Jordan Evans, 27, is a town constable and an elected library trustee in Charlton, Massachusetts, jobs she holds as a registered Republican.
She is also a transgender woman — which is believed to make her the lone openly transgender elected Republican in the country.
About one million adult Americans are transgender, according to The Washington Post, but many conservatives do not recognize gender in that context. Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is weighing a move to define gender as strictly biological, which denies the very basis of transgender identity.
“I am afraid,” said Evans to The Post. “I’m absolutely distraught.” Evans came out as transgender in 2013 and began to medically transition in 2015. She said that she has been embraced by those closest to her from the beginning.
“Not so much afraid for me,” she clarified. “I’m afraid for people who are younger than me — people who don’t have the kind of experiences in the world that I’ve had. They see this, and they’re rightfully terrified.”
The new policy would be in line with Trump’s attempt to ban transgender troops, an order that has been repeatedly blocked by the courts. The administration has also prohibited officials at the CDC from using the word “transgender” in official budget documents, and the Department of Health and Human Services has archived a page that outline services available for LGBT people.
In February, the administration revoked Obama administration protections for transgender students that allowed them to use bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities that matched their gender identity instead of their sex assigned at birth.
Evans told The Post the new move would be “shortsighted of the administration.”
“As a Republican, it’s disgusting to see my party continue to push these types of things through in a world that’s changing. If we don’t change with the world, we are ultimately going to lose,” she said.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
