President Donald Trump doubled down on his controversial anti-transgender executive orders during his presidential address to Congress on Tuesday, March 4, and made a misleading claim about government spending on “transgender mice,” which was quickly debunked by fact-checkers.

While discussing alleged wasteful government spending, Trump said, “We found $8 million for making mice transgender. This is real.” However, CNN’s fact-checking team responded, noting that the claim was false. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) had awarded $477,121 in total for studies between the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years. These projects involved administering feminizing hormone therapy to monkeys, not mice, in order to study its effects on the immune system and potential HIV susceptibility, not to “make them transgender.”

Trump also took the opportunity to tout his administration’s achievements, particularly the executive orders he has enacted, claiming, “We have accomplished more than most administrations in four or eight years, and we are just getting started.” Many of these orders have targeted the LGBTQ+ community, with a focus on policies affecting transgender people.

In his address, Trump further stoked the ongoing culture war against trans and non-binary individuals, emphasizing his administration’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care. He noted that his administration is “working to protect our children from toxic ideologies in our schools,” referencing a case involving January Littlejohn, a figure often associated with the anti-transgender group Moms for Liberty. Trump claimed the child’s school had “secretly socially transitioned” the student and “deceived” the family. However, the case was dismissed by a federal judge in January 2023, as the lawsuit did not meet the legal standards for federal claims.

“I signed an executive order banning our schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology,” Trump continued. He also highlighted his order restricting gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary youth under the age of 19, stating, “I also signed an order to cut off all taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth.”

Trump went on to urge Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing gender-affirming care for children, adding that it would “forever end the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”

The President’s remarks aligned with a far-right Christian narrative, as he declared, “Our message for every child in America is that, ‘you are perfect exactly the way God made you.’” This view has been disputed by members of the religious community, including Pope Francis, who has called for greater acceptance and support of LGBTQ+ individuals, even encouraging them to participate fully in religious rites like baptism and godparenting.

Trump also seized the moment to criticize “wokeness,” a term often used by conservative figures to denounce progressive social movements. He declared, “We’re getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military – it is already out, and it is out of our society. We don’t want it. Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone, it’s gone, and we feel so much better for it. Don’t we?”

The rhetoric surrounding “wokeness” has become a key theme in Trump’s political discourse, as he frames it as a threat to American values. Critics argue, however, that such language is part of a broader strategy to appeal to his conservative base by stoking cultural divisions and targeting marginalized communities.

Trump’s address, which focused heavily on his administration’s efforts to limit transgender rights and promote conservative social policies, drew both support and criticism. While some applauded his stance on these issues, others accused him of spreading misinformation and fueling harmful rhetoric against LGBTQ+ individuals.

As the debate continues over the rights of transgender and non-binary individuals in the U.S., Trump’s remarks underscore the deepening political polarization surrounding LGBTQ+ issues. His call for legislative action to ban gender-affirming care for minors could have significant implications for the ongoing fight for trans rights, particularly as states across the country continue to introduce similar measures.

The President’s remarks and the false claim about “transgender mice” serve as another reminder of the contentious and often misleading nature of debates over LGBTQ+ issues in the current political climate.