Election victories by Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people added to the widespread backlash against transgender rights. For the American LGBTQ+ movement, this represents one of the most lasting setbacks in its history.
For transgender Americans, it’s a personal matter: There’s palpable fear of possible moves by the Trump administration to further marginalize them. But there is also a spirit of resilience – the determination to persevere in the search for acceptance and understanding.
“I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sporting event on television without seeing a commercial that portrayed transgender people as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who attends Barnard College in New York teaches.
“This hurts more than any other moment I can remember. We’ve been knocked down before. We’ll get knocked down again. All we can do is fight.”
The anti-trans movement has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states passing dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options when it comes to medical care, participation in sports activities and access to public restrooms.
Activists fear the movement will grow as the Trump administration takes power and many Americans question the trans rights agenda. Overall, 55% of voters — and 85% of Trump supporters — said support for transgender rights in government and society went too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who voted nationwide .
“There is an urgent need to show the reality of transgender life to the American people – everyday people for whom being transgender is not the center of their lives,” said Shannon Minter, transgender civil rights attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
“This is a frightening moment for transgender people and their families. There is a very real possibility that the new administration will take actions that will cause it devastating harm.”
Trump and others have threatened to roll back various transgender rights
Trump won the presidential contest against Vice President Kamala Harris after a campaign that included pervasive television ads mocking her support for trans rights. “Kamala is for she/her,” reads one ad that has been viewed over 15,000 times. “President Trump is for you.” Other Democratic candidates have also been targeted with anti-trans ads.
On a range of issues, Trump — and other Republicans, who now hold majorities in both the House and Senate — have threatened to restrict protections and civil liberties for transgender people.
— Education: Trump has promised to impose sweeping restrictions on transgender students. His administration could take swift action to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies regarding student employ of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.
— Health care: At least 26 states have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is filing civil lawsuits against doctors he claims prescribed such treatments. Trump says any doctor or hospital that offers gender-affirming care should be excluded from Medicaid and Medicare.
– Sports: Trump and other Republicans adopted anti-trans mantra against “boys in girls’ sports.” At least 24 states already have laws banning trans women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions. In March, 16 college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete in the 2022 national championships, where she won the 500 -yard freestyle won.
— Military: Trans rights activists fear Trump could reimpose a ban on transgender people serving openly in the military or, alternatively, ban all future transgender recruitment and limit the availability of gender-affirming medical care for military veterans.
Advocates say they are furious and worried
Trans rights organizations are calling for coalition building and renewed efforts to improve public understanding. They celebrated some notable victories. Sarah McBride won Delaware’s only House seat, becoming the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. In Montana, transgender state Rep. Zooey Zephyr won re-election and can return to the House of Representatives nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues.
But nationwide, anger and fear were the dominant emotions among trans activists.
“This election season has been brutal,” leaders of Advocates for Transgender Equality wrote to their supporters. “From the beginning of his campaign, Trump has targeted trans people. He has targeted our existence.
Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, said transgender people have become “the pawns of political groups that don’t understand our communities.”
“It’s a very precarious time,” Chestnut said. “We will get through this, but we have to support each other. …How do we look at the long-term game and not just the immediate narrow view, because it’s very discouraging right now? Where do we want to be in 15 years?”
Public opinion on trans rights is not uniform. According to AP VoteCast, just over half of voters in the 2024 election strongly or somewhat opposed laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. Slightly less than half of voters somewhat or strongly supported it
And according to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 69% of Americans believe transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that match their birth gender.
A story of struggle
In the last 25 years, perhaps the most disheartening phase of the LGBTQ+ rights movement began in 2004, after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between 2004 and 2008, voters in 26 states approved ballot measures that defined marriage as between one man and one woman – effectively banning same-sex marriage.
However, in 2012, public opinion shifted in favor of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015 and has enjoyed the support of most Americans ever since.
Boylan recalled how this long bitter debate tipped in favor of legalization when supporters of same-sex marriage popularized the phrase “love is love.”
“It opened doors and hearts,” Boylan said. “The challenge for trans people is that we don’t have a sentence like that… the issues are more complex.”
Boylan noted that the anti-trans campaign appears to be making progress on issues that are not the core concerns of most trans people: “The most important thing we are fighting for is not the right to play on a soccer team with other women. We fight for dignity, for respect and for the right to be left alone.”
Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man who works as a film editor and author in rural Ohio, said he was “exhausted” by the relentless targeting of transgender people and accused Trump of perpetuating it.
Looking forward, he said that living as a trans person “has forced me to learn a resilience that I will draw on as I continue to speak out against prejudice and discrimination.”
Christine Zuba, a transgender woman from New Jersey, described a recent wave of Zoom meetings that allowed trans people to express their concerns and determine next steps.
“One of the best recommendations I’ve heard in this discussion is not to isolate yourself, but rather to surround yourself with your support group – the people you love and who love you,” she said. “Don’t despair. There are many people who will work with you and for you.”
___
David Crary, currently news director for AP’s global religion team, has been reporting on LGBTQ issues since 1999.
