In the latest chain of suits filed against President Trump's administration, a number of LGBTQ+ groups have filed a lawsuit against the new President over executive orders implemented to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The organisations, which include the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the GLBT Historical Society, allege that a trio of executive orders signed by Trump deny the existence of trans people and therefore violates their rights.

The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday, February 20, by civil rights groups the Legal Defence Fun and Lamda Legal.

Pink News report that the orders that they are challenging include:

• “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”
• “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”
• And “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”

Tyler TerMeer, one of the plaintiffs and CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told ABC News: “The government is attempting to erase a very specific group of people. Transgender and non-binary folks in our country are being singled out as individuals who are being told that they don’t exist. So this moment is us going to the courts and saying, ‘We won’t be silenced.'”

Although all the groups recieve federal funding to support their work, they claim that the orders are a violation of their Fifth Amedment rights under the US Constitution that "No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Attorney Jose Abrigo of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said: “The orders are vague, use undefined terms and make compliance impossible and enforcement arbitrary. Our plaintiffs have no way of knowing which programs, policies or even word might result in penalties."

In one of Trump’s several Inauguration Day executive orders, he mandated federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to not allow transgender women to be housed in women’s prisons and detention facilities, and to discontinue gender-affirming care for detainees.

However, earlier this month, a judge blocked the federal prison system from enforcing the order, saying the safety of transgender people could be at risk.

On August 8, 2024, President Trump criticised the record of Minnestria Governor Tim Walz, who was chosen as former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate.

Trump claimed that Walz was "heavy into the transgender world". The day before he had commented to Fox News: "He's very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great, and he's not where the country is on anything."

Despite using the term 'transgender' the 78-year-old claimed that being transgender was 'invented' by the 'radical left'. He did not use the term once throughout Agenda 47.

According to GLAAD, Trump's 2024 platform on transgender Americans includes:

• Outlawing gender-affirming care for minors at the federal level, according to his “Agenda 47”
• Using the government to investigate and potentially halt trans health care. “Upon my inauguration, I will direct the FDA to convene an independent outside panel to investigate whether transgender hormone treatments and ideology increase the risk of extreme depression, aggression and even violence,” said Trump.
• Ceasing “all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.”
• Cutting federal funding for inclusive schools, including “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children.”
• Banning transgender athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity
• Asking “Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognised by the United States government are male and female — and they are assigned at birth.”