LGBTQ+ Americans in crisis as Trump rolls back rights

• Surge in crisis calls to LGBTQ+ organizations after inauguration
• Rights groups file first lawsuits against executive orders
• Families worry about gender-affirming care access

Panicking families, suicide risk and spikes in calls to helplines - LGBTQ+ and rights organizations say they are already feeling what they see as foreboding impacts of U.S. President Trump's measures to undo protections for the community.

Trump started his term on Jan. 20 by issuing an executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism," which declared the government will only recognize two sexes - male and female.

Any policies, documents or funding deemed to be promoting "gender ideology" will be removed or stopped, it said.

Trump then signed another order, "protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation" on Jan. 28, which stops the funding and promotion of gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.

Fears are the execution of such orders will turn deadly.

"I can confidently say introducing anti-trans policy or taking away trans-supportive policy (nationwide) will lead to increased rates of suicide," Dr. Steven Hobaica, a research scientist at The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention charity for LGBTQ+ youth, told Context/Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"It's something we're very concerned about," Hobaica said.

Nine organizations supporting LGBTQ+ people said they had a surge in use of their crisis services and calls to their helplines on Trump's first day in office.

They are now waiting to see how the directives will be implemented across federal agencies.

The U.S. State Department has already been instructed to no longer accept applications for 'X' gender markers on passports, a change introduced during the Biden administration for people who identify as neither male nor female, The Guardian reported. 

Some trans female inmates housed in women's prisons have been moved to administrative isolation and told they will be transferred to men's prisons, the ACLU said during an online news conference with LGBTQ+ litigation group Lambda Legal last week.

A trans female inmate in a federal prison filed a lawsuit challenging the two sexes order on Jan. 26. 

"People should be concerned about what [the two sexes order] not necessarily does, but rather indicates and signals, which is the abandonment by this administration with regards to enforcement of civil rights protections for trans people," said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel at Lambda Legal.

"Certainly it creates an indication of where this administration is headed, a preview of where its priorities lie in promoting discriminatory actions, and raises the alarm on the many aspects we will be facing."

Anti-LGBTQ+ bills

Trans rights have become a major political flashpoint in the U.S. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced each year since 2021, with the ACLU tracking 533 in 2024.

Trump made trans issues a cornerstone of his re-election campaign, spending millions of dollars on adverts using anti-trans messaging and vowing to end what he has called "left-wing gender insanity".

As of 2025, 26 of the 50 U.S. states restrict access to gender-affirming care for adolescents, which can include medical, surgical and mental health services. All but one are Republican-led.

Families of trans minors in Houston, Texas, already spend up to 20 hours in a round trip travelling to access care, a 2024 report by the Campaign for Southern Equality revealed. 

Under Trump's blanket ban, they could be left with limited options.

"Not being able to get care in the country is a very scary situation," said Mandy Giles, the mother of two trans children and founder of the Parents of Trans Youth group in Texas.

"I've heard of adults getting medical care out of the country, but that can have its own barriers, such as cost or wondering if it's not regulated, what am I getting?"

Trump's order against gender-affirming for minors explicitly seeks to ban puberty blockers, a contested treatment that halts the onset of puberty by suppressing the release of testosterone and oestrogen.

A study published in 2022 found trans minors were 60% less likely to have depressive symptoms after receiving puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones.

Trump's order also prohibits gender-affirming surgery on minors, despite recent research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health finding that such cases are extremely rare.

"Another option is to unfortunately forego the care. And that is what some families [in Texas] are already choosing, because other choices, like moving state or travelling, are costly," Giles said.

Hate crime on the rise

More than 7% of the U.S. population identifies as LGBTQ+, according to 2023 data collected by research firm Gallup, up from less than 6% four years earlier. 

Nearly one in five people who identify as trans are aged 13 to 17, and trans youth are estimated to make up 1.4% of the country's population. 

An FBI report showed hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community rose to record-breaking numbers in 2023, with attacks on gender identity up by 16% on the previous year and sexual orientation up by 23%.

Multiple LGBTQ+ groups said opposition to the community has become bolder due to the conservative majority across the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and Supreme Court as well as in the White House.

Trump's declaration of two sexes signals plans to roll back protection against discrimination, echoing attempts made during his first term in office to allow religion-based exemptions to protections during his first presidency, the ACLU and Lambda Legal said.

Project 2025, a set of conservative policy proposals, has called for restrictions on same-sex couples adopting and fostering children as well as ending government use of terms like "sexual orientation".

Trump has denied any connection to Project 2025, saying last year he hadn't read it. But he has asked people who were involved in Project 2025 to be part of his administration.

"We've experienced a huge uptick of clients calling, crying," said Karen Persis, an adoption and reproductive law attorney in Orlando, Florida.

"They're afraid that they can wake up one morning and the legislature or the court system is going to say that their family is not a legal family."

During his first week back in office, Trump also ended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes at the federal level, putting staff working on such programmes on paid administrative leave and calling for the private sector to follow suit.

This week, Trump signed another order that appears to ban trans soldiers from serving in the military, stating that a man's "assertion that he is a woman" is not "consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member".

A lawsuit representing six active trans service members was filed against the directive by civil rights organisations GLAD Law and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on Jan. 28.

More legal responses are anticipated in the coming months as the directives are implemented and policies become clear, the ACLU said at the press conference on Jan. 21.

"It's going to be very important for there to be activism among our communities. Not just gay communities, but from allies too," Persis said.

(Reporting by Lucy Middleton; Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst)