MAGA is targeting Trans people. Nearly $215 million was spent on network TV ads attacking transgender rights by Republican campaigns and allies across the 2024 cycle, according to AdImpact data reported publicly after Election Day. A Day‑1 executive order from Trump instructed the federal government to recognize only two unchangeable sexes and to align all federal policies and documents with this definition, eliminating recognition of gender identity and nonbinary markers across agencies.
Worryingly, an AP-NORC poll of 1,175 adults, with a sampling error of plus or minus 4, conducted in May 1-5 of 2025 found that about half of U.S. adults approved of how the MAGA regime is handling transgender issues.
Republicans overwhelmingly believe gender identity is defined by sex at birth, but Democrats are divided, with about half saying gender identity can differ from biological characteristics at birth. The view that gender identity can’t be separated from sex at birth contradicts what the American Medical Association and other mainstream medical groups say: that extensive scientific research suggests sex and gender are better understood as a spectrum than as an either-or definition.
Determining the “sex” of a child at birth is not always even accurate. Experts estimate that up to 1.7 percent of the population are born with intersex traits (such as sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.
What you can do
- Share your pronouns to communicate that gender won’t be assumed and that everyone’s identity will be respected.
- GLAAD offers tips for becoming a better ally to transgender people.
- Support The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people.
- Support the Trans Youth Emergency Project
- Support Planned Parenthood of the North Country New York – LGBTQ Services.
- Lean more:
Answers for your questions about being Trans; listen to Understanding the Trans world: I’m A Rotarian Podcast Season 11 EP.21 TRANS 101
Keep up to date on important trans and queer news and legislation by following Erin in the Morning published on Substack by Erin Reed.