Trump has made it very clear during his campaign that he would undermine and devalue the LGBTQ community if he became president. On the day of the inauguration, his first policy stated that the USA would only recognize two genders, male and female, causing an uproar in the nation.
There are an estimated 1.6 million Americans aged 13 and older who identify as transgender; 1.3 million of these are adults, representing less than 1 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to a 2022 study from UCLA’s Williams Institute. According to the California Department of Justice, hate crimes against transgender individuals in Los Angeles County surged to 99 incidents in 2023, marking a 125 percent increase from the previous year.
At a roundtable discussion held in response by Ethnic Media Services on Friday, Jan 31, Dr. Ilan H. Meyer of the Williams Institute warned, “This is not just a policy shift. It is outright violence. Anti-transgender policies like this influence societal attitudes and contribute to increased hate crimes.” Gael Mateo Jerez-Urquia from the San Diego LGBTQ Center confirmed that transgender youth have increasingly expressed anxiety and depression following the policy announcement.
“We’ve seen a surge in inquiries about name and gender marker changes in recent weeks,” Jerez-Urquia stated.
The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, found an overall increase of nearly 700 percent in volume across its crisis lines last Inauguration Day compared to the weeks leading up to it. In January alone, calls increased by 33 percent.
Bamby Salcedo of the TransLatina Coalition expressed outrage, stating, “We’ve already witnessed numerous states pushing legislation to restrict transgender rights. This executive order is not merely administrative—it fundamentally denies our existence.” On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Trump signed an executive order banning high school transgender girls from competing in girl’s sports. Trump suggested directing them to boys’ sports or to create their own league. Trump has also defunded a majority of organizations that receive government funding to support gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth under 19 years old.
The care in question includes puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgery, which is rare for minors. Jordan Willow Evans of the Outsider Media Foundation criticized Trump’s order, saying, “This goes against the Republican Party’s core values of personal freedom. The government is irresponsibly overriding parental and medical authority with a one-size-fits-all gender policy.”
Sailor Jones, associate director of Common Cause North Carolina, echoed these concerns.
“I believed that the president’s role was to protect all citizens,” he said.
“This order is nothing more than an attempt to erase the transgender community. Now, more than ever, we must raise our voices and create safer spaces.” Trump also called for transgender women in federal custody to be moved to men’s prisons. Warbelow, from Human Rights Campaign, said her organization had received reports from lawyers that some have been. The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to requests for information about such moves.