*By Max Godnick*
The Trump administration has declared it may change the legal definition of gender, but GLAAD's president and CEO thinks that whatever the White House decides, the damage has already been done.
"\[Transgender people\] carry a disproportionate amount of trials and tribulations as a community," Sarah Kate Ellis said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar.
"Merely trying to say that you're trying to write them out and erase them already builds on those stereotypes, that stigma that they live with on a daily basis."
[The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html) reported Sunday that the Department of Health and Human Services is considering basing the definition of sex on a person's genitalia at birth. In a memo obtained by The Times, the agency proposed a new definition of gender that would rely "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective, and administratable."
Ellis described the proposal as a "civil rights crisis" that threatens to virtually eliminate one of the country's most marginalized communities.
"Essentially it says you don't exist, you don't matter, and you won't be covered or protected," she said.
If approved, the policy would roll back Obama-era decisions that re-framed the understanding of gender as a matter of independent choice that can occur after birth. The new definition would upend the legal status of the 1.4 million Americans who identify with a different gender than the one they were born with.
On Monday, President Trump [responded](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lgbt/trump-says-transgender-policy-seeks-to-protect-the-country-idUSKCN1MW2XE)to the report, confirming that his administration is exploring "a lot of different concepts right now."
Ellis said such a move lacks both a precedent and a proper catalyst.
"It's a solution looking for a problem," she said. "There was no inciting incident, nothing happened."
It did not take long for GLAAD to mobilize in response to the news, organizing protests in New York City and Washington, D.C., in the days following the report.
The hashtag #WontBeErased started trending on Twitter shortly after the Times published its story as organizers arrange more rallies across the country.
Ellis is hopeful that activism may be enough to stop the proposal from enactment.
"If we push back and we're loud enough now, maybe it won't ever come to be," she said.
President Trump has responded to the outrage by insisting his priority is ensuring the safety of Americans, saying, "I want to protect our country."
But Ellis sees things differently.
"I think when you don't protect the most marginalized in the country, you're not protecting the country," she said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/glaad-president-reacts-to-trump-administrations-transgender-policy-proposal).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
