As part of LGBTQ Nation’s January issue, we asked readers to tell us how one year of the second Trump administration has affected their lives and what they hope LGBTQ+ leaders and allies do differently in 2026.

We received dozens of submissions and are sharing them throughout the month.

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George Benton-Elliot, a 63-year-old gay man, wrote about navigating a homophobic medical industry with his late husband as Donald Trump stoked anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment all around them.

Here is what he had to say.

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How has living under the second Trump administration affected you personally over the last year?

I fear every day leaving my home. Trump’s attacks on all human decency have been bad enough but the ‘acceptance & encouragement’ MAGA gives people to harass, threaten, vandalize, and victimize our community is what frightens me most and makes the largest impact upon my life.

My husband broke his ankle in November of 2024, and it was a horrendous situation made worse by the discrimination, and frankly, malicious treatment we faced by some healthcare and insurance people, for the very obvious and admitted reason that we were gay and our rights and humanity were being stripped away.

He passed away 10/10/25, all stemming from his broken ankle. I am grateful that the attending nurse practitioner who was there with me at the end – who I permitted to take him off life support – was ‘family’. It’s a term we do not use as much anymore, but it’s use immediately wraps us in community and solidarity.

This past year has caused emergencies in my mental health, and not just because of the medical problems and ultimate passing of my husband. Most have been due to our/my treatment by the general public, most due to my overhearing excessive ugliness and threats and plans and cheering/hoping for our eradication in all the waiting rooms situations I found myself in over the last 11 months.

I find myself more introverted and agoraphobic than I ever thought possible. After a hospitalization, myself, I no longer feel any stigma towards seeking mental health support. For the past few months I have stepped up my therapist sessions from once every two months to three times each week.

Literally, I feel like I am living in hell.

What do you hope to see from LGBTQ+ leaders and allies in 2026?

I hope to see more fighting back, more action and less talk.

What I want most is for our legal system to work and actually hold Trump and MAGA acolytes accountable for all this. Not just say they are guilty, not just give them fines they will never pay, no slaps on the wrist and they do what they want anyway.

I would like our leaders to lead, not bury their heads in the sand and wring their hands. I would like more vocalism, damn the ‘cancel’ that will follow. I would like to see allies in law enforcement and the legal system attempt to restore my faith in them. I actively fear both now. I want them to restore the teeth behind legal words like “impeachment,” “subpoena,” and “guilty.”

Those words have no meaning anymore, our leaders have allowed them to become empty threats at best. Plainly speaking, I want them to fight back and cease playing “nice.”

It no longer works.

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