After a presidential campaign characterised by anti-trans slogans — such as ads stating, “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” — it came as no surprise when President Trump signed a sweeping executive order defining trans people out of legal existence.
The order, titled, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government,” states, “It is the policy of the United States to recognise two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
While it remains to be seen precisely how the executive order is going to be implemented, its ramifications will be both logistical and symbolic.
A policy enacted in April 2022 by the Biden administration allowed passport applicants to select an X to designate their gender identity.
Trump’s order will put an end to the X option on passports (though not necessarily on driver’s licenses, which are issued by state agencies, not federal ones) and will broadly require trans people to use the sex they were assigned at birth on federal legal documentation.
While a marker on a passport may not seem like a big deal to someone who has never thought twice about theirs, having government identification that matches their identity can protect trans people from hostile or dangerous situations.
“We’ve experienced similar attacks against forms of identification here in Florida,” Maxx Fenning, the executive director of PRISM, a LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organisation in the state, told HuffPost.
Guidance issued last year by the Florida government prevents people from changing the gender marker on their driver’s license. There are a number of situations that require people to show their ID, Fenning said — like entering a bar, providing employment verification, renting an apartment or interacting with a traffic cop.
“Those are all friction points now for trans people, where they could be outed,” he explained. “Someone who’s presenting feminine or presenting female that has an ‘M’ male gender marker, on their ID — that’s essentially immediately outing them and potentially putting them in an unsafe situation.”
While these risks are real, Fenning also underscored that it’s important people not misinterpret or preemptively assume what these orders will and will not do, as this can exacerbate people’s fears and put vulnerable communities at even greater risk.
Why rhetoric matters
In addition to these logistical concerns, the language and actions of elected officials matter, and hostile policies can put trans people, and particularly trans youth, at a higher risk of depression and worse.
“We know that the passage of anti-LGBTQ+ laws at the state level can increase suicidality for young people, based upon a recent peer reviewed study in Nature that we just published,” Janson Wu, the vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, an organisation whose aim is to prevent LGBTQ+ youth suicide, told HuffPost.
A spike in people contacting The Trevor Project’s crisis services also indicates that youth are impacted by political rhetoric. The organisation received a 700% increase in contacts the day after Trump won the election in November, Wu said. They also experienced a 33% bump on the day of Trump’s inauguration and his signing of the anti-trans executive order.
“What we’re hearing from young people is real concern about what the new administration and these policies mean for their lives, how it will impact their access to health care, whether or not the places they live would remain safe for them,” Wu said.
A 2023 poll from the Trevor Project found that 86% of trans and non-binary youth felt that debates around anti-trans policies negatively impacted their mental health. In addition, 45% of trans youth experienced cyberbullying in relation to these policies, and almost one third said they did not feel safe going to the hospital or seeing a doctor when they were sick or injured.
Katie Horton left an environment hostile to trans people in Florida to study and teach counselling education and supervision at Saybrook University in Washington.
What trans youth experience, she told HuffPost, is “adults, the government, and people in political office that are running this country [telling them] that they are not seen as equal, that they don’t deserve to be able to be who they truly are, and that their existence is not important. Can you imagine what that would do to your mental health?”
Horton invited people to imagine “what would you feel like if tomorrow someone told you that you’re not allowed to be you anymore — that now you were to be the opposite gender, but you would still look like yourself, and inside you know that you’re not male, but you have to go into a male restroom, or identify and explain it to people when you use your federal ID.”
Ben Greene, author of “My Child Is Trans, Now What?: A Joy-Centered Approach To Support,” told HuffPost that the stakes can be particularly high for trans youth, who are forced to constantly guess who they can safely come out to.
“So many kids are constantly wondering, can I come out to this teacher? Can I come out to this doctor? Can I come out to my parent or my friend at school?” Greene said.
How parents can support trans kids and allies
The good news is that politicians aren’t the only ones whose rhetoric has an impact. What parents and other adults in kids’ lives say and do also matters greatly.
“We know from lots and lots of research that having supportive, affirming, and loving adults in their lives tremendously benefits trans youth,” Abbie Goldberg, a professor of psychology at Clark University, told HuffPost. Such research shows that trans and non-binary youth who have access to affirming spaces and adults in their lives are less likely to have depression or anxiety or to attempt suicide.
“Parents, extended family, teachers, coaches, babysitters, and others who care about and love trans youth can emphasise the worth and dignity of the trans youth in their lives, communicate their unwavering support and act as advocates for and on behalf of trans youth,” she continued.
This advocacy can include connecting youth with resources. For example, Greene said, a local LGBTQ+ centre might have a youth board game night where young people can meet each other and build friendships. “Every state has one organisation, at least, that is in charge of their statewide LGBTQ advocacy that often is very well connected to all the different local organisations,” Greene said. There are also national organisations such as The Trevor Project and PFLAG.
Support doesn’t have to be complex, but it should be palpable. In another poll from the Trevor Project, trans and non-binary youth were asked about the best ways to support them. The top three were: “Trusting that I know who I am,” “standing up for me,” and “not supporting politicians who support anti-LGBTQ [policies].”
As a parent, Wu said, “I know that I can’t control everything in the world that my child lives in, but I can control what is said in our homes and amongst our communities and friends.” In the current political climate, “it’s even more important for parents and other caretakers and guardians to create security and safety for the young people in their lives, while also being honest, in appropriate ways, about what’s happening in the world around them.”
Without downplaying the negative impact of anti-trans rhetoric, Wu suggested that adults can reassure kids “that the government moves slowly. There are checks and balances.” Advocacy groups are also busy fighting anti-trans laws and policies in the courts, meaning some of them may never be enacted.
The importance of leading with joy
While Trump’s anti-trans executive order marks a dark moment for trans people and their allies, there have also been bright ones, such as the election of Sarah McBride, the first openly trans member of Congress.
Wu pointed out that “there are millions of adults in this country that want to see LGBTQ+ young people live happy, healthy, long lives.”
“The LGBTQ+ community is no stranger to adversity,” he continued. “We have met challenge after challenge through our history.”
Trump’s executive order is a reaction to the gains that trans people have made in asserting their rights to live freely as they are. The backlash, while hateful, is proof that activists are gaining ground.
Horton says she is inspired by this knowledge to advocate for “trans and gender-expansive people [to] have the right to live as who they are and that the norms of gender are changing and that is okay.”
Greene emphasised how important it is for parents to centre joy in their children’s lives. “Grounding ourselves and them in joy not only has significant protective effects for mental health or pride and identity development, it will help them build resilience in a very challenging four years,” he said.
“We cannot build a home in fear and anger when we lead with joy and talk about not what are we running away from all the time, but what are we moving towards? What are the things we are fighting for?”
Being trans may involve struggle, but it’s also so much more than a list of mental health risks. Greene says he often hears parents of trans kids say that they don’t want their kids’ lives to be hard.
“When we’re looking at our kid, and we’re looking at the world trying to change our kid so the world won’t hurt them — that is only going to hurt them more. It’s much harder and scarier to say, ‘I want to change the world,’” Greene said.
“Trans lives are not bad lives. No matter what Trump wants to say, I love being trans,” he continued. “My identity has changed throughout the course of my life. I have built a home in my body and built an amazing community.”
“There are challenges, but challenges aren’t inherent to being trans, and it is possible, deeply possible, to build a joyful life for our trans loved ones.”
Help and support:
- The Gender Trust supports anyone affected by gender identity issues | 01527 894 838
- Mermaids offers information, support, friendship and shared experiences for young people with gender identity issues | 0208 1234819
- LGBT Youth Scotland is the largest youth and community-based organisation for LGBT people in Scotland. Text 07786 202 370
- Gires provides information for trans people, their families and professionals who care for them | 01372 801554
- Depend provides support, advice and information for anyone who knows, or is related to, a transsexual person in the UK