A new survey from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that over half (52%) of surveyed transgender parents with minor children cited an increasingly hostile anti-LGBTQ legislative and social climate as a barrier to future parenting. One-third (33%) of respondents said they planned to have fewer children because of Trump’s re-election and presidency, and 55% indicated that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the resulting uncertainty over reproductive and legal rights had affected their future parenting plans.
Most respondents (93%) had legally recognized relationships with all of their children, yet 59% were concerned about the legal validity of their parenting rights—citing the lack of federal protections for LGBTQ parents and the Trump administration’s stance on transgender rights as key factors.
Researchers collected data in 2025 from a community sample of 108 transgender and nonbinary parents to examine the routes and barriers to becoming parents and the impact of an increasingly anti-transgender landscape on their parenting plans.
Participants’ fears extended beyond legislation and into daily life. About four in 10 respondents worried that schools or daycares (41%), neighbors (41%), or health care providers (38%) might report them to child welfare agencies because of their gender identity. Thirty percent feared such reporting by family members.
“Being a transgender parent means not only raising children but also navigating one’s identity within the community, securing recognition of one’s parenting status, and feeling safe as a family,” said lead author Abbie E. Goldberg, Affiliated Scholar at the Williams Institute and Professor of Psychology at Clark University. “All of this is happening amid an increasingly hostile sociopolitical climate.”
The vast majority of the transgender parents surveyed reported that their friends (89%) and family (82%) had expressed concerns about their safety, most commonly that they would be harassed in public spaces, face physical violence or hate crimes, or be discriminated against in health care settings. Similar shares of friends (33%) and family members (38%) worried specifically about their safety while parenting or when out in public with their children.
To stay safe, many respondents reported planning to limit travel and avoid certain settings during the Trump administration, including public restrooms, government and social service agencies, and gender-affirming care providers and OB/GYNs.
“What came through clearly in this study is how much transgender parents love their children and how hard they work to protect and nurture their families,” said study author Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute. “As LGBTQ policies become more restrictive at the federal level, it is essential that social service organizations, government agencies, and policymakers at the state and local levels support transgender parents by ensuring access to inclusive family planning services and stronger parenting protections.”