Executive Summary
With the election of President Donald J. Trump to a second term, many transgender Americans reported experiencing significant fear, anxiety, and anger. One of President Trump’s first executive orders aimed to erase the identities of transgender and nonbinary people for the purposes of federal law and policy, with sweeping implications for non-discrimination protections, accurate federal identification documents, incarcerated transgender people, health care access for transgender youth, access to shelters and other services, and students’ access to equal education, including access to restrooms and sports participation.Many transgender people have other identities that create additional vulnerabilities under Trump administration policies, such as having low income, being a person of color, being disabled, and being an immigrant (James et al., 2024).
Considering the long history of legislative discrimination against transgender parents, coupled with the Trump administration’s anti-transgender rhetoric and policies, transgender people who are parents are particularly vulnerable and may be experiencing heightened concerns in the current sociopolitical and legislative climate.
Through a survey of 108 transgender and nonbinary parents conducted in 2025, this study explores transgender parents’ experiences and worries related to the Trump administration’s policies and the current sociolegal climate, with a focus on understanding a) the impacts on their children; b) their guidance and precautions for their children to promote safety and avoid harm; and c) their actions and avoidance behaviors in response to the current climate and Trump administration.
Most of the 108 respondents to the survey identified as nonbinary (37%), transgender women (32%), or transgender men (22%); the remaining 9% identified as genderqueer, genderfluid, or genderflux. One-third (33%) of respondents were people of color. About two-thirds of these parents (65%) were younger parents aged 18-35. Most of these parents (86%) had either one or two children. Half (50%) had at least one child who was five years old or younger, 60% had at least one child who was between 6 and 12, and 36% had at least one child who was between 13 and 18.
Many of these parents faced significant financial and health challenges. Over the past year, more than one-third (42%) struggled to pay basic household expenses, and 34% struggled to pay rent, while over one in five (22%) received government assistance to meet their families’ food and nutritional needs. Most respondents (94%) reported at least one health challenge during the past year, including over three-fourths (79%) who reported anxiety and over two-thirds who reported depression (67%).
Key Findings
Many respondents described multiple ways that their children had been negatively impacted by the Trump administration’s stance on trans people. They emphasized how their children had been impacted by anti-transgender messages at school, in their community, and in the media, including social media.
In some cases, children’s anxieties reflected their intersecting marginalized identities, as nonbinary or transgender themselves and/or as people of color.
While 45% of respondents felt that their children were too young to be sufficiently aware of current events to be affected by the Trump administration’s policies, the other 55% of respondents provided the following impacts on their children:
- Anxiety and fear. Two-thirds of parents (66%) reported that their children were more anxious and/or fearful due to the Trump administration.
- New worries and concerns. Over half (56%) said their children had expressed new worries or concerns since Trump’s election. Some specific worries and concerns included:
- Parents’ safety and health. Concerns about their parents’ safety and whether their parents will lose their gender-affirming care.
- Family safety. Concerns about whether their families will face discrimination, harassment, or violence, and questions about why people don’t like their parents or their families.
- Family stability. Whether their families will be split up, whether they will be taken away from their parents, and whether their families will have to move to a safer location.
- Mitigation and coping strategies
- To mitigate their children’s fears, many respondents emphasized three key communication strategies: acknowledging, validating, and processing their children’s concerns; providing reassurance that their families were safe; and making promises to advocate for their children and families.
- Other responses about mitigating and coping strategies focused on providing information to their children, building up their children’s self-esteem, cultivating open communication, and providing a historical perspective on what was happening in the United States.
Actions Transgender Parents Have Taken to Protect Their Children and Families
Most respondents (87%) reported at least one change in how they approached protecting their children’s safety and well-being since Trump’s re-election. These strategies included:
- Limiting visibility. About four in 10 respondents (39%) limited their own transgender identity or their family’s visibility (e.g., on social media, in public spaces) out of safety concerns.
- Avoiding family spaces. Almost half of participants (45%) sought to fully avoid one or more family-oriented spaces and events, such as family gatherings (27%), playgrounds and parks (19%), pediatricians’ offices (17%), school events (16%), schools and day care (15%), and social events for children, such as birthday parties (15%).
- Moving. About one in five (19%) were considering moving to a different state/country to protect their family’s safety or legal protections.
- Increasing community engagement and advocacy. Some transgender parents also reported supporting themselves or their children in becoming more active in the LGBTQ community and in LGBTQ advocacy as a result of the Trump presidency:
- Most respondents (89%) reported already learning more about their rights related to safety and discrimination (70%) or were considering doing so (19%).
- Over one-third had talked more directly with their children about discrimination and civil rights (39%); increased their child/ren’s exposure to LGBTQ affirming media, spaces, and communities (37%); or had become more involved in advocacy, community organizing, or mutual aid to protect their families (34%).
Many transgender parents reported that their children, who are old enough to understand the rhetoric and policies of the Trump presidency, were experiencing anxiety and fear, including about their parents and their own safety and well-being. These fears strike to the very heart of these families’ security and stability: for some, what is at stake is not a set of negative impacts on their family, but whether their family will survive the Trump presidency intact. In response to the significant pressures of the Trump presidency, transgender parents limit their outness as transgender and nonbinary people and the visibility of their families, avoid public spaces that are important to children and families, and have even considered moving to safer communities. Many respondents also reported taking concrete actions to support their children and protect their families in response to the Trump presidency. In the face of significant pressures, many respondents reported drawing on their family’s values, the past, and hope for the future to help them cope.
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