In the wake of Donald Trump taking office, many people from the transgender community are fearing for their safety and even beginning to take protective measures. One major part of his campaign, other than the “mass deportation” of illegal immigrants, is taking a “protective” stand against the transgender community.

Two of his policies that I highlight especially are his threats to cut funding for “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content” and to roll back Title IX protections for transgender students. While I may have the “bias” from being a transgender male myself, I can’t help but think these policies would do much more harm than good.

One executive order that was signed on Jan. 28, 2025 “directed federal agencies to take action against hospitals that continue to provide care, including threatening to cut federal funding and grants,” is already starting to cause chaos. The order makes it more difficult for those under the age of nineteen to receive gender-affirming care, and while receiving gender-affirming care is not illegal, it makes providers who are reliant on federal funding afraid of getting cut.

Another executive order and threat that has already been signed was the order to cut federal funding for schools. According to The Hill, schools that will be blocked from funding are those that teach CRT (Criticial-race-theory, the idea that racism is a social and systematic issue and not just an individual one) and of course gender issues. Trump has ordered for the Education and Defense Secretaries to create a strategy to “end indoctrination in K-12 education” within ninety days.  While only about “ten percent of public school funding comes from the federal government, with most of the money to schools received from state and local governments,” Title I schools like Norristown rely on that funding more than do other schools.

Nevertheless, the idea that “indoctrination” occurs in public schools can be a problem in and of itself. According to The White House, “innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics” and “young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.” The official government website goes as far as to say that public schools steer students “toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent.”

These accusations could reflect poorly on public schools, especially ones like ours that make schools an accepting environment for everyone. Typically in Norristown Area High School, the most “radical” thing some teachers have done,is ask students if they have names or pronouns they are more comfortable being referred to by. This seems more like basic respect than radical indoctrination.

Some students here at NAHS believe that it feels as if Trump is either trying to punish schools for normalizing “controversial” topics or barring gender diversity from our schools.

“Being open-minded is for the safety of other people, their lives and well-being. Being close-minded and racist, homophobic, and all that only hurts other people,” Elliot F., a transmale sophomore, shared.

According to the Trevor Project’s statistics, Elliot would be correct. “Transgender and nonbinary youth in schools that were LGBTQ-affirming reported lower rates of being bullied (55%) compared to those in schools that weren’t LGBTQ-affirming (65%), as did cisgender youth (40% vs. 50%).” Those students in the LGBTQ+ community who reported being bullied were also three times more likely to attempt suicide. 

One fear amongst the transgender community and allies is that with these policies in effect, transgender students would be prone to bullying and even violence more than ever. 

“It would kind of give the go-ahead for discriminatory behavior towards trans individuals,” Mackenzie Keller, a senior ally, said.

That “go ahead” in question would most likely stem from the rollback of Title IX expansions, such as those that introduce “significant shifts in how institutions address sexual harassment and assault allegations while expanding protections for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students,” according to the American Council on Education.

There are worries that due to these protections being rolled back, transgender students and other members of the LGBTQ+ may be subject to extremely negative impacts such as “threats of expulsion, increased disciplinary action simply for being LGBT, being denied participation in extracurricular activities, or forced into conversion therapy or counseling.”

The reason for the rollback comes from Donald Trump’s insistence that transgender athletes should not play in sports of their gender identity, which—based on my own subjective opinion—is understandable, but is also not something that is of an immediate threat. 

According to the New York Times, “The U.S. Department of Education proposed a new rule that would allow schools to reject transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity when questions of physicality and fairness arise.” 

The N.C.A.A. (National Collegiate Athletic Association) already has rather fair rules in place. According to the same article published by the New York Times, “That means transgender college athletes are now required to undergo testosterone testing to compete in women’s divisions, a move intended to put the N.C.A.A. in line with the U.S. organizations that set standards for acceptable testosterone levels in their sports.” 

The policy on whether transgender students are allowed to compete in sports is left up to the school and their own determination of what is fair, and the N.C.A.A. has its own rather fair set of rules in place. In a way, Donald Trump’s promise to end this “threat” and protect children by rolling back the Title IX expansion is incredibly false.

“It was based on just fear, not based on a specific case or incident or challenge, none of that,” Ms. Dudley, a social studies teacher and non-practicing attorney, said regarding recent legislation against transgender athletes in sports. Since there has not been a publicized issue in which a trans-athlete has dominated their competition, I believe it’s an invented threat that was utilized extremely well to win the election.

Despite this, that did not stop Trump from signing the executive order to ban trans women from all women’s sports, point blank. This is something that could prove to be damaging since it would be dangerous for a lot of women to play men’s sports considering they’ve been on estrogen for so long. Of course, there’s nothing about trans men in any sports, so the banning is targeted towards trans women specifically regardless if they even have enough testosterone to make a difference in natural physical strength. In a way, giving trans men the same treatment would ultimately explain why having a “blanket ban” is not a good idea.

With the same notion of the government interfering with state decisions, the rollback was also called because it is apparently unconstitutional and “against free speech” to require teachers to use a student’s respective pronouns. The definition of free speech is the right to articulate opinions and ideas without interference, retaliation, or punishment from the government. The key word is government interference; a school’s and state’s decision on what teachers can and cannot say in the school building is up to them and their own private policy. Just like how a teacher could get fired for calling a student “slow,” the same argument could be made if a teacher purposely and continuously makes a student uncomfortable by calling them a gender they don’t identify with.

I originally went to write this article hoping to highlight the transgender communities’ fears and assure them that things could be okay, thinking we were being fear-mongered, but as I accumulated more information, I realized it wouldn’t be fair of me to say “don’t be afraid.” While the chances of us all being thrown into conversion camps and being rounded up like cattle are slim, it doesn’t mean we aren’t in danger. 

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to become victims of rape, sexual assault, or aggravated assault.

With these policies in effect, such as outlawing gender-affirming care for minors (which is already difficult to receive, needs a parent’s informed consent and at times a professional diagnosis), ceasing “all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age,” and asking “Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female — and they are assigned at birth,”  the transgender community is in danger both mentally and physically. 

The transgender community and immigrants have been made into “scapegoats.” Issues like grooming/rape of children and crimes have all been blamed on both of the communities. 

“The whole premise of it is: ‘We’re going to band together against them.’ So it’s an us versus them as a way to sow cohesion amongst a group that’s not cohesive,” Dudley explained. 

This targeting isn’t something America hasn’t seen before, as it has happened to people of other races, women, and gay people. Now it’s transgender people and immigrants. These minority groups are struck with stereotypical labels.

“Disadvantaged groups are singled out to create an ‘other,’ so then you’re more focused on hating that ‘other’ than the problems that are actually there,” said Keller.

People are afraid for those who are transgender, immigrants, women, and anyone else that his policies may affect and it’s a valid fear. I’ve seen people comment on these fears and call it “over dramatic” or “fear-mongering,” but fearing for the safety of you and your peers isn’t dramatic. With numerous transgender people being assaulted for being trans, they have a right to be afraid and wary. There’s a reason why women are wary of walking alone at night or black families are cautious of majority-white neighborhoods.

What could happen though is still a possibility, and for now, the only option we have is to wait and see what happens. Many of his executive orders could still be challenged by the court. In fact, some of these have already. According to LGBTQNation, the order to forcibly detransition and house transgender female inmates in male jails and prisons was blocked. It was called in violation of the Eighth Amendment of “cruel and unusual punishments.” 

The executive orders don’t mean the end of the world, and while a lot of our members on the Supreme Court are Republican, Trump does not have absolute power. It is also worth noting that several teachers have voiced their support for the community. Keep an eye out for the ‘I’m Here’ badges on teachers’ doors if you ever need someone to voice your fears to, and remember you still have a community.