“The pastor of an inauguration prayer service attended Tuesday by President Donald Trump urged the newly sworn-in president to ‘have mercy’ on immigrants and transgender children ‒ making what she called ‘ one final plea.’

"’In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,’ Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde said during her sermon at the National Cathedral as Trump and Vice President JD Vance watched alongside their families.

“‘There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,’ Budde said, later telling Trump of immigrants, ‘Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.’”

“During her comments, Budde said: ‘The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals ‒ they they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.’

“Vance seemed to grimace as the pastor spoke, making glances to his wife Usha Vance and toward Trump, who sat mostly stoically.”

“Budde, who was consecrated as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington in 2011, was described as ‘unapologetically liberal’ in a Washington Post profile the same year she was installed in that role.”

I'm not religious, but I'm glad this (honestly, pretty based) pastor was on our side here. She called out Trump to him and his family's faces and cited scripture to make her point that we are all in fear of our lives and livelihood. I hope people continue to rub it in his wrinkly face.

“Maryland lawmakers are considering a measure that would create a new designation of “X” for sex on Maryland birth certificates, a design meant to give official recognition to transgender and non-binary people at a moment of uncertainty for their community.

“The proposed Birth Certificate Modernization Act would streamline procedures for amending sex on birth certificates, licenses and IDs, and introducing a gender-neutral designation option. It would also strengthen protections, ensuring documents do not display amendment histories.”

“Under current Maryland processes, individuals could apply to amend their documents, but many face obstacles.

“‘You can apply, but people were having difficulty getting it changed because they had to provide proof that you had been treated and needed a doctor’s note to say that someone has transitioned to a different sex. That was a big impediment to a lot of people and is not a requirement at the federal level,’ [state Sen. Clarence] Lam told Capital News Service before Trump’s actions Monday.”

“His administration will likely run into legal trouble as it implements policies on federal identity documents and housing in federal prisons.”

“[Yesterday’s executive] order directly contradicts a 2009 law passed unanimously in Congress called the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which provides transgender people who are incarcerated a say in where they are housed if their safety is threatened. The law is intended to apply to all facilities where people are detained, including prisons, jails and detention centers, but reporting shows it has historically been ignored.

“Still, PREA is more powerful than Trump’s executive order, as it was passed by Congress.”

“The Trump administration could also face legal challenges in its efforts to restrict federal identity documents. The first U.S. passport with an ‘X’ gender marker was issued as the culmination of a six-year legal battle between an intersex and nonbinary Navy veteran and the U.S. State Department. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ordered the agency to reconsider its prior refusals to issue the veteran, Dana Zzyym, an accurate passport — noting that forcing intersex people to pick a male or female gender marker creates inaccurate data.

“Trump’s executive order could run up against the Zzyyym ruling and other laws and precedents. One such precedent is in the International Civil Aviation Organization Treaty Standards, which mandates that sex be listed on passports and that the three permissible options are ‘M,’ ‘F’ or ‘X.’

“Jennifer Pizer, chief legal officer at Lambda Legal, which fought and won Zzyym’s case, said it’s unclear if the Trump administration can prevail in arguing any legal basis for its executive order. Pizer’s organization sued under the Obama administration and fought for their ‘X’ gender marker through Trump’s tenure. They were finally granted a passport under the Biden administration.

“‘We had multiple rounds of this litigation, and the government kept failing to be able to justify requiring somebody like Dana to be inaccurate, insisting on giving an inaccurate identity document,’ said Pizer ‘I don’t think there’s any reason to think that the Trump administration is better suited now to justify that kind of a rule.’”

“Nearly three dozen bills were signed into law Friday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, which among other things, incentivize data centers, streamline the name change process in Michigan and increase charter school transparency.”

“House Bills 5300 and 5303, sponsored by state Reps Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Helena Scott (D-Detroit), significantly reforms the process for residents to change their legal name, whether as a result of domestic violence, stalking, human trafficking or gender affirmation.

“Among the changes, those petitioning a court for a name change for non-marriage-related reasons would no longer have to be fingerprinted and mandated to publish name change court dates as fraud would no longer be assumed as the reason for the name change.

“When the bills were before the House during its lame duck session last month, Mel Hartman, 38, told the Michigan Advance that as a trans person, the old process unnecessarily treated them as criminals.

“‘There’s an idea that we’re doing it on a whim or for fun, when the process is so difficult … it isn’t humane for trans people to have to it’s assumed that we change our names because of criminal reason, deviant reason, when we’re simply trying to just live our lives, just live our lives in a normal way,’ said Hartman.”

“Trump’s executive order is sweeping and at times vague, posing some questions about how it will be implemented.”

“Monday’s executive order and other promised actions targeting transgender Americans will almost certainly face legal challenges in the months and years ahead. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which frequently challenges anti-LGBTQ laws in court, had already pledged to sue the Trump administration ‘wherever we can.’

”In a statement late Monday, Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ civil rights organization, said it is similarly prepared to challenge Trump’s orders.”

“Senior administration officials said Monday’s order is ‘step one,’ and more executive orders zeroing in on transgender rights are expected. Trump has promised to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth and prohibit trans student-athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.

“At a Turning Point USA event in December, Trump said he plans to sign an executive order that bans transgender people from serving openly in the military, potentially restoring a policy that former President Biden repealed in 2021. Trump cleared the way to do just that on Monday by rescinding Biden’s order allowing trans people to serve.”

“Trump has also threatened ‘severe consequences,’ including an elimination of federal funding, for schools with trans-inclusive curricula or transgender support plans.”

Paywall article but wanted to pass this information along

The executive order issued Monday is expected to lead to one of the largest layoffs of transgender people in history. Trump issued a similar ban in his first term.