For the LGBTQIA+ community in the United States, 2024 didn’t end as they expected. With Donald Trump’s re-election as president, many of its members are grappling with the fear of the Project 2025 blueprint. His new administration is hellbent on anti-LGBTQ+ promises as seen throughout his election campaign, which saw Donald Trump carry out an anti-trans agenda across his speeches, ads, and other written platform policies.
According to data released by AD Impact, Republicans spent an estimated $215 million on anti-trans agenda this election cycle. However, Trump’s issue with the LGBTQIA+ community, especially trans-people in America, is nothing new.
The 20-point roadmap to “Make America Great Again” clearly states Donald Trump’s priorities to push back LGBTQIA+ rights. He plans on targeting the small number of trans-women in cis-women sports teams, schools pushing radical gender ideology, and more.
So, here’s what Donald Trump’s win means for the sexual and gender minorities in the US.
Restriction for gender-affirming medical care
In the last few years, there have been many state-led ban on gender-affirming medical care. In August 2024, at least 26 states reported a ban or restriction. Donald Trump plans on going after these states and halting gender-affirming care for minors and adolescents nationwide. His administration will likely threaten to deny federal funds to the hospitals providing such services.
This would massively impact the youth of America suffering from gender dysphoria as they will struggle with accessing what many psychiatrists and doctors describe as life-saving care.
Donald Trump announces he will “ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth.” Based.👏
pic.twitter.com/lbGa1I9puC
— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) November 9, 2024
Deconstruction of Title IX protections
Trump has particularly latched on to plans against trans-women participating in sports. During his campaign rally in Virginia, he emphasized keeping “men out of women’s sports.”
During his first term in the White House, he had already worked on rolling back Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students. This time around, he will once again ask his administration to interpret the civil rights law as prohibiting transwomen from participation in women’s sports.
Simone Chriss, a civil rights attorney and the Director of Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel, noted that the issue here is not just about transgender athletes, but how the restrictions of Title IX protection will affect a larger portion of the community.
TRUMP: “We’re going to stop the transgender lunacy. I will sign executive orders to end child s*xual m*tilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools. We will keep men our of women’s sports!” pic.twitter.com/OyNbitWgQi
— JOSH DUNLAP (@JDunlap1974) December 22, 2024
Getting “wokeness” out of education
Trump’s administration has special plans for shifting funding according to how schools teach gender identity and sexual orientation. He has threatened to “cut federal funding” for schools that teach gender ideology.
TRUMP: “On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender sanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children … and I will not give one penny to any school that has a… pic.twitter.com/KEluyFxhXF
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 15, 2024
Lastly, Trump is asked about his plans for Title IX. The Biden administration’s rule bars discrimination based on gender identity in schools.
“I’m going to look at it very closely. We’re looking at it right now.” pic.twitter.com/Nmr53VLmDV
— Brooke Migdon (@bmigdon) December 12, 2024
Dismantling Identification options
Many fear that President-elect Donald Trump will follow in the footsteps of Florida, which redefined sex. This might affect transgender people’s abilities to access identification services that allow them the option to utilize their correct gender.
Possible ban on transgenders serving in the military
There’s a possibility that the Trump administration will bring back the ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. During his first term in office, he formally instructed the Department of Defense to review a 2016 order. He blamed gender-affirming surgeries for barring transgender people from serving in the military.
Although the Biden administration overturned this order in 2021, there’s a good chance DonaldTrump will reinstate the ban.