By Jocelyn Gecker and Sharon Lurye, Associated Press
Experts warn of swift changes to Transgender student protections as distressed youth fear for their futures
During his presidential bid, Donald Trump promised to impose wide-ranging restrictions and roll back civil rights protections for Transgender students. When he takes office, he could fulfill this promise swiftly by making one major change – excluding Transgender students from Title IX protections. This exclusion would affect school policies on students' use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.
Trump's team spent $17 million on ads highlighting Kamala Harris' support for gender-affirming medical treatments for Trans people thereby inferring an extreme position taken by Democratic Party. One ad that aired 15,000 times crystallized Trump's stance on Transgender and Gender Expansive Americans: "Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you."
For one youth, this ad seemed to paint Transgender and Nonbinary people as a threat to society. His mother, Carolyn Fisher, stated in an interview that her 16 year-old, who uses he/they pronouns, called the Rainbow Youth Project crisis line the weekend before Election Day.
The Rainbow Youth Project serves 2SLGBTQ+ young people and has received more than 5,500 calls to its crisis hotline in the past 10 days, up from the 3,700 calls it typically gets every month.
Fisher said she hadn't realized the depth of her child's depression and the pain he experienced watching political ads that felt like a personal attack.
With the help of crisis counselors, Fisher said her teen felt better. Yet, bullying at school has worsened with some students telling her son Trump is going to make him "go back in the closet," Fisher said. "The kids who have taunted him are now proud of themselves, and they rub it in," she said.
Opposition to Transgender rights was a focal point of Trump's campaign. Republican ads attacking political opponents over Transgender or Queer issues have aired over 290,000 times on network TV since March 2023, according to data from the media tracking firm AdImpact.
The messaging may have resonated with many Americans. More than half of voters overall — and the majority of Trump supporters — said support for Transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide.
President Joe Biden's administration expanded recognition of Transgender rights just this year. Interpretation of Title IX, a landmark sex discrimination law, is largely up to the executive branch, although court rulings can affect enforcement.
Originally passed in 1972, Title IX was first used as a women's rights law. This year, Biden's administration said the law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, but Trump can undo that.
Biden's new guidance had limited implementation in any case. After a spate of lawsuits, courts had issued injunctions pausing the rule in 26 states.
"Title IX will be a top priority. It is emblematic of all the culture war issues that have been created over the past few years surrounding gender identity versus sex," said Candice Jackson, a lawyer who led the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights in the first Trump administration.
Trump also said he would ask Congress to pass a bill stating there are "only two genders" and to ban hormonal or surgical intervention for Transgender youth in all 50 states. Most Republican-controlled states already have banned gender-affirming health care for Transgender youth under age 18 or 19, and several have adopted policies limiting which school bathrooms Trans people can use.
While Biden's election-year guidance did not extend to Transgender students in sports, Trump has promised to end "boys in girls' sports." The administration likely would "approach these issues from a traditional understanding" of what Title IX has meant "with a biological, binary understanding of sex," said Bob Eitel, who served during the first Trump administration as a senior counselor to the education secretary.
In the U.S., just over three percent of high school students identify as Transgender and another two percent question their gender, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released last month. The survey found 72 percent of Transgender and Questioning teens experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness in the past year. These teens also reported higher rates of bullying at school compared with peers. About 1 in 4 Transgender students said they had attempted suicide in the past year, the CDC said.
Queer advocates are mobilizing to address the despair they see rising among Transgender and Nonbinary youth. The Rainbow Youth Project, for one, has increased virtual peer groups and town halls so LGBTQIA2S+ youth can connect. Another organization, It Gets Better, has focused on reaching young people online through social media platforms like Twitch and YouTube to create supportive environments even if legal protections are rolled back, said Brian Wenke, the group's executive director.
Across the country, particularly in conservative areas, Queer youth are discussing whether it would be safer to live somewhere else.
Jude Armstrong, a Transgender high school senior in New Orleans, has led protests against Louisiana laws that regulated pronoun usage and discussions of gender and sexuality in the classroom. With the potential for federal changes on the horizon, Armstrong, 17, said he has thought of going to school in the United Kingdom, but worries about leaving behind the Queer culture and history he loves at home.
"How do you feel like you're protecting your own community when you're leaving that community and going to another country?" he asked.
Alejandro Jimenez, a sophomore at Texas State University, dreams of being a theater teacher in Texas. He knows how important it is for Trans kids to see someone like them in the classroom. Now, he's not sure if he'll stay in his home state.
Already, tensions have risen on his campus in a way that makes him feel unsafe. The day after the election, two protestors held up signs that said, "Homo sex is sin" and "Women are property."
"I feel it's my duty to stay here, but I'm scared of being pushed out," said Jimenez, who is Transgender.
Under the new Trump administration, advocates worry efforts anywhere to accommodate Transgender and Nonbinary students could face scrutiny. Trump's platform called for pulling federal funding for any school pushing "gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children."
"It sounds really dystopian to say that trying to be more inclusive could actually result in punishment from the federal government. But that is a risk," said Elana Redfield, federal policy director for the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
With so much uncertainty, Eli, an 18-year-old Trans college student in New York, stressed the importance of community, especially online for youth who feel concerned right now.
"You are not alone," said Eli, an ambassador for It Gets Better, who asked to be identified only by his first name for safety reasons. "We will come out the other side. There are Queer adults who have lived long and happy lives, and you will get there too."
Watch this CBS Colorado video of Trans advocates and opponents clashing about gender-affirming care during a protest at the state capitol in October.
Linley Sanders contributed reporting from Washington.
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