Since his return to office in January, President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders rolling back federal protections for transgender Americans. The rollbacks impact areas like military service, healthcare access, and incarceration policies. These sweeping changes have ignited outrage within the LGBTQ+ community, targeted by President Trump’s actions.
One of the most significant orders reinstates a ban on transgender individuals serving in the United States military. A policy, like the one implemented during Trump’s first presidential term, bars transgender men and women from enlisting or openly serving in the United States’ armed forces unless they do so under their sex assigned at birth.
“His ignorance and prejudice against the queer community will only hurt our country because anyone who wants to serve should have the right to serve,” said Dylan Schenck, ’27. “It’s hard enough to find soldiers who are willing to die for this country and slowing down your [enlistment] numbers is only going to harm us in a time of turmoil.”
Schenck is not alone in these concerns. Several MCLA students have voiced their opposition to the executive order, arguing that it not only discriminates against transgender people, but undermines the strength of the U.S. military. Many students see this policy as part of a broader rollback of LGBTQ+ rights under the Trump administration, sparking conversations across campus about equality, human rights, and democracy.
“As a transgender individual, it heavily impacts my life,” said Ember Lawerence, ’28. “If I ever wanted to receive hormone therapy…lucky enough, we live in Massachusetts, but it’s going to impact others nationwide, and it’s just like kind of hard to grapple with.”
As Lawrence points out, while Massachusetts maintains protections for transgender individuals, many states do not. With Trump’s executive order rolling back federal protections, access to gender affirming care is now controlled at the state level, creating a patchwork of policies that leave many transgender individuals uncertain about their rights and options.
In conservative-leaning states, lawmakers have already moved to restrict access to hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender-affirming surgeries for minors. The growing divide has left many transgender people, and their families, scrambling for solutions, with some even relocating to states with stronger legal protections. For those who cannot afford to move, the lack of accessible and affirming health care may have devastating consequences.
In the prison system, transgender inmates, especially trans women, face additional risks under the new executive order. Federal prisons will revert to housing inmates based on their assigned sex at birth, rather than their gender identity. The change in policy has raised alarms among advocacy groups, and the issue was brought up for discusssion in an MCLA political science class: “Trailblazing Women,” where Professor Samantha Pettey, and her students, examined the historical and legal challenges faced by marginalized groups.
One student in the class, who wished to remain anonymous, shared their concerns: “Placing trans women in men’s prisons is not just dehumanizing, but dangerous,” shared one concerned student in the class, who asked to remain anonymous. “It exposes them to higher risks of violence, assault, and harassment. This decision isn’t about fairness or safety; rather, it’s about stripping the rights of people who identify as transgender.”
Many students in the class expressed their frustration over Trump’s rollback of protections, arguing that such decisions ignore the lived realities of transgender individuals, further marginalizing them within the justice system.
With such sweeping moves being made in the first weeks of President Trump’s second term, the next four years hold an uncertain future for LGBTQ+ Americans.
