Transgender-rights advocates say the election of Trump and his allies marks a major setback

Election victories for Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people reinforced a widespread backlash against trans rights. For America's LGBTQ+-rights movement, it adds up to one of the most sustained setbacks in its history.

For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there is also a spirit of resilience – a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding.

“I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sports event on TV without seeing a commercial where trans people were portrayed as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who teaches at Barnard College in New York.

“This hurts more than any other moment I can remember. We’ve been knocked down before. We’ll be knocked down again. All we can do is fight.”

Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access.

Activists fear the movement will grow, with the Trump administration taking power as many Americans question the trans-rights agenda. Overall, 55% of voters — and 85% of Trump backers — said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who cast ballots nationwide.

“There is an urgent need to show the American people the reality of transgender lives — the ordinary people for whom being trans is not the center of their lives,” said Shannon Minter, a transgender civil rights lawyer with 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 may adopt policies that cause them devastating harm.”

Trump and others have threatened to roll back various trans rights

Trump won the presidential contest over Vice President Kamala Harris after a campaign that included pervasive TV advertising mocking her support for trans rights. “Kamala is for they/them,” an ad that ran over 15,000 times asserted. “President Trump is for you.” Other Democratic candidates also were targeted with anti-trans ads.

On an array of issues, Trump — and other Republicans who now hold majorities in both the House and Senate — have threatened to roll back protections and civil liberties for trans people.

— Education: Trump has pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions on transgender students. His administration could swiftly move to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.

— Health care: At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is filing civil lawsuits against doctors he alleges were prescribing such treatments. Trump says any doctor or hospital providing gender-affirming care should be barred from Medicaid and Medicare.

— Sports: Trump and other Republicans embraced the anti-trans mantra opposing “boys in girls’ sports.” At least 24 states already have laws on the books barring 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 at the 2022 national championships, where she won the 500-yard freestyle.

— Military: Trans-rights activists worry that Trump may reimpose a ban on trans people serving openly in the military, or — as an alternative — bar any future recruiting of trans people and curtail the availability of gender-affirming medical care for service members and veterans.

Advocates say they're angry and anxious

Trans-rights organizations are calling for coalition-building and renewed efforts to increase public understanding. They celebrated some notable victories. Sarah McBride won Delaware’s lone seat in the House of Representatives to become the first openly trans person elected to Congress. In Montana, transgender state Rep. Zooey Zephyr won reelection and will be able to return to the House floor nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues.

But nationwide, anger and anxiety were dominant emotions among trans activists.

“This election season has been brutal,” the leaders of Advocates for Transgender Equality wrote to their supporters. "Trump targeted trans people since his campaign launch. He targeted our existence. He targeted our rights. He promised he would continue to target trans people if he won — and we know he will keep his promise.”

Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center said trans people “have become the pawn for 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 step up and support each other. ... How do we see the long game, not just the immediate narrow view, because it is very daunting right now. Where do we want to be in 15 years?”

Public opinion on trans rights issues isn’t uniform. According to AP VoteCast, slightly more than half of voters in the 2024 election strongly or somewhat opposed laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors. Slightly less than half of voters somewhat or strongly favored them

And according to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 69% of Americans say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that conform with their birth gender.

A history of struggle

Over the past 25 years, arguably the most daunting previous phase of the LGBTQ+-rights movement started in 2004, after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between 2004 and 2008, voters in 26 states approved ballot measures defining marriage as between one man and one woman – in effect outlawing same-sex marriage.

By 2012, however, public opinion was swinging in favor of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015, and it has had the support of most Americans ever since.

Boylan recalled how that long-bitter debate tilted in favor of legalization when supporters of same-sex marriage popularized the phrase “Love is Love.”

“That opened doors and opened hearts,” Boylan said. “The challenge for trans people is we don’t have a phrase like that ... the issues are more complex.”

Boylan noted that the anti-trans campaign seemed to make headway with issues that are not among the core concerns of most trans people: "The primary thing we’re fighting for is not the right to play with other women on a soccer team. We’re fighting for dignity, for respect, for the right to be left alone.”

Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man working as a film editor and writer in rural Ohio, said he was “worn out” by the relentless targeting of trans people, and blamed Trump for perpetuating it.

Looking ahead, he said life as a trans person “has forced me to learn a resiliency that I will lean on as I continue to speak out against prejudice and discrimination.”

Christine Zuba, a transgender woman from New Jersey, described a recent surge of Zoom meetings enabling trans people to express their concerns and determine next steps.

″One of the best recommendations I have heard throughout this discussion is to not isolate yourself, rather surround yourself with your support group -- the people you love, and who love you,” she said. “Do not despair. There are a lot of people who will work with you and for you.”

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David Crary, currently news director of AP's global religion team, has been covering LGBTQ issues since 1999.