Transgender youth in the United States have been flooding crisis hotlines since the election of Donald Trump, who put anti-transgender issues at the center of his campaign. Many teenagers worry about how their lives might change when he takes office.
During his presidential run, Trump promised sweeping restrictions and rollbacks of civil rights protections for transgender students. And his administration can quickly begin work on an vital change: It can exclude transgender students from Title IX protections that affect school policies on student utilize of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.
An ad that aired over 15,000 times made clear Trump’s stance on the rights of transgender and non-binary Americans: “Kamala is for them/them. President Trump is for you.”
To one Alabama teenager, the ad appeared to portray transgender and non-binary people as a threat to society. The weekend before Election Day, the 16-year-old teen, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns “he” and “she,” called a crisis hotline at the Rainbow Youth Project. The group, which serves LGBTQ+ youth, has received more than 5,500 calls to its crisis line in the past 10 days, compared to the 3,700 calls it typically receives each month.
According to his mother, Carolyn Fisher, the teen was distraught and struggling with suicidal thoughts. She said she didn’t realize how deep her child’s depression was and how painful it was for him to see political ads that felt like a personal attack.
With the lend a hand of crisis counselors, Fisher said her teen started to get better. But bullying at school has gotten worse as some students have told their child that Trump will make him “go back into the closet,” Fisher said.
“The children who mocked him are now proud of themselves and showing it,” she said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs lend a hand, the U.S. National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling 988 or texting. There is also online chat at 988lifeline.org.
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Opposition to transgender rights has been a focus of Trump’s campaign: Republican ads attacking political opponents over transgender or LGBTQ+ issues have aired over 290,000 times on network television since March 2023, according to media tracking firm AdImpact.
The message may have resonated with many Americans. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters across the country, more than half of voters overall — and the extensive majority of Trump supporters — said support for transgender rights in government and society went too far.
President Joe Biden’s administration expanded recognition of transgender rights just this year. The interpretation of Title IX, a landmark sex discrimination law, rests largely with the executive branch, although court decisions can impact enforcement.
Title IX was originally passed in 1972 and initially served as a women’s rights law. This year, Biden’s administration said the law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, but Trump could reverse that. Biden’s up-to-date guidelines had confined implementation options anyway: After a flood of lawsuits, courts in 26 states issued preliminary injunctions suspending the regulation.
“Title IX will be a top priority. “It’s emblematic of all the culture war issues that have arisen in recent years around gender identity versus gender,” said Candice Jackson, a lawyer who led the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights in the first Trump administration.
Trump has also said he will ask Congress to pass a bill stating that there are “only two genders” and ban hormonal or surgical procedures for transgender youth in all 50 states. Most Republican-controlled states have already banned gender-affirming health care for transgender youth under 18 or 19, and several have adopted policies restricting transgender people’s utilize of school bathrooms.
While Biden’s election year guidance did not extend to transgender students in sports, Trump has promised to end “boys in girls’ sports.” The administration would likely approach these issues “from a traditional understanding” of what Title IX means, “with a biological, binary understanding of gender,” said Bob Eitel, who served as senior adviser to the education secretary during the first Trump administration.
In the U.S., 3.3% of high school students identify as transgender and another 2.2% question their gender, according to a survey released last month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey found that 72% of transgender and gender questioning teens had persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness in the past year. These teens also reported higher rates of bullying at school compared to their peers. According to the CDC, about one in four transgender students reported attempting suicide in the past year.
LGBTQ+ advocates are mobilizing to address the despair they see among transgender and non-binary youth. The Rainbow Youth Project, for example, has expanded virtual peer groups and town halls for LGBTQ+ youth to connect. Another organization, It Gets Better, has focused on reaching adolescent people online through social media platforms like Twitch and YouTube to create supportive environments even as legal protections are rolled back, said Brian Wenke, the executive director of the organization Group.
Across the country, especially in conservative areas, LGBTQ+ youth are debating whether it would be safer to live somewhere else.
Jude Armstrong, a transgender high school student in New Orleans, has led protests against Louisiana laws regulating the utilize of pronouns and discussions of gender and sexuality in the classroom. With the possibility of federal changes on the horizon, 17-year-old Armstrong said he has considered going to school in the U.K. but is worried about leaving behind the queer culture and history he loves at home.
“How do you feel like you’re protecting your own community when you leave it and go to another country?” he asked.
Alejandro Jimenez, a sophomore at Texas State University, dreams of becoming a theater teacher in Texas. He knows how vital it is for trans kids to see someone like them in the classroom. Now he’s not sure if he’ll stay in his home state.
Tensions on his campus have already risen to such an extent that he feels unsafe. The day after the election, two protesters held signs reading “Gay sex is sin” and “Women are property.”
“I feel it is my duty to stay here, but I am afraid of being evicted,” said Jimenez, who is transgender.
Under the up-to-date Trump administration, advocates fear that efforts to accommodate transgender and non-binary students around the world could be put to the test. Trump’s platform called for eliminating federal funding for any school that “forces gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children.”
“It sounds really dystopian to say that trying to be more inclusive could actually lead to punishment from the federal government. But that’s a risk,” said Elana Redfield, federal policy director of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Amid so much uncertainty, Eli, an 18-year-old transgender college student from New York, emphasized the importance of community, especially online, for adolescent people who are currently worried.
“You are not alone,” said Eli, an It Gets Better ambassador who asked to be identified only by his first name for his safety. “We will come out the other side. There are queer adults who have lived long and happy lives, and you will too.”
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Linley Sanders contributed reporting from Washington.
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