Belgium’s first transgender minister, Petra De Sutter, won’t attend an upcoming U.S. trade mission in protest against President Donald Trump’s policies, which are alleged to target ‘trans’ people.
De Sutter told Belgian news agency Belga
I simply can’t go there, or I’ll get into trouble… Or I’ll cause some kind of incident, and I have no interest in that.
Trump’s policies recognise only two sexes, in line with reality, and ban transgender men from participating in women’s sports.
De Sutter—who served as Belgium’s deputy prime minister and made history as Europe’s first openly transgender national minister—claims to be avoiding the U.S. to prevent a diplomatic incident, declining to comment further.
A Member of the European Parliament representing the Green Party, De Sutter seems to imagine that the Trump administration’s approach to gender identity is a reason to shun all future contact.
