We are just weeks into Donald Trump’s second presidential term — and already my fears of what a second Trump administration would mean for trans people like me are materializing at an alarming rate.
One year ago I wrote an op-ed in J. about my concerns as a Jewish trans woman, alerting the Jewish community about the dangers to trans Americans posed by new state laws. The situation was already bad. But now, under Trump, it is significantly worse.
Trump has already signed a flurry of executive orders, including several designed specifically to remove trans people from public life.
One executive order claims to restore “biological truth” and states that it is the “policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” This both reinforces a blatant lie about the complexities of biological sex — intersex people exist — and conflates gender and sex as a means of erasing trans people despite our documented existence throughout history.
Another executive order bans trans people from serving in the military — a replay of 2017. The language of the new order is particularly nauseating, stating that a “man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” It also states that beyond the “hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
The intent of this order is laid bare in its dehumanizing language, which is one step toward an end goal — in one MAGA commentator’s words from 2023 — that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
But possibly the most damning executive order is one to end all gender-affirming medical treatment for those under 19 years old. These are necessary medical treatments, ones that have near unanimous support of the medical community and that improve the lives of trans youth despite pushback from lawmakers. The American Medical Association sees gender-affirming care as essential health care. As the ACLU writes: “Medical experts agree: Gender-affirming care is medically necessary care that can be life-saving for transgender youth. Medical decisions belong to trans youth, their parents, and their doctors.”
According to the largest-ever survey of trans people, conducted in 2022 with over 100,000 trans people across all 50 states: “Nearly all respondents (97%) who had at least one form of surgery for their gender identity/transition reported that they were either ‘a lot more satisfied’ (88%) or ‘a little more satisfied’ (9%) with their life.” Medical transitioning — whether puberty blockers, hormones, hair removal, speech therapy, or surgery — is necessary and life-saving for many trans people.
The American people spoke, and they spoke with fear in their hearts.
Communal acceptance of transitioning is just as vital. Research shows that 56% of trans youth “reported a previous suicide attempt and 86% reported suicidality.” And importantly: “Interpersonal microaggressions, made a unique, statistically significant contribution to lifetime suicide attempts…. School belonging, emotional neglect by family, and internalized self-stigma [also] made a unique, statistically significant contribution to past 6-month suicidality.”
This exact statistic is used by anti-trans pundits and politicians as a twisted smokescreen to claim that being trans causes the devastatingly high suicide rate. This lie is insidious because medical transitioning combined with social community support is what prevents such awful outcomes.
This 2024 election cycle was exhausting for trans people — and now the trans community, along with all other minority groups, will reap the rotting seeds sown by Trump’s anti-trans, anti-democratic, anti-empathy administration. The American people spoke, and they spoke with fear in their hearts.
I’m more scared and angry than I was a year ago — and uncontrollably sad. Trans children will die as a result of this executive order denying necessary care.
These executive orders are purposefully cruel. Contrary to what Trump said before the election, Project 2025 is being implemented. This shift from hypothetical to actionable is important to point out and condemn at every step. And though multiple lawsuits are currently being prepared and filed to block some of these executive orders, the Trump administration and Congress will continue to pump out new and insidious executive orders and legislation.
I need my Jewish community to understand that these discriminatory actions against trans people are dragging us down the same dehumanizing road that Jews have been down before. “Dehumanization” is Stage 4 of the U.K.-based Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s “Ten Stages of Genocide.” It states: “Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity.”
With so many crises in America and the world, it is easy to become overwhelmed. But there are little things you can do in your own life that will collectively add up to a massive positive impact.
Protect the trans people in your life. Make it clear you support their transition and take their concerns seriously. Let those not yet out of the closet know that you are a safe person to talk to by being vocal about your support for trans rights. Call out transphobic comments, jokes and misinformation among your friends. Read up on a variety of different trans perspectives, from authors and journalists to nonprofits and therapists. (I highly recommend Erin Reed’s excellent line-by-line breakdown of the executive order that ends gender-affirming care for youths.) Donate to LGBTQ advocacy organizations like GLAAD and the Trevor Project, and use their websites for resources and information.
And while we are still able to, vote against legislation or candidates who seek to limit trans rights. Jewish people have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in a country that is enthusiastically accelerating policies that will marginalize, hurt and kill trans people.
Local community change must occur when the federal government denies our existence and right to live. I’m very fearful for not just the next four years but for the next week. Trans people are in danger. Please help us.