As the dust settles on the election, we now move towards the practical reality. One of my biggest questions: What will the new Trump administration do to transgender people like me? 

It’s easy to say he will round us up and put us in camps. But it probably won’t look like that. They probably won’t be called “camps.” It probably won’t be called “rounding up.” It will be more subtle than that. That subtlety makes it even more dangerous because it will be easier for cisgender people to miss it. They’ll be affected too, though, so their awareness is critical for both us and themselves. 

Related

The spirits of Black trans women are unbreakable & no hateful rhetoric can strip us of our worth
It has become increasingly clear that true solutions for our community come from within. And so we must save ourselves.

Let’s look at what’s already happened. Over the last several years, Republicans have pursued anti-trans legislation with a zeal that would make you think we are a plague on society. Over 1,000 anti-trans laws have been proposed over the last two years, covering everything from medical care to IDs to bathroom usage to sports to the way we dress. Trump has promised to enact similar laws at the federal level, and Project 2025 calls for even more.

Dive deeper every day

Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

To understand what the oppression of trans people will look like, note what it looks like for other groups. Mass incarceration of Black men has been accomplished, not by some blunt edict like “round them up”, but by a combination of draconian laws with disproportionate punishments, over-policing, and economic oppression that denies access to basic human needs. For trans people, laws around “cross-dressing” have been used to accomplish similar oppression.

Under Trump, trans oppression may look like banning hormone replacement theory, followed by arresting those of us who try to obtain hormones anyway. It might look like requiring gender markers on IDs to match our sex assigned at birth, and then charging those who continue to use the ID that matches our gender with fraud or perjury. It could also look like involuntary commitment to mental institutions. All of these, even if rarely enforced, create an environment of fear, where we always wonder when the next law or crackdown will come.