A new survey by UCLA’s Williams Institute examines the impact that the Trump administration has had on the families of transgender parents.

While the responses are as varied as the trans community itself, a couple of statistics stand out: among transgender parents whose children are old enough to understand current events, 66% reported their kids have grown more anxious or fearful under the Trump administration.

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More than half (56%) said their children had expressed new worries, including concerns about parental safety, discrimination, relocation, or family separation.

“My older child has started asking why some people hate families like ours and whether I’ll ‘get taken away,’” said one parent.

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It’s anecdotal evidence that the Trump administration’s anti-trans crusade is having a cascading effect on trans people and those closest to them.

Trump’s campaign to erase trans and nonbinary identity has affected non-discrimination protections, state and federal IDs, gender-affirming healthcare, transgender inmates’ housing, equal access to sports and restrooms, and the books kids can check out at libraries.

While trans parents report that younger children have been spared for the most part, kids old enough to have a phone are suffering a lot of Trump’s contempt aimed at their parents.

“The heightened fears transgender parents and their children are experiencing in the current sociopolitical and legislative climate strike at the heart of their security and stability,” said lead author Abbie E. Goldberg, Affiliated Scholar at the Williams Institute and Professor of Psychology at Clark University. “For many, what is at stake is not simply a matter of hardship, but whether their family will survive the Trump presidency intact.”

A majority of respondents agreed that Trump’s re-election posed a threat, and they were taking steps to mitigate it. Close to 40% said they’ve limited their family’s visibility on social media and in public out of safety concerns. Close to 40% have responded by sharing affirming media, spaces, and communities with their children, while about the same number have talked more explicitly with their kids about discrimination and civil rights.

About one in five respondents called the anxiety around Trump’s executive orders and other actions overblown.

Asked about changes to their parenting choices or behaviors, one respondent said, “I really haven’t seen much actual change regarding either of these in my personal life. It feels more like media hype.”

Separate from the data sets, the written responses to the survey questions reveal a spirit of resistance that defies what some trans parents characterize as an existential emergency, even as many have been forced to subjugate their own identity for the sake of their children’s safety.

“I’ve limited my ‘outness’ in public spaces, especially in church-related settings,” said one respondent. “We still go to church, but I’ve explained that we cannot disclose that I am part of the LGBT community. He seems to understand.”

Another was more defiant: “I tell them we are going to fight back and won’t lie down!”

A third, like most parents, was coping as best they could.

“I tell him that we’re in a sh**ty place right now and things suck, but the area we live in is pretty decent and well protected,” they said of the talk so many trans parents have been forced to have with their kids.

“I reassure him that we have the community we need to be safe. I reassure him that he’ll be safe.”

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