During a Turning Point event in Arizona, President Donald Trump vowed to remove “transgender insanity” from schools. Scapegoating transgender people has been a cornerstone of this administration’s political campaign. Trump released national ads during his second campaign targeting former Vice President Kamala Harris’ support of nonbinary people; in total, the Republican party spent $65 million on anti-trans ads, according to the New York Times. In the past few years, transgender people have experienced a resurgence of bold anti-trans rhetoric and policies.
POLITICS
Setting clear boundaries for the definitions of gender and biological sex may seem unnecessary or even outdated, considering all the progress America has made in recent years, but with a president who has made his anti-trans sentiments abundantly clear, advancements in favor of transgender rights are being halted and even reversed.
“[The situation for transgender people] is gonna get a lot worse,” said senior Samirah Field. “The amount of bills being introduced since the inauguration is shocking, and it’s not looking good. They’re certain they want to kill us. [It’s] terrifying. I don’t feel safe in the country anymore.”
In early 2025, Trump signed executive orders that claimed the U.S. government would only recognize two sexes: male and female. Under the guise of “protecting women’s spaces,” these orders work to end federal agencies’ equity, diversity and inclusion programs. Transgender people “invading” spaces primarily made for women has been a long-standing weapon harnessed by anti-trans rhetoric.
“If a man really wants to come into the women’s restroom to do stuff, he’s not gonna transition his entire gender identity,” said junior Dahlia Selig. “[He] can just walk right in … There’s no electric shock collar that’s gonna be like, ‘can’t come in.’ There’s definitely fear-mongering about protecting your family, protecting your children.”
Similar to the inaccurate stereotypes about gay men or drag queens being predators, fear of those who stray from the cisgender, heterosexual norm develops into false accusations. By pushing transgender people to the outskirts of society, trans youth lose means of support, thus making it even harder for them to thrive and, in some cases, survive.
YOUTH VOICES
“Would you rather have a kid that is potentially very depressed and unhappy and maybe even suicidal, as we’ve seen in a lot of cases, or would you rather let them explore their identity?” Selig said. “See what they like, even if they’re not being put on hormone blockers or something like that. Let them explore who they want to be. That’s just a good thing to do.”
In describing the acceptance of transgender women as “legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women,” it is made clear that the goal of these orders is not to protect women as it claims, but instead to escalate the fears and misconceptions surrounding transgender identities, with a specific focus on trans women.
“Their approach to trans women specifically … shows very much how they’re not caring about [women’s safety],” Field said. “[If they did] care about women’s safety, they would do more investigations into rapes and sex trafficking and all of these other crimes that hurt women a lot more than a woman with a penis in the bathroom. Their hypocrisy has been blatant from the start, and their goal has been blatant from the start.”
Transphobia runs rampant in numerous aspects of daily life. Debates over which bathroom to use, whether or not one should disclose that they’re trans in a relationship and if it’s fair to have transgender people play for the sports team that aligns with their gender are all current hot-button issues. Those who align more so with the anti-trans side claim to be fighting for safety, honesty and fairness.
Trump’s administration has honed in on the issue of bathrooms, and that cisgender women may be at risk if transgender women are freely able to enter intimate, more vulnerable spaces for women. However, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, transgender people are over four times more likely to experience violent victimization, which encompasses aggravated simple assault, rape and sexual assault. A study from the Human Rights Campaign also revealed that 78% of lives lost from the transgender community in 2024 were people of color, with 56% of these deaths being Black transgender women. Punishing trans women for the actions of predatory men simply does not make sense when they are the ones being victimized by them.
Openly transitioning may seem common in a state like California, where people are more accepting and the state offers protection. That is not the case for the rest of America.
“I have this friend who wanted to go to an Ivy League,” said Senior Matthew Grabow. “But now, [she’s] second guessing this big decision to move out of California due to the violence and hate that she might experience.”
FAIRNESS
As sports become more inclusive of trans athletes, the question arises of which team one should play for: the team that aligns with their biological sex, or the team that aligns with their gender identity. A key argument has been for fairness. Simply put, transgender women are at a biological advantage when compared to cisgender women, and transgender men are at a biological disadvantage when compared to cisgender men.
“I’ve gone against a trans girl goalie for soccer before,” said junior and athlete Aila Liu. “We lost, but I don’t [think] solely because of the goalie, because soccer is a team sport … A lot of my teammates were really angry about it [though] because they felt it wasn’t fair. They would be like, ‘Oh, it’s not fair that … she’s on a team going against girls, because … she hasn’t taken any estrogen hormones or anything. So it’s not fair for her to be competing with women.’”
While these differences in performance do conjure worries about cheating in sports competitions or skewing results, they can be reduced and even removed through extended periods of hormone therapy.
“[Sports are] very male-dominated, for one … and that definitely pushes a lot of trans women away, and maybe even trans men,” Fields said. “It’s the fear of being harmed or harassed or the anxiety around [sports]. If you are very good at [sports], are people just gonna say ‘it’s because you’re trans.’ … Am I going to be known as the trans person on the team, or am I going to be known for my ability to play? … That is a very big contributor.”
Transgender athletes are also much less prevalent than the scrutiny they receive has made them out to be. On a collegiate level, president of the National College Athletics Association Charlie Baker states that there are less than 10 openly transgender athletes. While trans rights in sports are highly important, the “threat” they have been made out to be represents less than 0.002% of college athletes.
MEDICAL REALITIES
Trans athleticism is not the only area that has been criticized and hyperbolized. In the cases of transgender youth, spirited discussions over gender-affirming care for individuals under 18 target cases that simply do not exist. One of the biggest arguments against youths transitioning is that it may “just be a phase,” and if they decide to do something drastic, such as going on hormones or getting gender affirming surgery, it may not be reversible when their minds have changed.
“The harsh reality is people kill themselves over this stuff,” Grabow said. “The fact that people want to deny [gender affirming care] when it is proven to reduce suicide rates, reduce self-harm rates and overall amend these harsh, bad feelings they feel about their gender. The fact is, that’s really saddening [and] dehumanizing.”
One of the main worries is that trans youth will detransition despite already receiving gender-affirming care, but detransitioning itself is extremely rare, with recent studies revealing that only 8% of people who transitioned have detransitioned, and most of them only detransition temporarily. For comparison, one in five patients who have undergone the very common knee replacement surgery leave dissatisfied. The major factors causing sparse cases of detransitioning are not “realizing they got it wrong,” as has been asserted in countless anti-trans statements, but instead that the pressure from parents, discrimination, difficulty with transitioning and struggles to find work got to be too much.
Trans youth are not receiving “extreme” surgeries either, and the misconception that all gender-affirming care youths can access is on the same level works against trans youth who are already struggling to feel comfortable and safe. Surgeries, or any sort of gender-affirming care, are extremely expensive, and tens of thousands of dollars are not easy to come by. There are also extensive steps one must go through before receiving any sort of care.
“It’s so hard to get gender-affirming surgery,” Fields said. “[My insurance has] denied [my surgery] over half a dozen times … To prepare for surgery, you have to get laser hair removal, [and] just getting that I’ve had [insurance block it] three times. [Gender affirming care] is not something you just pop into a clinic and do … It takes years … There [are] waitlists, and there’s [scheduling] surgeons [and] you get three letters from different therapists saying this is medically necessary before you can even start the process of arranging [surgery].”
And even if they do qualify for care, options are largely limited to puberty blockers, though a medical transition is not the only option. There are a number of ways for transgender youth to transition and feel more comfortable without going through the “irreversible, faulty treatments” that anti-trans officials claim every trans child gets.
MENTAL HEALTH
At this time, states are currently further raising the barriers for trans youth to get care for their body dysmorphia. 26 states currently have laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans youth ages 13-17, with some of these states pushing to extend the maximum to 26 years old.
“Even though I’m not directly affected, it’s a human rights issue,” Liu said. “Everyone deserves to identify with what gender they are, and we should affirm their gender. If they’re negatively impacted, it might actually negatively impact me too, because this is a gender issue … A lot of people are using women’s rights as a platform to be transphobic, and so [attacking trans rights] will [affect everyone].”
These real-world policies have real-world consequences. According to NPR, anti-transgender laws can cause up to a 72% increase in suicide attempts among transgender youth, and these possible deaths should not be disregarded as collateral. Youths deserve to be able to feel comfortable with themselves. Youths deserve to be able to express themselves and discover who they are instead of being told who they are by those around them. Youths deserve to be protected, not driven to suicide. These are all non-negotiables, and should not be disregarded when it comes to the case of youths who are transgender
