, and anyone who doesn’t exactly fit into one “label.”

Kimlet considered it a form of discrimination and worried this order would impact a large population of people. He argued identity shouldn’t be about the way someone looks.

“We as a nation now are saying, ‘we don’t want everyone here. We want a specific type of person in the United States and be more exclusionary” said Kimler. “If you’re not in my box or reality, then I don’t want you here.”

Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago Jojo Mitchell said some of his young clients feel afraid and confused currently.

“Research shows us that societal rejection as well as familial rejection is a strong predictor of negative mental health outcomes among transgender and non-binary people,” he said.

On the other side of the issue, State Sen. Andrew Chesney (R — Freeport) supported the order, calling it “common sense.”

Chesney called fluidity ‘gender dysphoria,’ a term for a feeling of mismatch between someone’s physical appearance and internal feeling, and said if there are mental health issues along with that, they can be addressed.

“Gender is not fluid, and it’s not on a spectrum,” he said. “It’s binary and there are only two genders. Words have meaning, and you can say whatever you are, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

The state lawmaker said he believes anyone identifying as intersex should go by what their chromosomes indicate.

Kimler also argued this order attacks those identifying as intersex or someone born with genitalia that doesn’t fit onto a binary scale.

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