Roughly 12 million people fly each day, ranging from short business commutes to long-distance journeys. After aerial terrorism, largely stemming from 9/11, air travel requires intensive mandatory screening. Each country has unique screening guidelines; here is the most pertinent information for individuals who are transgender and encounter TSA.
CONTENT WARNING: This post discusses airport security and a personal account of TSA transphobic harassment, forced strip searches, and mistreatment. Reader discretion advised.
What is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA?)
While TSA is an American agency, all countries enforce similar mandatory screenings. Most countries require screening upon entry into an airport for all departing flights and for international arrivals.
How Effective Is TSA Screening?
Compared to other US agencies, TSA is relatively young, and its detection rate makes it fairly controversial. Experts state that TSA screening is largely “security theater” to comfort travelers and deter some criminals.
Standard TSA Procedures (What Everyone Goes Through)
The following procedures are universal to all TSA screenings unless you participate in PreCheck or CLEAR+ (more on those later).
Secure Flight Prescreening and Watchlists
Before you ever arrive at the airport, TSA engages in Secure Flight that ranks passengers’ “risk level” based on names and watchlists.
The Privacy Impact Assessment and System of Records Notice state that personal information collection is supposedly minimized, but the main purpose of the Secure Flight prescreening procedure is to block folks on either the No Fly List or individuals marked “Do Not Board” via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The majority of checked luggage is screened without conducting a physical bag search, directing the luggage onward to your planned airline. If TSA does conduct a physical bag search, a notice will be placed inside your bag. Luggage lost or damaged during screening can be filed with TSA directly, although luggage lost or damaged during transport is filed via your airline.
Don’t have checked luggage? Continue on to your nearest TSA checkpoint – unless you need to check in with your airline for a physical boarding pass.
Can I lock my checked baggage? Yes, although it won’t really matter regarding TSA. TSA officers use universal master keys certified with Safe Skies Luggage and Travel Sentry to unlock commercially available locks for physical bag inspections.
Carry-on luggage refers to bags that are taken with you on the plane, in contrast with checked baggage, which is stored on the plane separately from passengers. Personal baggage falls under the same screening procedures as carry-on; the only difference between carry-on and personal luggage is size.
REAL ID is fully in effect.The law was passed some time ago, but TSA will now fine all passengers who do not have REAL ID-level certification and will not let you pass until certification is presented or the fine is paid. Passports and certain other documents hold the same validity as REAL ID, so if you have a passport, you do NOT need REAL ID.
Afterwards, you will proceed to a scanning queue. All carry-on luggage must be placed on the conveyor belt to be screened by a TSA officer.
TSA requires all electronic devices be taken out of luggage and into a separate bin for screening. This includes laptops, monitors, tablets, e-readers, and handheld game consoles. Non-American airports may not require electronic devices to be removed from baggage.
Shoes must be removed, although you can keep your socks on. Shoes will also be placed in a bin for screening, as well as any belts, jackets, watches, etc. Leave nothing in your pockets. Most other countries do not require shoes to be removed unless you have steel-toe boots that will trigger the sensors.
Most food, especially packaged items and fruit, is allowed in carry-on luggage. Liquids, gels, aerosols, baby food, and breast milk have additional requirements.
All liquids and gels must comply with the 3-1-1 rule unless they qualify for exemption.
The 3-1-1 rule refers to how each passenger is allowed ONE quart-sized bag for carry-on liquids and gels.
All items must fit inside a ONE QUART bag.
All items must be 3.4 ounces (hence the three) or 100 milliliters.
Any non-exempt items that do not comply with this rule must be checked luggage. Two exemption categories bypass the 3-1-1 and 100 milliliter restriction.
Prescription medication is allowed in any amount, including if it is in a liquid, gel, or aerosol form. However, you MUST have prescriptions for all medication, have all medication in its original packaging, and have a reasonable amount of your trip.
Breast milk, baby formula/food, and toddler drinks are classified as medically necessary by the TSA and allowed in any amount. These items will be screened separately to detect potential drugs, explosives, and harms.
In practice, I have never seen TSA actually require a quart-sized bag. It’s used as a comparison tool to help passengers visualize how many 100 ml items they are allowed to bring. However, other counties do actually care and require liquids and gels be placed in a ziplock bag during screening.
Proceed through the scanner. Your carry-on luggage will be screened separately while your body is scanned by an agent. Any flagged luggage will be pulled aside for screening by TSA.
Don’t know what should go in checked, carry-on, or left at home? Here is the full TSA list, which can be searched and sorted into categories.
TSA Body Scanners and Transgender Travelers
The United States uses Leidos body scanners (or any machine labeled as “Advanced Imaging Technology”) as well as metal detectors. Assume you will be scanned by a AIT machine unless you have PreCheck or CLEAR+, since those are standard.
How AIT Body Scanners Work
AIT machines scan the entire body, bouncing a signal on every inch of the body in the tube to detect “anomalies.” As far as we know, the scanning technology is safe, albeit invasive. AIT scanners are NOT transgender-friendly and detect transgender bodies as anomalies.
There are concerns about data privacy and AIT scanning since the machines keep a small record of what your body looks like.
The official statement is that this data is eventually deleted, although it is a valid concern in a world hostile to transgender lives. The only reason we put up with it is that we have been trained to accept a lack of privacy for security theater.
Why TSA Scanners Are Gendered
This occurs because AIT scans are gendered into a male and female binary. When you approach the machine, a TSA agent quickly and silently assigns you a male or female scan. The machine is hypervigilant and flags anything “out of the ordinary,” flagging mundane things like paper left in your pocket. All anomalies will be covered with a yellow or red box on the imaging screen to indicate the flagged region.
AIT will flag packing prosthetics, lack of penis, presence of unforeseen penis, and binders. It doesn’t matter if you pack, bind, or tuck; there is a fairly high chance you will be flagged.
Being flagged does not mean you did anything wrong. Remember: AIT machines specifically do not know how to handle transgender bodies, and it is a flaw in the current system.
In my experience, metal detectors cause no issues. Assuming you have put all metal items in the conveyor bin for separate scanning, you’ll pass through every time without issue. Outside of the United States, metal detector scanners are the norm rather than invasive screens like AIT.
You’ve Been Flagged. What Happens Next?
If your body is flagged by an AIT machine, you will be required to undergo a pat-down by a TSA agent.
The Department of Homeland Security provides TSA the authority to conduct pat-downs as the next step in screening.
Pat-downs are meant to be less invasive and typically take less than 60 seconds, where an agent uses the back of their hands to apply minor pressure over clothing to detect hidden items. TSA agents have the authority to require the following:
Agents are allowed to require clothing to be adjusted.
Agents are allowed to require head coverings or pieces be removed. If the covering is religious, see the following section for additional rights.
Agents are allowed to conduct a pat-down across the entire body, including the groin, buttocks, and head.
Agents are allowed to force you to adjust your stance, typically with your feet apart and arms raised. If you have a disability or struggle to raise your arms, see the next section.
Agents are allowed to conduct more than one pass for their pat-down.
Your Rights During a Pat-Down
Not all TSA officers follow the rules and may not be committed to creating a safe environment. The Department of Homeland Security states that all passengers have the following rights:
You are entitled to request a specific gender to pat you down, regardless of gender identity or expression.
You are entitled to have a witness present, including if you are taken for a private screening.
You are entitled to be moved to a private area if a public pat-down makes you uncomfortable.
You are entitled to have the TSA agent change their gloves before screening.
You are entitled to inform TSA agents of medical devices you may be wearing, areas that are painful to touch, or if you have difficulty raising your arms.
You are entitled to have flagged luggage screened privately rather than in the public queue.
You are entitled to remove any religious head covering yourself, pat it down, and have it tested for residue rather than having a TSA agent directly remove the covering.
You are entitled to ask for a supervisor if you are uncomfortable or if a TSA agent’s conduct seems inappropriate.
Have a question about TSA procedures? TSA can be contacted via the Cares Hotline at 1–787-2227 or the TSA Contact Center at 1-66-289-9673.
As a transgender man, I genuinely cannot say whether it is better to pack or forgo it during screening. I’ve been told both are the “correct” procedure because it seems TSA doesn’t have uniform guidance they’re trained on.
I took my first flight in 2022 to Mexico, departing from Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Immediately before me, I had seen a disabled person in a wheelchair be harassed by the TSA, requiring them to stand to screen. Based on the circumstance and my inexperience, I chose to be proactive and told the TSA agents prior to entering the Leidos machine that I was transgender and likely to flag, since I was unsure if my packer prosthetic would cause issues. The agents called over their supervisor and had a conundrum they didn’t know how to resolve, eventually having me pass through the metal detector and undergo a pat-down. Afterwards, the TSA agents reprimanded me for wasting their time and stated that next time I should walk through the Leidos machine without giving notice.
Later that same year, I took another flight to New York City, also out of O’Hare. Based on my past experience, I entered the Leidos machine with the same packer I had previously and did not notify the TSA agent beforehand. The scan presented a red flag over my crotch.
This TSA agent gave me a quick pat-down and decided he did not like the size of my packer (which was a 5-inch Freetom), stating I required private screening. I asked why and explained the flag was due to my packing prosthetic since I am transgender, but TSA agents always assume that every flag must be treated as a worst-case scenario. The agent escalated, stating my lack of willingness meant he would likely call the police to arrest me unless he was “gracious” enough to change his mind. My friend had already passed through the screening, so I was alone. I followed the agent to a private room, where he pulled aside another male agent to be his witness.
Upon entering the room, the agents stated I had to strip naked and emphasized that any lack of consent meant they would be calling the police. Since I couldn’t think of any other options, I complied and stripped down to nothing but the thin towel they handed me. I handed them my packer. Both of the agents snickered, one of them elbowing the other while mumbling under his breath.
They both were baffled by the prosthetic and claimed they had no idea what it was, despite my trying to explain beforehand. The older agent took a cotton swab to the packer and left to analyze it while the other agent stated I had to wait, standing with nothing but the towel, in essentially a two-square-foot closet. After an agonizing fifteen minutes, the agent returned with a negative result. Both of the agents were visibly disappointed, but then took to quickly commanding me to get dressed and leave immediately.
In the end, I didn’t miss my flight – but I did develop a fear of TSA from the encounter. At the time, I was doing exactly what a previous TSA agent had directed me to – but TSA’s transgender guidance isn’t uniform, and there are always bad actors who use scare tactics to harm others.
I have had fewer personal issues binding while screening, although it has been a while since I’ve had top surgery. The chance your chest will be flagged correlates to the size of your chest, so larger chests are likely to be flagged regardless of compression. Smaller chests are likely to pass through with excellent binding compression without being flagged.
Does TSA engage in racial profiling? There have been thousands of jokes made about TSA’s “random” screenings, where agents require travelers to undergo more intensive screenings even if they did not flag any alarms.
Officially, TSA prohibits racial profiling and states that agents are not allowed to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability. Unofficially, TSA agents are given too much freedom to “randomly” search anyone they want.
If your luggage is flagged by the conveyor scanner, it is pulled to a separate belt and must be manually verified by TSA. They’ll open the luggage and look for the item in question to determine whether it’s allowed through.
As mentioned previously, medical prescriptions are always allowed in carry-on luggage in any quantity as long as it is a reasonable amount for your travel. Always make sure your medication has its prescription label and is in its original packaging. The name on your medication must match your identification. The same applies to needles, syringes, and sharps.
If you inject medication, some folks use specific bags or kits to transport their prescriptions. They aren’t required, but are good accessories and increase stealth while traveling.
If you are worried about your medication being allowed, you can also bring a signed letter from your prescribing provider to present to TSA. As an American engaging with TSA, I’ve never had issues requiring this, but have done so when taking large quantities traveling abroad.
Always keep prescription medication in carry-on luggage. Checked luggage sometimes gets damaged and lost, and you may not be able to get a refill upon arrival. Furthermore, checked luggage is kept in storage that gets extremely cold; medications like injectable or transdermal hormones must be kept at a relatively consistent temperature to stay viable.
Once you have completed body and carry-on luggage screening, you’re done. Put your shoes back on and proceed with your luggage to your assigned flight gate.
After your initial screening, you will not have to undergo it again upon arriving at your destination IF it is domestic. Similarly, domestic layovers will not require additional screening.
However, international layovers may require you to be screened again during layovers, depending on the country. The vast majority of the world uses regular metal detectors, so it’ll be quick and relatively painless. You will also have to be screened upon arrival at any international destination as part of the customs and immigration process.
TSA Alternatives: Are They Worth It?
There are several official programs allow travelers to bypass the traditional AIT screening procedure, but they aren’t interchangeable. PreCheck and CLEAR+ are two of the most common Trusted Traveler Programs.
TSA PreCheck costs approximately $80 for a five-year plan and gives you access to a separate screening lane where electronics are kept in carry-on luggage, you keep your shoes, jackets, and belts on, and you go through a simple metal detector. PreCheck also requires background checks and interview appointments to become eligible.
CLEAR+ costs $200 every year and uses biometric data (such as an iris or fingerprint scan) to quickly verify your identity rather than forcing you to use the document queue – which is what takes the longest when screening. You’ll be taken directly to a screening machine. However, CLEAR+ users may still use an AIT machine.
TSA PreCheck is available at over 200 United States airports, while CLEAR+ operates at about 50. Not all airports that have PreCheck have CLEAR+, and not all airports that have CLEAR+ may offer PreCheck – which is why our fantastic consumer market advises travelers to purchase plans for both programs.
If you have money to spend and travel frequently, PreCheck is useful for transgender travelers since it will allow you to avoid “advanced” AIT screening. But again, it’s not cheap nor easy to register for.
Passenger Support Specialist (PSS) Program
Anyone is allowed to request services from the Passenger Support Specialist Program. PSS is staffed with TSA agents who undergo additional training to better assist travelers with specific needs.
PSS is free to use, but it requires booking in advance. PSS must be contacted at least 72 hours before your flight via TSA Cares.
Grounding, Emotional Safety, and Post-Screening Care
Before any trip and engaging with airport security, take time to take care of yourself. Be aware of your physical and emotional needs, checking in throughout the process to remind yourself of your limits.
Prep grounding techniques as part of your travel checklist. This could be downloading a self-care app like Finch, writing down mantras and emergency contacts, or learning specific breathing techniques.
All transgender people are important and worthy of dignity. Airport screening can be traumatic for all travelers, but it’s disproportionately unfair to transgender individuals.
Formally known as the Insurrection Act of 1807, the Insurrection Act was a federal law signed by President Thomas Jefferson to empower future presidents to deploy the Armed Forces and National Guard to suppress “civil disorder, insurrection, and armed rebellion against the federal government.”
What power does the Insurrection Act grant?
Normally, the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the United States military from coordinating with civilian law enforcement. Military interference in civilian government is considered inherently dangerous to liberty.
The Insurrection Act temporarily suspends the Posse Comitatus Act, allowing the President to deploy the military to assist civil law enforcement. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as the enforcement of federal court orders (such as during desegregation) or suppressing government uprisings.
The Insurrection Act was created only to be used in crises that are truly beyond the capacity of civilian authorities to manage.
However, the Act doesn’t limit when it can be used and is still entirely too vague – which is why Trump has leaned into threatening it so much.
Are there thresholds before the Insurrection Act can be implemented?
Yes. However, these thresholds aren’t infallible. The Department of Justice 1964 Memorandum identifies three thresholds:
A state legislature or governor must request federal assistance to put down an insurrection against their state.
A federal court must rule that national deployment is necessary to enforce a federal court order.
Federal deployment is necessary and unavoidable due to “state and local law enforcement completely breaking down.”
Additionally, all uses of the Insurrection Act are not allowed to override the Constitution. Federal deployment of troops is not allowed to violate citizens’ constitutional rights.
What are historical examples of the Insurrection Act?
During his first term, Donald Trump only threatened the use of the Insurrection Act once. Following the murder of George Floyd, Trump stated he would invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests to “re-establish civil law and order.”
Federal officials eventually talked Trump out of invoking the Act. And although the National Guard was called in response to the January 6th coup, the Insurrection Act wasn’t invoked.
By Trump’s second term, he had become accustomed to waving the Insurrection Act around. Beginning January 20th, 2025, Trump ordered the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue a joint report determining whether use of the Insurrection Act was advisable regarding the US-Mexico border. Months later, Trump threatened the use of the Insurrection Act against targeted cities like LA, Portland, Chicago, and Memphis in response to protests.
A handful of reforms to the Insurrection Act have been proposed throughout history. Due to the vague language of the Act, it provides a relatively simple path towards martial law.
Under normal circumstances, this couldn’t be a possibility since the Insurrection Act would only be used under extreme circumstances – but Trump repeatedly threatens to invoke the Act in response to civilian protests.
He alone determines what a “crisis” must look like to overrule civil law enforcement to deploy national soldiers, and we have to trust that determination will be just.
This week saw a flurry of important cases regarding LGBTQIA+ rights, ranging from same-sex marriage to bullying. Here are the most important highlights regarding recent federal decisions on marriage equality, transgender passports, and anti-transgender bullying at school.
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Kim Davis Case, Protecting Same-Sex Marriage Rights – for Now
Kim Davis was a Kentucky county clerk elected in 2014 and originally achieved notoriety in 2015. Davis had intentionally denied marriage certificates to queer couples within Rowan County in the aftermath of Obergefell v. Hodges, citing her religious beliefs allowed her to act “under God’s authority.” Quickly after, Davis refused to follow federal orders by the Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky and was held for contempt in jail for six days – which she believed made her a martyr.
After being the laughingstock of the nation in 2015, Davis largely disappeared; she was defeated by Democrat challenger Elwood Caudill Jr. in 2018 and forced to pay $360,000 to the queer couple she had denied. Yet, in her mind, Davis was always the victim, and the Supreme Court’s decision to federally legalize same-sex marriage was a direct attack on the Christian faith.
“I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience.”
In 2015, newly elected Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order that eliminated the names of county clerks on marriage certificates. Bevin had hoped the decision would ease the concerns of individuals like Davis, who believed their documented name indicated approval of same-sex marriage. It had worked – Davis and her attorneys immediately dismissed their appeals.
Issues followed when Davis refused to pay legal fees to the same-sex couples who had filed lawsuits against her. Davis and her legal team asserted that they had won in a legislative victory via the executive order and therefore were not required to pay damages; Rowan County stated the local government could not pay for the legal damages accrued by a single county clerk. The federal appeals court determined in 2017 that the couples were entitled to compensation.
By 2019, Governor Bevin had made a public statement that the State of Kentucky would not pay Davis’s legal fees, “Only Davis refused to comply with the law. [Taxpayers] should not have to collectively bear the financial responsibility for Davis’s intransigence.” These back-and-forth actions continued for several years until this July. Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturnRoe v. Wade and national abortion access, Davis petitioned the Court to consider her case.
Renewed Challenge to Marriage Equality
However, the Supreme Court denied Davis’s petition. For Davis, this means she is now required to pay $360,000 to the same-sex couples affected by her decisions as county clerk without assistance from the State of Kentucky. For the rest of America, this decision preserves the integrity of marriage equality – at least temporarily.
Out of the nine Supreme Court Justices, only Clarence Thomas has vocalized a desire to revisit Obergefell v. Hodges. Immediately after the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Thomas stated he believed the Court should revisit Obergefell since both cases were decided on similar grounds. Beyond Thomas, the other Justices have not indicated any plans to reconsider marriage equality – and even hard conservative justices like Alito have stated that the Court is not amenable to overturning marriage equality.
Beyond the Supreme Court, nine states have proposed legislation that would create limitations on marriage equality within the last year. Since their victory on abortion, conservatives have rallied against marriage equality as one of their next targets. While same-sex marriage would continue to be federally protected under the Respect for Marriage Act of 2022, an overturn of Obergefell v. Hodges would allow many states to stop recognizing same-sex marriages as equal to their heterosexual counterparts.
Supreme Court Reverses Pause on Trump’s Transgender Passport Order
What the Supreme Court’s Passport Ruling Really Means
The Trump administration had made the decision via executive order extremely early in his second term, which was immediately received with backlash. Kobick and dozens of legal advocates argued that mismatching identity documents unfairly outs transgender people when traveling abroad, putting them in unnecessary danger. Executive Order 14160 (Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship) was faced with several lawsuits, including by the ACLU in Orr v. Trump, and Judge Kobick stated a temporary pause to the executive order was necessary while the lawsuit was settled.
This news is rightfully scary, but these are the key facts to keep in mind:
The Supreme Court reversed Judge Julia Kobick’s pause. The Supreme Court did NOT determine the executive order’s constitutionality nor make any determination regarding the active lawsuits it is battling. Lawsuits via the ACLU and other legal powerhouses are still active and pending.
This decision does NOT prevent transgender people from obtaining passports.Transgender people are still entitled to obtain and renew passports even under the executive order, although these passports will be flawed with inaccurate information based on one’s sex at birth.
All passports submitted or renewed will be documented with the sex one was assigned at birth, regardless of legal, social, or medical transition status. All passports will continue to be issued this way until either the executive order is deemed unconstitutional or revoked by a succeeding President.
Executive Order 14160 impacts more than just transgender Americans. Before Kobick’s pause, federal workers within the Department of State lamented that the order caused excessive bloat to their workload during a time when Elon Musk had taken over the White House to supposedly eliminate bloat. The order requires thorough research into every single passport applicant to determine their sex assigned at birth – including presumably cisgender applicants.
Many legal experts expected Trump to revoke the Biden executive order that allowed Americans to self-identify as nonbinary via an “X” marker on passports. It was unexpected that Trump would immediately revoke transgender Americans’ access to updated passports entirely – the Department of State has allowed transgender people to update their passports since 1992 under George H. W. Bush, when submitted with sufficient documentation of medical transition. Since 1992, the process has evolved as each state has created rules and regulations on updating gender information on birth certificates.
The Supreme Court issued the reversal on the basis that biological sex information does not put transgender people at higher risk – which is why media outlets like Bloomberg have stated the Supreme Court is fundamentally illogical. Flawed gender information limits transgender individuals from moving freely throughout the world and inherently puts us at risk.
In mild-mannered and relatively safe travel destinations, Executive Order 14160 means border agents will be unable to quickly verify the authenticity of transgender visitors. A transgender American visiting the European Union will have sex information that does not make sense based on their current gender expression, which makes a very real passport seem fake or stolen.
In hostile regions, Executive Order 14160 automatically outs individuals as transgender.The Supreme Court, believing that sex information does not put us at risk, does not make it a reality. There are dozens of countries that treat transgender identity as a jailable or killable offense. While transgender travelers are supposed to be safe in internationally designated spaces such as airports, we are not always safe in those spaces.
“Such senseless sidestepping of the obvious equitable outcome has become an unfortunate pattern. So, too, has my own refusal to look the other way when basic principles are selectively discarded. This court has once again paved the way for the immediate infliction of injury without adequate (or, really, any) justification.”
– Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent of the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Kobick’s pause.
Domestically, ICE agents have been able to deport alleged illegal immigrants without due process. Similarly, there is little way to determine whether a foreign country is truly abiding by international standards when transgender travelers pass through during a layover. Each time an individual flies abroad, they must go through security at each location – even if it’s not their final stop.
From personal experience, it is fully within reason to believe transgender people will be victimized. I’ve been harassed numerous times by TSA agents in large-scale airports like O’Hare, Kennedy, and Hartsfield simply because my crotch did not align correctly with their 3D imaging software – even though my documentation is fully updated.
What Comes Next for Transgender Americans
The decision by the Supreme Court is disheartening, but not all is lost.The ACLU will continue to advance against the Trump administration in Orr v. Trump. It is predicted that the Supreme Court will likely hear the case in January 2026 to determine the fundamental question of whether the executive branch has the overreaching power to make decisions that can easily put citizens at harm.
I advise readers to use caution when applying for passports at this current moment.
If you currently have a passport and are looking to renew,wait until Executive Order 14160 ends unless you absolutely need to leave the United States.
Once Executive Order 14160 ends,immediately renew or obtain a passport if you have the financial means to do so.
If you currently do not have a passport,use the following resources to consider whether contingency plans are needed. Moving is never an easy choice, but having access to a passport, even if inaccurate, allows you to seek refuge if things become dire.
Olentangy Local School District replied, stating such actions would likely be considered bullying, but alternative accommodations could be made to prevent students from interacting with transgender classmates. Parents Defending Education was dissatisfied with this outcome and sought legal action.
Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District lost in the lower courts twice before reaching the Sixth Court of Appeals. At that point, Parents Defending Education misleadingly reframed transgender identity as a purely political issue, and the use of “biological pronouns” did not lead to emotional harm.
This news is upsetting and frustrating. It encapsulates centrist misunderstandings regarding misgendering. Transgender people are fully aware of our “biological truth,” just as we are aware of the complex nature of biology after middle school. Yet, humans are more than mere biology. There has never been any singular individual who has truly fit into every single gender role assigned to their biological sex. The pursuit of fitting into those roles is illogical and a prison – toxic masculinity and toxic femininity create emotionally unhealthy humans and generations of harm.
Conservatives love playing the Devil’s advocate when they state they are simply being objective to biological reality when dismissing transgender identity. Very little of the world is actually objective – society is filled with subjective and relative thinking. After all, money is just pieces of paper that we’ve agreed have meaning; we agree to refer to a woman by a new last name as soon as she’s married, regardless of the name she was born with. Saying “Happy Holidays” on December 23rd is objectively more correct than “Merry Christmas,” but conservatives are the first to put up a fight about hurt feelings.
What is the purpose of harming others? Most transgender people won’t take great offense to be occasionally misgendered or deadnamed while in the early part of their transition. It hurts, but it’s to be expected when others are adjusting to their new identity. It hurts every time we are misgendered, but we internalize it and move on with our lives under the assumption that the misgendering was NOT intentional.
Intentional misgendering is its own distinct problem. From that moment, it is a purposeful act of harming others since we are intentionally using language we know will hurt. What is the point of reminding transgender people of our “biological realities,” if it is not to belittle and demean us? Do you expect us to believe you’re making such comments in kindness and good faith?
It is these same individuals who purposefully misgender transgender people and use pejorative slurs and call us less than human. These acts do not make you appear superior because you are quoting biological truths; they make you morally repulsive because you’re presenting a complete lack of empathy as superiority. These individuals are malicious, not kind, nor truthful.
In another time, several decades ago, these same individuals would have easily argued that certain slurs, such as the n-word, were not necessarily violent when used against Black Americans. Yet, at the end of the day, they are purposefully using a word that they know will cause emotional damage because it is soaked in generations of hate.
The Sixth Circuit Court’s logic regarding Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District is troubling. When releasing their statement, the Court stated the Olentangy Local School District was performing a form of “thought control” by not allowing students to purposely misgender peers. According to the presiding judges, the school district is not allowed to take any “side” regarding the “transgender issue,” and creating any policy limiting students in this capacity is taking a side. As mentioned earlier, Parents Defending Education chose to frame the lawsuit as a freedom of speech issue – and they succeeded, making the outcome significantly darker.
This centrist logic is malicious. There are correct and incorrect sides when people debate human rights; the moderate answer is not inherently the right one. A centrist in the 1960s would have advocated segregation as the morally superior answer to Black Americans requesting equal rights versus enslavement and genocide. When Nazis asked whether Jewish individuals deserved to live in the 1940s, there was a right answer – and it wasn’t a centrist one.
The decision by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court will NOT affect the majority of Americans. As a circuit court, its decision will only affect states within its jurisdiction (Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan). All schools and universities within those states will have to abide by this ruling unless it is appealed and heard by the Supreme Court.
Every person deserves support. Transgender people are no exception. But where do you find information, resources, and tools? With thousands of websites out there, getting connected can feel overwhelming. Here are ten important transgender websites you should be aware of.
Advocates for Trans Equality
A4TE was formed in 2024 when the National Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund merged. For transgender Americans, A4TE might be the most important organization to be aware of.
Transgender people deserve access to healthcare. The Trans Health Project by A4TE guides users through understanding trans-inclusive (and exclusive) coverage through the American insurance industry, how to get a letter of medical necessity, and a hub of directories (like OutCare) for finding a trans-friendly healthcare provider.
Each state has different regulations regarding transgender healthcare. The Project includes information regarding each state, as well as Medicaid policies. It also provides templates to give to your provider, easing the insurance process with checklists and letter formats, as well as appeal templates if your insurance company disagrees that your care should be covered.
ID Document Center
You don’t need a law degree to legally change your name or gender marker. Regardless, it can feel like you should – updating your documents is complicated and you’ll have to navigate a complex system with forms, deadlines, and meetings.
The ID Document Center explains the processes behind updating one’sinformation on birth certificate, driver’s license, state ID, passports, social security, immigration documents, and selective service based on the individual state.
Name Change Project
Low-income individuals in select cities are eligible for pro bono legal name change services through A4TE and its partners. Eligible applicants are connected with law firms and corporate legal departments local to their region. At the time of this article, A4TE’s Name Change Project services individuals in the following cities:
Atlanta, Georgia
Chicago, Illinois
New York City (all five boroughs in New York and Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union, and Middlesex counties in New Jersey)
Long Island, New York
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
If you live outside of the above cities, you can still find assistance through organizations listed in A4TE’s Trans Legal Services Network.
And Other Incredible Services
A4TE takes on a small number of critical court cases each year to establish new legal precedents regarding transgender law. Impact litigation services are generally unrelated to ID cases that would otherwise be covered in the ID Document Center.
Folks residing in the United States or Canada can utilize Trans Lifeline, a grassroots nonprofit that operates an anonymous and confidential hotline for trans people, by trans people.
Unlike other crisis services (such as 988), Trans Lifeline does not use nonconsensual active rescue and will not call emergency services or law enforcement without the explicit consent of the caller. They’re also not affiliated with the federal government and cannot be impacted by federal attacks, such as those targeting the Trevor Project or 988.
Trans Lifeline also hosts a Resource Library, which contains resources that are unlikely to be found elsewhere, such as information on police abolition and community safety.
Originally known as TS Road Map, the Transgender Map has existed online since 1998 and contains over 2,000 pages of researched content to guide visitors through trans-related topics.
It’s regularly updated through the massive undertaking of one individual. Coming out advice, HRT, clothing, voice training, disclosure, handwriting, documents, marriage, films, forums… Transgender Map covers nearly everything you could think of when it comes to transitioning.
Are there books you want to read but don’t have access to? Transgender media isn’t frequently distributed through major publishers, so readers are forced to purchase literature when these items are not available in local libraries. Trans Reads is the community-driven solution to make transgender books accessible.
As a digital community library, anyone can upload content for Trans Reads’ librarians to curate. All items are publicly available at all times. The only downside to the site is its sorting, and it contains thousands of pieces that you’ll have to search through. While Trans Reads offers some reading lists, there aren’t many – its librarians are focused on collecting and uploading items, so you have to know what you’re looking for ahead of time.
Interested in more free clear web virtual libraries?
Internet Archive / Originally created as a library in 1996, the Internet Archive uses web crawlers to collect as much data as possible to provide “universal access to information.” Items can be virtually borrowed with a free account.
Library Genesis (aka LibGen) / The most well-known shadow library on the clear web. Due to constant attacks and takedowns by the federal government since shadow libraries disperse paywalled content for free, you might have to search for its current URL or mirror.
Audiobook Bay / Similar to The Pirate Bay, generally safe, but use with caution. Check the website’s Reddit to find the most current mirror. To access Audiobook Bay, you’ll likely need a VPN like Proton.
Project Gutenberg / PG is the oldest digital library and has provided books via open format files since 1971. Out of all of the libraries listed, it’s the easiest to access since all of its items are public domain and therefore not subject to copyright takedowns.
Queer Liberation Library / QLL offers books through its free account system, and its site is great when used in tandem with others like Trans Reads, since its librarians offer a ton of book suggestions.
Digital Transgender Archive
DTA is the world’s largest trans-focused online archive. It contains thousands of items similar to the Internet Archive before the 2000s, hosting uploaded books, artworks, publications, audio recordings, and films.
The Digital Transgender Archive is the best place to research transgender history, especially in tandem with the Internet Archive. Items date back to the 1500s up to modern day.
Strands for Trans
Many transgender and nonbinary people feel uncomfortable going to salons or barbershops. Hair plays a role in gender expression and our ability to feel represented. However, salons and barbershops have gendered expectations – so there’s little way to know if a stylist will be transgender-friendly.
Strands For Trans is a data map that allows visitors to locate self-identified transgender-friendly salons and barbershops. To be eligible, businesses have to submit their application for review through the Strands For Trans website, similar to Everywhere Is Queer.
REFUGE
Using archival data from Safe2Pee, REFUGE is a community data map that shows transgender-friendly restrooms. Visitors upload and pinpoint safe locations to help their peers feel comfortable.
Unlike other maps, REFUGE leans heavily into user experiences – so it’s easier to know if a location is genuinely trans-friendly based on other transgender people’s experiences.
Erin in the Morning
Erin Reed is an American journalist who provides daily updates on transgender-relevant news and legislation. Her videos are bite-sized and easy to digest; her substack and newsletters are detailed and researched. Stay aware of ongoing attacks on trans rights as well as victories, subscribe to Erin in some way to be connected to the national picture.
In addition to daily content, Erin also manages two maps of interest. The National Risk Assessment Map visualizes anti-transgender legislation for transgender adults and youth to better understand safety risks. Erin’s Informed Consent HRT Map is a public pin map of known informed consent HRT providers throughout the United States.
Similarly, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) is an independent think tank that visualizes legislation on a larger range of issues. MAP’s data is updated less frequently than Erin’s, but covers more topics like bathroom laws, healthcare regulations, name change protocols, and religious exemptions.
The Transgender Legislation Tracker visualizes and tracks transgender-related legislation throughout the United States. Each state is accounted for, showing currently proposed, passed, and active bills, as well as federal legislation. Erin in the Morning is best used to digest and understand these bills, but the Transgender Legislation Tracker directs you to the actual legislation.
Turn Me Into…
The following sites are great resources for individuals who are questioning their gender or are early in their transition. In a society that demonizes transness, it’s easy to feel conflicted or uncertain. All of the following sites debunk common myths and walk visitors through the questioning process.
The Gender Dysphoria Bible is another great resource. The “Turn Me Into” websites are shorter and cover general topics many questioning folk have early in the process. The Gender Dysphoria Bible, on the other hand, is extensive. Similar to the Lesbian Comphet Masterdoc, the Gender Dysphoria Bible touches on ideas you probably didn’t consider related to trans identity.
And as an honorable mention, the Pronoun Dressing Room is good for folks experimenting with pronouns, names, and gendered titles. The site allows users to try out identities without needing to come out publicly or use social media accounts.
Reddit
On its own, Reddit is a BEAST. It’s a collection of communities that use forums to chat. Reddit is used by all sorts of people – right-wingers, leftists, liberals, apolitical types. Heck, even my grandmother uses Reddit. Compared to traditional platforms like Facebook, Reddit allows for greater anonymity and niche communities.
There are millions of subreddits (individual communities or forums) out there. There are thousands of trans-specific subreddits, so I can safely promise there is a community out there for you. These are the largest and most generalized three for trans folks.
For most, college is both exciting and terrifying. Along with turning eighteen, entering college is the cornerstone of young adulthood for Americans. Finished with high school, college is the first real transition Americans experience as they move away to live separately from their parents. That brings independence, new social opportunities, the need for money management, and everything else that comes with living on your own.
Until recently, the legal understanding of Title IX was that if the law applies to biological sex, then discrimination against one’s adherence or nonadherence to biological sex-associated gender roles and stereotypes wholly falls under Title IX as sex discrimination. If a gay man is harassed on campus because he isn’t masculine enough, it constitutes Title IX because anti-queer harassment ultimately relies on sex-based stereotypes. All Biden’s guidance did was allow LGBTQIA+ students to file discrimination more easily since they could argue it was based on sexual orientation or gender identity rather than having to make the roundabout case above. TLDR: You are still protected under Title IX as a transgender student, but under the Trump administration, you’ll have to file your argument differently.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects students’ information and confidentiality. Once in college, your parents can no longer have access to your records without your explicit consent. So, while your parents would know if you changed your name or pronouns on school documents while in high school, that is no longer the case at college since FERPA forbids that information from being shared. FERPA also requires schools to prevent outing as much as possible, so staff are unable to share your personal information with other professors or students.
Colleges cannot require proof of your gender identity or legal changes to update most documents like student emails, IDs, and rosters. The only exception to this is your health records and college diploma, which will require legal documentation to change.
Professors need to call you by your chosen name, even if it’s not legally changed. People are allowed to make honest mistakes, but purposely misgendering and deadnaming transgender students puts them at increased risk of harm since it outs them.
Colleges have a responsibility to take action when informed of bullying, harassment, and discrimination on campus – including when it applies to queer and transgender students.
Students have a right to use the restroom and locker room that aligns with their gender identity, and colleges cannot force students to use separate facilities. It’s great if a school has a gender-neutral bathroom, but they can’t require you to use it since that would violate the Equal Access Act. I’ll caveat here that locker rooms are up in the air since the Trump administration is waging a war on transgender students’ access to sports.
You have the right to present yourself as your gender identity. Colleges cannot police or restrict expression simply because they dislike it or it’s “controversial.” The Supreme Court has a long history of supporting students’ right to self-expression. Schools cannot ban you from wearing a dress unless they ban dresses amongst all students, nor can they ban a shirt with a progressive rainbow unless they ban all graphic shirts.
Students have a right to choose who and who not to tell they are LGBTQIA+. Colleges are forbidden from outing students under FERPA, which includes details like your deadname, transgender status, and medical history.
If your college offers extracurricular activities (like chess club, Christian associations, or D&D), you have the right to form and be in a school LGBTQIA+ association like a Gay-Straight Alliance.
These laws apply to all American universities and colleges that receive federal funding. Even if they are religious, institutions that use federal funding must adhere to Title IX, FERPA, and other federal laws. Schools that do not want to follow these rules must either be entirely privately funded or apply for religious exemption, which is relatively difficult to get. Out of those colleges, I wouldn’t recommend trans students since these colleges are notoriously anti-transgender.
In addition to these federal protections, you may be further entitled (or marginalized) based on where exactly you live in the United States. Some states, like California, New York, and Illinois, have comprehensive laws protecting LGBTQIA+ students, while others, like Texas and Florida, fall short.
Even if you live in a conservative state, your university might still include LGBTQIA+ identities in its nondiscrimination policies – so it’s important to research your schools! I highly recommend Campus Pride Index as a free resource. They’ve been researching and compiling colleges since 2006 and have a searchable database that gives users insight into cost, atmosphere, and other useful metrics on what LGBTQIA+ resources are available at their school. It’s by far the easiest way to determine if a college has a queer resource center, campus events, nondiscrimination policies, and healthcare coverage. They even maintain lists of the country’s best and worst campuses for LGBTQIA+ students. If your school is not listed on Campus Pride, you should still be able to locate relevant policies. Most often, you’ll want to search for “nondiscrimination policies,” “student handbooks,” or general “policies and guidelines.” If internet searches fail you, don’t hesitate to reach out to your admin staff – they’re there to help you when you have questions about campus policies!
Amongst your university’s policies, you’ll also find guidelines on how to report harassment, discrimination, and general bullying. Always try to follow your college’s established procedures first when you experience harassment – give your administration the benefit of the doubt and remember to document all incidents, filed complaints, and communication you have with administration. If your school refuses to take your complaint seriously, you should then involve outside resources like local LGBTQIA+ nonprofits, GLSEN, or your state ACLU chapter. These organizations will help you determine the next steps best suited for your situation.
Some situations might require you to file a lawsuit against your school. You will likely want to have guidance from a legal authority like the ACLU before proceeding with filing or sourcing a competent legal group to represent you. You can also file complaints to the United States Department of Education – but given the political climate, you might not get a good response regardless of your legal rights. If you go this route, remember you only have 180 days to file a complaint with the Department and to file the discrimination as “sex-based.” Complaints that are not fully completed are automatically trashed and not investigated. Include as many details as possible, and keep in mind that your complaint is required to be confidential under federal law.
You’re going to be busy the first week of the semester. Everyone is. Try to get all your paperwork completed before the first day of class and reduce future headaches. Nearly all of this will require working with your campus administration, for better or worse.
As mentioned above, universities do not legally have to have a court order or medical documentation to update your name or gender marker in most of their electronic systems, but the process for doing so likely won’t be easy or straightforward unless they have already set up their systems for these changes. Many schools use ancient software to process and store student information, which is why admins huff and puff at being asked to change a student’s name. However, a process being annoying or difficult is not grounds to deny you from changing your name or gender marker at school. At college, you are paying to be there – the admins essentially work for you, and your comfort, safety, and overall confidentiality are worth pursuing. Some examples of items you can (and should) change include:
Your official school email, including associated accounts with it, like Word and Outlook.
Your public name in homework submission portals like Blackboard and Canvas.
Your school ID.
Classroom rosters.
Sports uniforms, if applicable.
The only items that require a legal order from a court to update in university software are:
Your diploma and transcript.
Financial aid information stored by FAFSA and your college’s financial aid office.
And personal health information stored by your college’s health center.
Anything else can be changed as an unofficial nickname. Your university is able to mark you as your identified gender in the class roster sent to campus professors without a court-ordered gender marker change. Legal orders only require your school to comply, but it is entirely possible to change most items before that point.
Dr. Genny Beemyn has the most current database of universities and colleges that allow transgender students to use a nonlegal name or pronouns in their files, originally hosted through Campus Pride’s TPC. Check their site to see if your school makes the list.
I’m not naïve – and I don’t recommend you be, either. Despite the law and clear instructions, I have been told myself by college admins things along the lines of “no, we can’t do that without court papers” and “hmm, yeah, I think we know the law better than you do and we don’t have to update your information.” I’ve also come across administrators who are extremely willing to make those minor changes – and my experience isn’t an anomaly. Given the environment academic administrators work in, you’re going to get a mixed bag of individuals who are willing to help as well as others who will throw a fit at your request. Some of them might be aware of LGBTQIA+ issues and why it’s important to get these items changed, while other administrators will huff because “it’s against their religion” to treat you with respect or update your information. And unfortunately, they hold all of the cards. In the event you experience discrimination from your university administration, you will have to follow your campus’ procedures for reporting it – which requires more conversations with admin. Depending on how LGBTQIA+ competent your school is, this paperwork could be an uphill battle.
Map of Healthcare Laws and Policy Exclusions by State, Movement Advancement Project
Regardless, the Trans Policy Clearinghouse has a list of colleges that explicitly list their transgender healthcare inclusions – now hosted on Genny Beemyn’s website.
The last major player in this category is housing. Most people don’t know who their roommate will be, although a growing number of universities are trying to match students with compatible roommates based on preferences. This can be even more anxiety-inducing for transgender students since you have to worry further about what gender you’ll be assigned for housing and whether your roommate will be chill with your identity or totally hateful. At least 470 schools are documented as having “gender-inclusive housing” on campus, which means there is a dorm, facility, or other living space that students can live in regardless of gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Genny Beemyn has an ongoing database of schools that publicly list having these housing options available, but the vast majority of high-ranking colleges on the Campus Pride Index will have this available.
Live Your Life: Finding the Basics for Survival
Considering most Americans begin college around the age of eighteen, university presents the first genuine opportunity for students to medical transition through gender-affirming care like hormone replacement therapy. The feasibility of doing so will depend on your school’s healthcare coverage, but the bottom line is that the ACA requires such care to be possible if you manage to complete their required steps, since gender-affirming care is medically necessary. Typically, these steps include sourcing a licensed mental health professional who is willing to write a letter certifying that your transgender identity is ‘established,’ not a phase, and you can make major decisions like beginning HRT based on your current mental state.
No matter how conservative your university is, you are not the first transgender student that has attended it, although you might be one of its first openly trans students. Transgender people live in all climates, including cities, suburbs, and the rural countryside. If your school has an LGBTQIA+ resource center or queer student organization, ask them first where trans students go for gender-affirming healthcare. If your school doesn’t, you’ll have to do some research: ask around online, like city-specific Facebook groups and subreddits, call the nearest LGBTQIA+ nonprofit, or visit a government health department. The last two will have staff available with the purpose of finding relevant resources – so use ’em!
Even if you’re battling administration for the items I referenced in the previous section, you can still email your upcoming professors prior to the semester. Most professors make an effort to use students’ nicknames anyway to foster a better classroom environment. So, if you happen to know who your professors will be, send them an email before the first day explaining your situation and that your assigned name and gender on their official roster don’t match what you go by. Use this email template and plug in your information. Even though my college admin eventually did change my name in their systems, I still had to send out emails since rosters were sent before the admin had made the change.
If you’re going the route of emailing your professors, remember it won’t solve everything. Without your university administration updating official rosters, you will encounter issues with other staff. Most often, this applies to substitute teachers and teacher assistants – subs sometimes get copies of the official roster rather than the one your regular professor uses. This means you can potentially be outed by a sub until your campus information is actually changed.
If you are beginning to live openly trans for the first time, you’ll discover how difficult it can be to advocate for yourself. More than anyone else, you have your best interests in mind – and there are uneducated people in every space, including college. Prepare for headaches, find quick resources to give to curious folks, learn when to shut down ‘curious’ Devil’s advocates, and have a plan in place to deal with incoming microaggressions. This is easier said than done, but I cannot emphasize how important it is for your own sake as well as future transgender students that will inevitably attend your university. Yes, it can be easier to just ride out the semester and not correct the side remarks by your professor – and sometimes, that’s what you need to do to emotionally and physically survive. But by not confronting those hard conversations, you leave the work for the next student that comes.
To an extent, you can also research trans-friendly restrooms, businesses, and events close to campus prior to the semester beginning – although sometimes it’s smoother to wait until you have real people to ask while navigating your first weeks. When you’re early in your transition, you need to feel safe and comfortable. Genny Beemyn has TPC’s previous list of universities with published maps of gender-neutral restrooms on campus, BUT I also recommend the REFUGE app. REFUGE is a free mobile app that lets users pinpoint trans-friendly bathrooms. You might be the first in your area to utilize the app and have a blank slate, or you might find a filled map with a treasure trove of tips. Either way, REFUGE allows you to build an underground resource for yourself and others at your school.
While on campus, the best (and most traditional) way to determine whether a space is LGBTQIA+ friendly is through “safe space” signage. Today, these signs are most common among less progressive schools where acceptance isn’t seen as the norm, but they’re great anywhere. Beyond campus grounds, these apps and sites are good ways to find trans-affirming spaces:
Strands for Trans is an online database for barbershops and hair salons.
Everywhere Is Queer is a mobile app for all businesses (including virtual ones), similar to Strands for Trans. Businesses self-report whether they identify as LGBTQIA+ friendly.
For bars and nightlife, look into GayCities, Travel Gay, and Yelp. GayCities and Travel Gay are better options if you live near a metropolitan area, but Yelp is more helpful for less populated regions.
Beyond websites and mobile apps, the best way to really determine whether a business is trans-friendly is by word of mouth. Find other queer and trans people on campus or a queer nonprofit – their experiences are worth significantly more than self-reported labels online. And while I’m aware of other websites that compile businesses, like Pink Robin, Hey Fam, LGBTQ+ Business Week, LGBTQIA Hub, and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, these sites focus heavily on e-commerce. Large cities like NYC and the Queer Money Project – and cities are more likely to have listings on apps such as Qlist and MisterB&B.
Support Yourself: Self-Care Matters
In order to thrive at college, you have to think beyond the basics. Between assignments and dealing with less-than-supportive classmates and staff, you will need an outlet for support. Be proactive and plan to create support as your semester begins. And if you’re struggling with coming out at college, Campus Pride has a resource tailored for you – and here is the most current copy of the Coming Out as a Transgender Person Workbook.
The simplest way to get connected with like-minded peers is to join a student organization. Clubs and other associates exist no matter the size of your school, including if you attend community college. Look for organizations that cater to queer identities (if possible) or interests you have. If you find your university lacks sufficient organizations, you’re entitled to create your own as long as you follow your school’s policies and have a staff member to serve as the club sponsor. In my experience, LGBTQIA+ college student organizations are way more active than high school ones – from anti-bullying campaigns to social functions, they’re worth checking out and giving a chance.
Speaking of which, check to see if your college has an LGBTQIA+ resource center. These are specific departments created by the university to handle LGBTQIA+ issues, training, clubs, and support. Schools with resource centers typically score higher on all metrics of the Campus Pride Index since they help recruit and retain queer students by fostering a safe campus environment. If your school lacks an LGBTQIA+ resource center, it may have something related like a “diversity department.” These are more common in community colleges and smaller schools that lack the funds to have multiple departments.
It feels like a stereotype, but queer people are good at finding each other. Use your natural gaydar to find safe friends to connect with. They don’t have to necessarily dress or “look” gay, but trust your gut when you feel good or bad vibes from your fellow classmates. People pay to go to college and learn, so they’re at least marginally more open-minded than the general population.
Being transgender shouldn’t limit you from traditional college activities that your cisgender peers get to enjoy. Don’t limit yourself to hobbies and organizations solely surrounding your queer identity – use every resource available to you and try every club that you find interesting. Beyond clubs, the most common social resources are sports and Greek life.
Currently, per “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” transfeminine individuals are barred completely from participating in college sports. Transmasculine and nonbinary folks might be technically allowed right now, but you’re unlikely to find these spaces welcoming. As most readers probably know, these bans are based on vast misunderstandings of existing laws and policies – but the harm still exists.
The TLDR is that anti-transgender sports bans overwhelmingly overestimate transgender people’s involvement in athletic competitions and overwhelmingly underestimate the laws that already dictate when and if transgender people can perform. For example, while approximately 10,500 people try out for the Olympics, fewer than a dozen might identify as transgender. That calculates to 0.001% of those folks trying out. To not be automatically disqualified during this process, transgender people must provide medical and legal documentation of their gender identity – which includes proving they have been consistently using estrogen HRT and using testosterone supplements for multiple years to force their hormone levels to be identical to biologically female competitors. This standard by the International Olympic Committee is enforced in other sports, and for decades, it was the same applied to student sports. The Trump ban supersedes these precedents and bars trans people from competing no matter what. In the context of school, sports are well-understood as crucial for supporting students’ emotional and physical well-being since they provide an outlet for exercise while fostering team-building. Yet, because of the Trump administration’s ban, transgender students are forbidden from having these experiences.
“Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” is centered on competitive sports, so it’s unclear how strictly it is applied to noncompetitive or intramural sports clubs, but I advise caution since it will largely depend on the political climate of your school on whether they will use the executive order against you.
You don’t find many LGBTQIA+ people in Greek life. Part of it comes from its long history of strict gender roles for frat boys and sorority girls. Another part comes from Greek organizations not being kind to marginalized folks, especially considering how many organizations get accused of sexual harassment and hazing. Then, of course, Greek life is associated with higher incomes since joining these associations generally requires annual fees. Despite this, there are Greek organizations with explicit mission statements that include transgender people – and there are also organizations founded by LGBTQIA+ students.
Some sororities include:
Alpha Chi Omega (ΑΧΩ)
Alpha Delta Pi (ΑΔΠ)
Alpha Epsilon Phi (ΑΕΦ)
Alpha Gamma Delta (ΑΓΔ)
Alpha Lambda Zeta (ΑΛΖ)
Alpha Omicron Pi (ΑΟΠ)
Alpha Pi Delta (ΑΠΔ)
Alpha Sigma Alpha (AΣA)
Alpha Sigma Tau (ΑΣΤ)
Alpha Xi Delta (ΑΞΔ)
Beta Phi Omega (ΒΦΩ)
Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ)
Delta Gamma (ΔΓ)
Delta Phi Epsilon (ΔΦΕ)
Gamma Phi Beta (ΓΦΒ)
Gamma Rho Lambda (GRL)
Eta Epsilon Gamma (ΗΕΓ)
Eta Iota Mu (ΗΙΜ)
Kappa Alpha Lambda (ΚΑΛ)
Kappa Alpha Theta (ΚΑΘ)
Kappa Delta (ΚΔ)
Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ)
Kappa Omega Omicron (ΚΏΟ)
Kappa Theta Epsilon (ΚΘΕ)
Kappa Xi Omega (ΚΞΩ)
Lambda Delta Lambda (ΛΔΛ)
Omicron Epsilon Pi (ΟΕΠ)
Phi Omega (ΦΩ)
Phi Sigma Sigma (ΦΣΣ)
Sigma Alpha Iota (ΣAI)
Sigma Delta Tau (ΣΔΤ)
Sigma Omega Phi (ΣΩΦ)
Sigma Phi Chi (ΣΦΧ)
Sigma Sigma Sigma (ΣΣΣ)
Theta Phi Alpha (ΘΦΑ)
Zeta Omega Eta (ΖΩΗ)
Zeta Tau Alpha (ΖΤΑ)
Zeta Theta Psi (ΖΘΨ)
Some fraternities include:
Acacia
Alpha Sigma Phi (AΣΦ)
Beta Gamma Pi (ΒΓΠ)
Beta Theta Pi (BΘΠ)
Chi Phi (XΦ)
Chi Psi (XΨ)
Delta Chi (ΔX)
Delta Lambda Phi (ΔΛΦ)
Delta Phi Upsilon (ΔΦΥ)
Delta Sigma Phi (ΔΣΦ)
Delta Tau Delta (ΔΤΔ)
Delta Upsilon (ΔΥ)
Kappa Delta Rho (KΔP)
Kappa Kappa Psi (KKΨ)
Kappa Psi Kappa (ΚΨΚ)
Lambda Chi Alpha (ΛXA)
Omega Delta Phi (ΩΔΦ)
Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ)
Phi Kappa Tau (ΦKT)
Phi Sigma Kappa (ΦΣK)
Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠKA)
Pi Kappa Phi (ΠKΦ)
Pi Lambda Phi (ΠΛΦ)
Psi Upsilon (ΨY)
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (ΣAE)
Sigma Chi (ΣΧ)
Sigma Epsilon Omega (ΣΕΩ)
Sigma Phi Beta (ΣΦΒ)
Sigma Phi Epsilon (ΣΦE)
Sigma Nu (ΣN)
Sigma Tau Gamma (ΣTΓ)
Tau Beta Sigma (TBΣ)
Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ)
Theta Chi (ΘX)
Theta Delta Chi (ΘΔX)
Theta Xi (ΘΞ)
Zeta Alpha Delta (ΖΑΔ)
Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT)
And some all-gender Greek associations include:
Alpha Delta Phi Society (ΑΔΦ)
The Euglossian Society (ΕΥΓ)
Lambda Alpha Lambda (ΛΑΛ)
Lambda Delta Xi (ΛΔΞ)
Nu Delta (ΝΔ)
Phi Sigma Pi (ΦΣΠ)
Th Delta Sigma (ΘΔΣ)
Theta Pi Sigma (ΘΠΣ)
Zeta Delta Xi (ΖΔΞ)
Sigma Omicron Rho (ΣΟΡ)
Even if you are introverted, shy, or otherwise not a social person, I highly recommend creating an in-person support system. Go to club meetings, join your local community, and make IRL friends. Entirely online support systems don’t foster the same level of mental wellness – although they can still be useful. For that purpose, here are some online resources for transgender college students.
⭐ Looking for generic trans resources? Click here.
Between going to class, making friends, and inevitably dealing with conflict, you need to set aside time for self-care. Do things you enjoy. Engage in therapy. Work on setting boundaries. Develop hobbies to do in your free time that don’t feel like work. And if you struggle with self-care, here’s an info hub by GSA Network.
And of course, small things matter. Assuming your dorm or living space allows it, cultivate your room to foster a sense of pride. You’ll be spending a lot of time in your room, so make it inviting – hang up a pride flag, put up some posters, and decorate the space to inspire joy. After a potentially long day at class dealing with people, don’t you deserve to feel comfortable and proud of who you are?
In a devastating update, the United States Supreme Court voted along party lines to uphold Tennessee’s unethical blanket ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. United States v. Skrmetti was decided 6-3 and has potentially severe consequences for adult care as well.
Their logic is derived from stating that the current ban on gender-affirming care for minors is based on gender dysphoria and not sex, so it cannot be classified as sex-based discrimination – the same logic used by the Trump administration when removing LGBTQIA+ protections under Title IX. Of course, this logic is flawed: at this moment, the Court views transgender identity as a mental health issue, but they are choosing to ignore that other aspects of Tennessee’s laws (as well as other states across the country) wish to prosecute transgender people for sex crimes based on sex assigned at birth. In her coverage of the topic, Erin Reed wrote, “The Tennessee law, Justice Sotomayor and the dissent argue, explicitly classifies on the basis of sex—so overtly that the majority’s attempt to sidestep that reality reads as disingenuous. The statute itself declares that one purpose of the ban is to ‘encourage minors to appreciate their sex,’ and yet the majority still concludes it does not constitute sex-based classification.” This argument also fails to consider that while gender dysphoria is currently classified as a mental disorder, it is the required diagnosis for medically necessary treatment for transgender individuals. The World Health Organization and other experts on mental and physical health have declassified transgender identity itself as a mental illness since our distress is caused by the dysphoria or disconnect between internal gender and outward expression. As NPR wrote, “[The] Supreme Court decision was a big win for Tennessee and 24 other states, but there are many questions that remain unanswered.”
Permitting states to ban gender-affirming care, the medically necessary and most effective treatment for gender dysphoria, to treat transgender people in distress is as nonsensical and inhumane as banning other medications like insulin for the treatment of diabetes or banning the prescription of albuterol for asthma.
The current ruling is also dangerous, since it seems to permit states to ban transgender healthcare entirely – not just for minors. The conservative Court is not arguing that states have a right to ‘protect children from medical treatments’ like gender-affirming care; they are arguing that states have a right to ban gender-affirming care entirely.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a devastating blow to transgender youth and the families who love them, but it will not break our resolve. Families may now have to make the heartbreaking choice to leave their state or split their families, or take on extensive financial burdens, to ensure that their kids can access medically necessary care.
“This Court chose to allow politicians to interfere in medical decisions that should be made by doctors, patients, and families—a cruel betrayal of the children who needed them to stand up for justice when it mattered most.
“As parents, advocates, and community leaders, we know that our fight doesn’t end in courtrooms—it lives in our communities, our hearts, and our unwavering commitment to each other. Still, we will not be deterred. We will support families forced to make impossible choices, fund legal challenges, and build a movement so powerful that no politician can ignore us. Together, we will turn this pain into power and keep fighting until every transgender person in America can live with dignity, safety, and the freedom to be who they are.”
Erin Reed also reported that “Though the majority avoided that outcome, three justices—Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett—wrote separately to express that they would have gone further, explicitly denying transgender people equal protection under the law.” While the Court’s decision does not affect transgender individuals living in states that protect gender-affirming care, it further divides the country. Gleeful legislators are banning the most effective treatment for transgender people, the most proven deterrent that lowers the suicide rate amongst the trans community – depending on where you live, you may not be able to legally obtain medically necessary healthcare that has been the gold standard throughout the world for decades and you can be prosecuted for traveling elsewhere to receive such care.
While the decision is terrifying, the war for transgender rights isn’t over. United States v. Skrmetti specifically targets gender-affirming care for minors, and while legislators have talked about expanding healthcare bans to adults, no laws have actually been written. It also isn’t the end for transgender minors either – social justice advocates will continue to fight the Supreme Court for equal rights, despite this loss. If the GOP can stack the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, there is always hope for a better future. Chase Strangio from the ACLU stated, “Though this is a painful setback, it does not mean that transgender people and our allies are left with no options to defend our freedom, our health care, or our lives. The Court left undisturbed Supreme Court and lower court precedent that other examples of discrimination against transgender people are unlawful. We are as determined as ever to fight for the dignity and equality of every transgender person, and we will continue to do so with defiant strength, a restless resolve, and a lasting commitment to our families, our communities, and the freedom we all deserve.”
In addition to this news, I wanted to give context that other news sources aren’t covering. United States v. Skrmetti rose to the Supreme Court on whether gender-affirming care bans on transgender minors are constitutional – Tennessee lawmakers defended the law by citing bogus claims that gender-affirming care is unsafe and experimental.
Secondly, these legislators have not met actual transgender youth who have experienced the supposed woes of being forced into medical procedures. If you are under the age of 18, it is incredibly difficult to access gender-affirming medical care due to the international requirements established by WPATH. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health is just as legitimate as a health institution as the World Health Organization, and has produced credible research for decades supporting gender-affirming care. The recent accusations that scientific bodies like WPATH and WHO are untrustworthy because they do not side with GOP pseudoscience are created solely to bring harm. The WPATH itself has made an official statement denouncing Trump’s pseudo-research.
Even in the most liberal states, it is a grueling process for minors to get gender-affirming medical care.
After coming out, that transgender minor must socially transition – this means they have picked another name they are going by, pronouns, hairstyle, clothing, hobbies, and other aspects of gender. They have gone through the trouble of picking a name that fits their gender identity and have told others, likely begun outwardly expressing their gender without medical intervention, and have changed minor forms that don’t require legal orders, like email addresses, school assignment rosters, and social media accounts.
That transgender minor must now engage with regular counseling and get a diagnosis for gender dysphoria – which they can only do after establishing their transgender identity is long-standing and not a phase for that provider. It is at this point that the minor must have the full support of all their legal guardians, since minors cannot easily access therapy, and definitely cannot engage with medical care without their parents’ explicit consent.
Assuming the minor has completed every step above completely and has identified as transgender for an extended time, they MIGHT be eligible for medical care. WPATH only allows puberty blockers to be prescribed to minors who have reached Tanner stage two, or in other words, shown visible signs of puberty beginning as their sex assigned at birth. The minor must also prove that they are capable of making informed decisions, further establish that their gender identity is not a phase, and not the consequence of a mental disorder other than gender dysphoria.
After the youth has been on puberty blockers for a sufficient amount of time, they may be moved to hormone replacement therapy – which means estrogen or testosterone will be prescribed instead of puberty blockers to commence puberty.
If the transgender minor is unsure whether they may want biological children one day, they MIGHT be eligible for reproductive services such as sperm or egg freezing. However, these reproductive services aren’t common since most transgender people are told from the beginning that transition will likely make them unable to have biological children.
If the minor is assigned female at birth, they MIGHT be eligible for top surgery if they did not engage with puberty blockers fast enough to prevent breast growth and have been on HRT for a minimum of twelve months. However, this itself is even more rare than minors accessing medical gender-affirming care entirely, and the vast majority of surgeons will require their patients to wait until age eighteen.
Transgender minors are not able to freely access other surgical procedures. While technically possible, medical providers are not willing to perform these procedures before the age of eighteen. If someone tries to argue about whatever conspiracy they believe, force them to pull details like their office number and credentials. If they are unable or unwilling to call that provider’s office and obtain at least verbal proof, they are lying.
As mentioned before, the Supreme Court ruling affects more than just minors – the logic embraced paves a route for states to ban gender-affirming care entirely because they deem it as ‘experimental.’ The reason gender-affirming care for minors is seen as so experimental is because research is more mixed regarding puberty blockers compared to HRT, but puberty blockers are never intended as the end result for gender-affirming care. Puberty blockers are used as a means to pause natal puberty and give minors time to establish their gender identity as more than a phase before continuing with non-reversible side effects of HRT. While hormone replacement therapy has non-reversible side effects, it is extremely effective and has exceedingly low regret rates, and thus has substantial positive results compared to puberty blockers. Yet again, for minors, puberty blockers are an integral part of the process for them to receive care.
Trump’s original ban in 2017 affected me directly: at the time, I had just graduated from high school and was struggling to survive living with my anti-transgender parents. When my ideal college plans fell through due to financial constraints, I turned to the military. Before that first ban, transgender people were allowed to openly serve due to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and were given medical coverage through guaranteed health benefits for all soldiers. But for some reason, I kept feeling something was wrong in my gut, so I never signed the dotted line, and I lived with relatives that summer with the plan that I would enlist in the fall. Three days before my 18th birthday, Donald Trump made his infamous tweets stating transgender people would be banned from service. I ended up attending community college and getting involved with my local queer scene, pursuing higher education through FAFSA.
The original ban hinged on the premise that transgender soldiers were too costly for the military. Trump and his cronies lamented that gender-affirming care, like hormone replacement therapy and surgery, was causing the budget to skyrocket and was a massive burden for the military to handle – but people were quick to point out how flawed that logic was.
Very few individuals want to serve in the United States military just for the joy of it. No, the armed forces are notoriously known for their campaigns in American high schools, convincing teenagers that enlistment is their best way to pay for college. The military has always relied on using its benefits as a means to drive enlistment – transgender people seeking healthcare coverage isn’t much different than other young people joining to pay for college. That’s why the military has the insane budget it’s been given by Congress; the armed forces continue to take up most of the federal budget. Further, it’s been well proven that gender-affirming care was overall insignificant to the military budget and absolutely not worth banning potentially combat-ready soldiers from service. If money were that much of an issue, Donald Trump wouldn’t be having a personal parade for his birthday to “honor” the Army’s coinciding 250th anniversary.
Since both bans are enforced via executive order, the current ban will inevitably be erased once Donald Trump is removed from power. Executive orders are incredibly flimsy, but they’re a favorite tool amongst unpopular presidents to enforce rules that can’t be made into laws through Congress.
Trump’s second ban is darker. Rather than arguing that transgender service members are too expensive to keep, Trump argued that transgender individuals are simply just dishonorable by nature and thus unfit to serve.In his own words, “the Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion… Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
The current ban on transgender service members is based on the understanding that transgender identity alone makes us dishonorable, untruthful, undisciplined, and otherwise unfit to adhere to the military’s moral code. That’s terrifying logic meant to dehumanize transgender people – but the good news is that it’s easier to fight in court. Sarah Warbelow stated in a Human Rights Campaign press release, “This discriminatory ban is a threat to our national security, wastes years of training and financial investments, and is unconstitutional.”
“The assertion that transgender service members like myself are inherently untrustworthy or lack honor is an insult to all who have dedicated their lives to defending this country,” said Commander Emily Shilling. “…I have been selected for promotion and ranked number one in my community for merit. Not because of my identity, our boards are deliberately blind to such things, but because my performance and leadership set me apart. What greater proof of merit is required? This ban is not about readiness or cohesion, and it is certainly not about merit. It is about exclusion and betrayal, purposely targeting those of us who volunteered to serve, simply for having the courage and integrity to live our truth.”
It’s already been sued by multiple agencies, but it has not made its way to the Supreme Court. Depending on how it is worded to the Court, it could be an easy win or a devastating lost – assuming they take the approach that gender identity is no more fair to discriminate against than other identity markers like biological sex, race, or ethnicity, it would be easy to argue that the current ban segregates transgender people from the rest of society.
Currently, transgender people are not allowed to serve in the armed forces if they have ever had a diagnosis identifying them as transgender or having gender dysphoria – which is a prerequisite requirement for health insurance to cover gender-affirming care like hormone replacement therapy or surgery, and it’s required in some states to legally change one’s gender marker on official documents. Anyone who has any form of “gender-affirming care,” as determined by the Trump administration, is barred from service – so like under his first ban, transgender soldiers are being dishonorably discharged in droves based on his political agenda. Further, the new ban is also requiring the military to screen both incoming recruits and trained members for ‘signs’ of gender dysphoria – which means the current transgender military ban also invites an anti-trans witch hunt similar to the days during the Lavender Scare. It took years for Biden to reverse the previous dishonorable discharges accrued from the first ban, and thus former service members were given a black mark for employment, education, healthcare, etc.
Military service can be controversial, especially in activist circles. It’s ultimately its own industry, and it thrives off how American capitalism forces marginalized youth to join in order to protect their futures, even if it means going to war overseas for political interests. Regardless, it cannot be overstated how important access to military service is to general human rights: the armed forces were among the first places desegregated, and it was exposure to others that began to change the public’s mindset on civil rights. Even today, the military serves as an eye-opener – most conservatives who love the idea of the military have never served, but the military has served an integral role in mixing the most closed-minded with other perspectives.
Last week was the final deadline for transgender service members to identify themselves and voluntarily leave – now, the Trump administration will begin enforcing involuntary separations. Similar to Trump’s previous attempts to force federal workers to quit, there are still a large number of individuals refusing to leave their posts. It’s a calculated move – if they’re dishonorably discharged, they have a much better court case. However, it’s not always feasible since refusing to leave now means they could potentially have to pay thousands of dollars back to the United States government if they’re involuntarily separated.
The decision thus far by the Supreme Court also doesn’t eliminate the lawsuit already progressing that incited Settle’s pause. The battle isn’t lost yet. The GOP changed their attack from financial to ‘ethics,’ but that doesn’t mean they have a better chance of defending it in court. Previously, the argument that transgender people were too expensive to keep didn’t make sense, considering the United States has the most over-budget military in the world and specifically uses advertised benefits to attract recruits. The claim that transgender people are unfit to serve because we lack honor is a moral-based argument – it makes just as little sense as banning atheists or Muslims because they lack the same religious ‘moral code’ as traditional Christians, to ban women from service because they’re ‘less rational’ than men, or to ban Black and Brown Americans because they’re ‘morally inferior.’
These arguments never hold up in court. It’s easy to feel defeated, but we have to persist.
I was 14 when I realized I was transgender, back in the year 2014. Not much later, to my dismay, Caitlyn Jenner came out to the world – her novel identity fascinated the world, and that extended to my hometown in rural America. Suddenly, peers at school were talking about what they supposedly knew about transgender people, and my parents, who wouldn’t know I identified as trans for another year.
I’m well-versed in trans misinformation. Frankly, most transgender people are: it comes with being a marginalized person, expected to educate every single person you meet with unwavering patience. I don’t fault folks who get exhausted and frustrated after years of educating their friends, family, and strangers – that exhaustion led to the rise of Buzzfeed-like “Dear Cis People,” “100 Questions for White People,” and similar articles, videos, and posts during the 2010s that tried to rephrase that expectation. I always wondered when I would become frustrated and exhausted, likely to lash out like a stereotypical “blue-hair liberal.” Yet, eleven years later, I haven’t gotten to that point even though I’ve spent a decade in activism and educating cisgender people throughout those years. I can still manage patience, under one condition: I do not educate for bad faith. Many individuals purposely spread disinformation and “want to ask questions” to trans folks with the express purpose of being the Devil’s advocate. Those individuals are not open to actually learning and come with an agenda to demean or “convert” trans people. You cannot change them in one conversation, and they are not worth the effort. Anyone actually interested in understanding transness, that is not coming from a place of hatred, is worth teaching – even if they stumble on their journey.
Today, there’s more disinformation online than misinformation. There is a semantic difference: misinformation is false info spread, regardless of whether the person sharing knows if it’s true or not, while disinformation is purposely shared with knowledge that the info is false. All disinformation is misinformation, but disinformation is more nefarious. A family relative who shares a misleading post on Facebook about transgender people might not know its facts are wrong – that’s misinformation. If that relative knows that the post is incorrect, it becomes disinformation. There’s another conversation to be had on how to correct people with misinformation, since people hate being told they’re wrong and take corrections as a personal attack. Misinformation wasn’t that big of a deal ten years ago when flat-earthers and autism moms against vaccines were laughingstocks.
Misinformation is a big deal, and I don’t mean to be an alarmist. It truly holds the potential to cost human lives. We are more familiar with current events, such as the effects of misinformation about the COVID vaccine pushing more Americans to forgo the vaccination, leading to more immunocompromised people dying and more healthy Americans suffering from “long COVID.” Or, when Russia hacked American media during the past election cycles to spread disinformation and seat Republican candidates better suited to their interests.
Even before the 20th century, transgender people have always been around. If you look hard enough, you can find traces of gender-diverse people spanning centuries and Roman emperoress Elagabalus. Transness was only recently documented, and it’s only entered the public subconscious and mainstream in the past couple of decades. People claim the same about how many queer people exist today compared to fifty years ago, or how autism is supposedly on the rise. When identities are no longer criminalized and it becomes okay for people to publicly identify themselves, people incorrectly assume there’s an “explosion” of people suddenly queer, autistic, or transgender. The same belief was held on a sudden rise years ago of people identifying as left-handed or folks being diabetic. There was never a real increase, but there was a perceived explosion of left-handed individuals because they weren’t being burned at the stake for writing differently, and people were able to survive diabetes with the discovery of synthetic insulin, creating a “spike” of diabetic people.
This myth is fairly easy to dispute, for now. In some countries, information is regulated: when governments censor topics in published books, movies, and content on the internet, it’s easy to convince people that transgender people don’t exist. We are not at that point yet in the United States, but the GOP does want to move towards that future, evidenced by forced removals of transgender people mentioned in history, research, and educational curricula. Thus, trans history matters.
Myth #2: Transgender regret is common.
Compared to other medical procedures, transgender services like hormone replacement therapy and surgery actually have astonishingly low regret rates. Every surgery has a regret rate, whether it’s from complications, lack of satisfaction, or another reason entirely. The average knee surgery has a regret rate upwards of 30%, breast implants maintain a regret rate of up to 47%, and successful pregnancies have a regret rate around 17%.
The reason transgender people have an astonishingly low regret rate is because of these hoops, but it also deters people from getting care when it could benefit them. Trans regret only gets media coverage because detransitioners become viral on the internet from their sob stories. It’s unfortunate when it actually happens, but stories from detransitioned folks of how they were tricked are made up: even in “fast” informed-consent, you have a barrage of questions to answer from doctors to access prescriptions, changes take weeks to show even minor things, and you have people with you throughout the process to check in. Despite this reality, the belief that medical professionals are diabolically trying to force people to be transgender gets clicks.
Another way to think about trans regret and medical care is to compare it to other services. All procedures have risks and there can always be complications. Those risks are not worth denying the service as a whole. It’d be impossible to fathom a world where cancer treatments are banned because a small percentage of people have negative experiences on a life-saving treatment; the same should be applied to transgender procedures since they are documented as life-saving, too.
Myth #3: Transgender people want to trick cisgender people.
This myth has numerous layers, but at its core, it’s the insecure and paranoid belief that transgender people want to trick cisgender folks into having sex or that transgender people get some joy out of “tricking” people into perceiving us as our affirmed gender. Transgender people want to be respected as their authentic selves, but we don’t get joy from “tricking” others like our identity is a prank.
Trans people tricking poor cisgender folks into having sex is a real problem – and it’s been used as the punchline trope in comedy for decades. It even has legal recognition in most states, referred to as “trans panic defenses,” where cisgender people accused of murdering a transgender person can legally claim they were so angry, upset, or shocked that someone was transgender that they just had to assault them. The legal procedure comes from the underlying fragility of cisgender people’s sexuality, since there’s nothing worse than being thought of as flirting (or worse) with a transgender person, and gives cis judges and juries a reason to excuse anti-transgender hate crimes.
Disclosure is the process of telling a person that you’re transgender, and it’s a very personal decision that comes with inherent safety risks. Every trans person knows there is some risk in telling someone new, ranging from a new possible ally to a barrage of insults to even being hate-crimed. Some people prefer being out because they feel safe to do so, while others remain stealth – but not because they’re hoping to trick someone.
The transgender community advises sexually active folks to have that tough conversation with a prospective partner before you’re in the bedroom. Each person is different: a transgender woman who has had bottom surgery might not need to disclose her transgender status during a one-night stand because there’s nothing actually distinguishing her from other women compared to the safety risk of telling a stranger that you’re trans; a transgender man might feel inclined to tell a women he’s been seeing that he’s trans because aspects of his transness could affect their potential future together.
Cisgender people get frustrated about disclosure: they feel entitled to know whether someone is transgender. Some cis folks believe they “always know” when someone is trans, too. Yes, it is ideal for transgender people to be open about their identities, but cisgender people cannot be entitled to that knowledge as long as we exist in a society that is dangerous to live in. In comparison, there are so many other things you might want to know when having a one-night stand or going on a date with someone, like whether they’re infertile, if they have a stable job, if they have a disability, or already have children. But we all understand we are not entitled to automatically get that knowledge, and it completely upends how humans socially interact with each other via the social script.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a community of cisgender folks who want to have sex with trans individuals because they fetishize us as a kink. Chasers (or “admirers,” as they call themselves) actively seek us out for sex. Any porn website will have a transgender category. Trans-specific dating apps exist purely for chasers’ convenience. We do not need to “trick” cisgender people into having sex with us. Should transgender people like chasers? That’s another topic for a different post – the ultimate point is no, we don’t trick cisgender people.
Because of the above, there is actually a subsection of the transgender community that identifies as T4T, or “trans for trans.” These trans folks only date other transgender people – but unlike chasers, they do so because they feel safer and better understood by other transgender people. We don’t have to explain our transness or the complications of gender theory to another transgender person to feel heard; we don’t have to fear that they might believe we’re going to hell for being trans or go into a violent rage because of who we are.
Myth #4: Transgender people are sexually aroused by their bodies. / Transgender people hate their bodies.
I combined two common myths for this one because both relate to how cisgender people fail to empathize with trans experiences. The first part, or the belief that all transgender people get turned on by their bodies, relates to Freudian-era pseudoscience and confusing transvestites with transgender people.
There are individuals who are sexually aroused by their bodies: the scientific terms are autogynephilia and autoandrophilia. But unlike transvestites, transgender people do not transition because they seek sexual pleasure. Generally, transvestites just stop at crossdressing (aka not continuing transition by seeking hormones or surgery) because they don’t actually want to identify as another gender. Yet transvestites were infinitely more interesting to research during the early years of sexology, so research papers were written for years with this base assumption that transgender people transition out of kink.
Are transgender people allowed to be sexually aroused by their bodies? Cisgender people are allowed to feel confident or sexy when looking at themselves in the mirror. It would be hypocritical to say transgender people do not deserve that same right. To feel comfortable in our bodies, that includes having the capacity to feel sexual in them, too. But that’s more a philosophical question outside of the realm of this myth.
The second part, or that transgender people must hate their bodies, also dates back to early research on transgender people. Cisgender people have always struggled to grasp what causes a person to want to be a different gender – very few cis people think critically about their relationship with their sex assigned at birth, so gender isn’t something they’ve really considered. To rebel against their natural worldview, they believe transgender people must hate their bodies – anything else wouldn’t make sense.
These assumptions permeated the very beginning of transgender researchers, and even trans-friendly providers held these stereotypes. It became quickly obvious that to transition socially, medically, or legally, transgender people had to adhere to these stereotypes since cisgender people held the power to prescribe medicine or affirm legal changes that transgender folks did not. To allow trans people to transition, doctors wanted them to fit their rigid boxes of what they believed transness to be – and that always included the stereotype that transgender people absolutely hate their biological bodies.
Today, there’s a decent understanding within the scientific community that transgender identity does not come from a hatred of one’s body but rather a disconnect between one’s internal versus outward gender. That disconnect can include feelings of hatred, but it doesn’t have to. The term “gender dysphoria” refers to that disconnect, ranging in feeling just uncomfortable to more extreme disgust or hatred. There is also a community of individuals promoting the idea that gender euphoria is just as important as gender dysphoria when discussing the need for transition – transgender people should not be expected to hate themselves. To be happy and fulfilled people, we need to be allowed to feel content in our bodies.
Myth #5: Transgender people want to dominate in sports, prisons, schools, etc.
We aren’t asking for unlimited access to dominate sports, we want the right to play fairly as ourselves. Until the past year or so, transgender people have been playing small roles within sports without issue: most leagues have written rules on how transgender people may participate, which usually requires two to three years of documented hormone replacement therapy. HRT is the key factor on supposed “advantages,” since hormones dictate muscle growth, strength, and stamina in all human bodies. A transgender woman who has been on prescribed estrogen for five years has no biological advantage over a cisgender woman – and quite frankly, cisgender women do hold an advantage if they compete with naturally high testosterone or a hormone disorder. Other aspects of transition, like surgery or legal status, have zero bearing on competitive performance.
For emphasis, transgender people have been officially allowed to compete in the Olympics since 2004. The exact rules have varied, but the general consensus to be allowed to participate is hormone replacement therapy. And the standards used by the Olympics are used in countless other sports and minor leagues.
Some folks might still get up in arms about other “advantages” transgender may have, but none of them warrant barring a group of people from fair play. A transgender woman who is six foot might have an advantage at basketball, but so does a cisgender woman who is also six foot. It’s those small advantages that drive people to play sports based on what they’re good at. It’s the nature of competition and sports. Getting up in arms about bone structure or child socialization is just as nonsensical as barring people based on race, ethnicity, disability, and even class.
This myth is more ludicrous in school settings. It’s difficult to argue against the benefits of school sports: they provide exercise while giving youth crucial team building skills while they socialize in a structured setting. But due to the stigma transgender people automatically get from participating in sports, very few of us do – and even fewer participate in school sports. Even in the most liberal states, transgender students still have to adhere to established protocols, which almost always relate to documented hormone replacement therapy. Out of the thousands of students that participate in school sports each here, only one or two of them identify as transgender. If they’re playing by the rules, it’s hardly fair to ban them based on identity alone.
Lastly, transgender people don’t go to prison to use taxpayer dollars for gender-affirming care. It’s way easier to transition beyond prison, and the dangers transgender people are exposed to in prison are never worth it: compared to cisgender adults, transgender people are roughly 10 times more likely to be assaulted by both fellow prisoners and prison staff. Most transgender people are forcibly detransitioned while incarcerated, so the reality is closer to transgender people asking if they can access or continue medical care while incarcerated.
As many readers know, HIV also disproportionately affects LGBTQIA+ people – it was once referred to as the “gay plague” during its early years when thousands of queer people were being killed each year while government-funded research facilities pushed the harmful belief that HIV was a divine punishment ordained by God. All marginalized groups are at higher risk of contracting HIV, culminating from a lack of educated doctors, accessible testing, preventative medicine like PrEP and PEP, and public knowledge. Ultimately, this means that young queer people are at an exceptionally higher risk of HIV – especially transgender youth of color.
Despite heightened rates reported by the CDC, they also found that only 6% of high school students had ever been tested for HIV. Most people are never offered an HIV test when visiting a healthcare provider’s office – there’s often very little signage and educational material present advertising HIV prevention and its risk and even fewer offices discuss HIV with their patients unless they believe they’re a ‘high risk.’ Unfortunately, this process is based on stereotypes even among healthcare providers well-educated on HIV versus reality – so lots of folks fall through the cracks. The CDC recommends all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, class, race, ethnicity, or background, be tested for HIV at least once in their life. Certain people are advised to be tested regularly based on their sexual activity – as a general note, the CDC says the following people should be tested for HIV at least once per year:
Men who have had sex with other men.*
Individuals who have had anal or vaginal sex with someone who is living with HIV.
Individuals who have had sex with more than one partner since their last HIV test.
Drug users who share injection equipment, like needles, syringes, and cookers.
Individuals who have had sex for money, drugs, or housing.
Individuals who have been diagnosed with another STD/STI, hepatitis, or tuberculosis.
Anyone who has had sex with someone who has done one of the above things or you’re unsure about their sexual history.
In February 2025, the Trump administration tried to remove mentions of LGBTQIA+ people from official government websites – including the CDC. Federal courts have rebuked this decision as purposeful misinformation of scientific research and forced the administration to restore previous web pages, although they have altered some of the sites and added a political anti-science disclaimer stating the agency denounces transgender people alongside the Trump administration.
All governmental information and research regarding HIV was targeted by this purge – I’m unsure whether the first statement was present before the restoration since it’s not aligned with current HIV advocacy and data. Most organizations disagree with blanket stereotypes for HIV and testing based on sexuality, instead pushing for non-discriminatory testing requirements based on sexual activity. This can be seen in the change in the Red Cross’s policies allowing queer men to finally donate blood after decades of permanently banning them for “having had sex with men” since data shows such practices do not effectively reduce HIV risk during blood donation.
HIV 101: The Basics
In today’s world, most people have a basic understanding that HIV exists, that it’s an STD, and it disproportionately targets queer men. Other than that, knowledge varies drastically since HIV isn’t covered in many public school sexual education programs (and several states don’t have sex ed) and most healthcare providers do not bring up HIV unless they believe they have enough reason to do so.
As mentioned earlier, anyone can be affected by HIV – the virus doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, class, education, religion, neighborhood, etc. There is no singular way to ‘tell’ if someone has HIV other than getting tested: most people don’t experience symptoms until HIV has developed into AIDS years later. Lastly, HIV won’t kill you – while living with HIV will greatly change your life, people live long, happy, and fulfilling lives with HIV when taking prescribed medication to treat the virus.
Want to learn more about HIV?Read this post here or check out one of the sources below.
Education is crucial.Teaching youth about HIV and safe sex is the first step in reducing the spread of STDs, including HIV. Despite this reality, many schools, politicians, and religious figures argue that comprehensive sex education encourages young people to have sex. This is fallacious – data shows that folks will have sex regardless, but it is possible to reduce STDs and unplanned pregnancies by giving them the tools to have safe and healthy relationships.
Accessibility is just as important. Most people know what they ought to do, whether it’s safe sex or recycling plastic. However, they’re unlikely to do it unless it is convenient – it’s human nature. Convenient testing is offered at regular healthcare visits, community centers, and even social events like local drag shows and pride events. Some organizations offer incentives for testing like free entry to an event, gift cards, vouchers, or coupons to engage folks in testing when they may otherwise be too hesitant. Making condoms free and easy to access discreetly without shame encourages people to practice safe sex. Preventative medicines like PrEP and PEP are most impactful when folks have access to those medicines when they need them – whether it’s by visiting a local pharmacy or getting it mailed directly to their house.
Where do I get tested for HIV?
You can only get treatment for HIV if you’ve tested positive, which requires you to get tested in the first place – so seeking testing is the first step to protecting your health. The earlier someone gets diagnosed, the sooner they can access life-saving treatments to manage their HIV.
Greater Than (linked above) is one of the largest public health campaigns in the United States that provides detailed resources in partnership with the CDC. Click above to be redirected to their website, which locates HIV testing, PrEP providers, and support services locally by zip code. Greater Than also connects individuals to health insurance information to educate users on state laws dictating coverage.
IRL testing isn’t for everyone – that’s why the CDC also sponsors the Together TakeMeHome program to ship free HIV tests directly to homes throughout the United States. These tests are done via an oral swab with saliva to give results within 20 minutes, and the program provides two free tests to individuals every 90 days. Together TakeMeHome has been providing free tests since early 2023, so click the button below to learn more about how to use their services.
Together TakeMeHome is currently operating, although it can only do so through government funding. Due to the current political climate and attacks by the Trump administration on other HIV programs, it’s not impossible to consider the possibility that the program could be shut down in the future. Most LGBTQIA+ community centers also provide HIV testing for free, and many cities offer similar programs to Together TakeMeHome with mail programs to increase HIV testing in their area.
Know Your Rights: Young People, HIV, and the Law
In the United States, all individuals with HIV are protected by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which is enforced by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office for Civil Rights. These laws prohibit any anti-HIV discrimination by healthcare and human services agencies that receive federal funding, as well as any discrimination by state or local governments – including services, activities, or programs provided by state or local governments. Anyone can file a report with the Office for Civil Rights online or by mail.
In all US states, minors have the right to consent to HIV and STD testing and treatment without a guardian’s permission. Generally, youth have the right to get tested (and receive HIV medication) without telling their parents. However, these laws vary on whether you have the right to access preventative services like PrEP without parental consent. There are no state or federal laws that explicitly prohibit minors from accessing PrEP, but you should search for laws specific to your state for details.
Many states don’t have health confidentiality protections for minors, so it’s extremely likely for your guardian to find your status if you get tested at your primary provider – especially if your doctor bills your family’s insurance company for the test. For this reason, many LGBTQIA+ community centers provide free confidential HIV testing to encourage youth to get tested without fear that their authority figures will discover they got tested.
While many US states and territories require you to disclose your HIV status, you’re only required to disclose it to certain people. At the time of this article, thirteen states require you to disclose your status to potential sexual partners, while four require disclosure to anyone you share a needle with.
Depending on the state, failure to disclose status can lead to life in prison. You do not have to disclose to anyone else – including your family or friends. While most American employers have the right to ask about your health in certain fields, you don’t have to disclose it to your workplace in most cases. The Americans with Disabilities Act protects you from anti-HIV discrimination – which means hiring managers can’t ask you about your health and companies have to make reasonable adjustments as needed. These protections also apply within education, so you’re not required to disclose your HIV status to anyone at school unless you reside in a state requiring disclosure for potential sexual partners or needle sharing.
AIDS Drug Assistance Program@ adap.directory / Patient-centric project that provides HIV-related services and prescription medication to hundreds of thousands of people in the United States by linking individuals with their local state or territory agency.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation @ aidshealth.org / 323-860-5200 / International nonprofit based in Los Angeles that operates a network of HIV services in over 40 countries across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team @ apaitssg.org/ Grassroots AIDS service organization centered on Asian and Pacific Islanders with HIV, based in the United States.
Bienestar Human Services @ bienestar.org / US community-based social services organization that caters to Latino Americans living with HIV, especially LGBTQIA+ Latino Americans.
Black AIDS Institute @ blackaids.org / Think tank that aims to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Black American community through awareness messaging, information, and robust programs.
CDC-INFO @ cdc.gov / 800-232-4626 / Live support to help Americans find the latest and reliable science-based health information, including CDC guidance and resources.
Global Network of People Living with HIV @ gnpplus.net / Network operated by people living with HIV for people living with HIV, regardless of geographic location.
HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis C Nightline / 800-273-2437 / US hotline providing support for people living with HIV or Hepatitis C as well as their caregivers.
HIV. GOV @ hiv.gov / Offers information about HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and resources for anyone in the United States.
HIV.GOV Service Locator @ locator.hiv.gov / Location-based search tool managed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to allow anyone to find local HIV testing services, housing providers, health centers, PrEP, PEP, and other related needs.
HIV Management Warmline / 800-933-3413 / Non-emergency telephone service for questions about HIV, antiretroviral therapy, HIV clinical trials, and laboratory evaluation in the United States.
International AIDS Society @ iasociety.org / Research-based organization that develops holistic approaches to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.
International Planned Parenthood Federation @ ippf.org / 202-987-9364 / Global healthcare provider that has been a leader in sexual and reproductive health for all since 1952.
Latino Commission on AIDS @ latinoaids.org / Nonprofit organization in response to the critical unmet need for HIV prevention, treatment, and education in the Latino community in the United States.
LGBT National Help Center @ lgbthotline.org / 888-843-4564 /Free and confidential peer support, information, and local resources where volunteers help connect you to other groups and services in the US. Also maintains a coming out hotline, youth talkline, and senior hotline.
National AIDS Hotline / 800-243-2437 / Federal hotline to refer the general American public to relevant state and local resources.
National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project @ natap.org / 212-219-0106 / Nonprofit corporation in the United States that educates individuals on HIV treatments on the local, national, and international levels.
National Clinician Consultation Center @ nccc.ucsf.edu / 833-622-2463 / Teleconsultation resource that educates US healthcare providers with information and answers on HIV and Hepatitis C.
National Minority AIDS Council @ nmac.org / Advocacy nonprofit that provides training and resources catered to marginalized communities in the United States.
National Native HIV Network @ nnhn.org / Indigenous-led network that mobilizes American Indians, Indigenous Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians towards community action.
NIH Office of AIDS Research @ hivinfo.nih.gov / 800-448-0440 / Confidential answers to questions on HIV/AIDS clinical trials and treatment in the United States.
PEPline / 888-448-4911 / Hotline for individuals interested in information about PEP, especially those who have been possibly exposed to HIV while on the job in the United States.
Perinatal HIV Hotline / 888-448-8765 / Resource hotline available 24/7 in the United States for pregnant people living with HIV to find answers and tools.
Positively Trans @ transgenderlawcenter.org / Program through the Transgender Law Center to support transgender people living with HIV in the United States.
Positive Women’s Network @ pwn-usa.org / Advocacy and resource organization for women living with HIV.
PrEPline / 855-448-7737 / Hotline about how to start, continue, or manage use of PrEP for HIV within the US.
Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program @ ryanwhite.hrsa.gov / National services and resources for low-income individuals living with HIV in the US.
TheBody.com Hotline @ thebody.com / News site based in New York that centers on publishing HIV-related information.
The Trevor Project @ thetrevorproject.org / 866-488-7386 / The leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization centered on LGBTQIA+ young people in the United States. Offers 24/7/365 information and support to those ages 13 to 24 with trained counselors via call, text, or instant message.
The Well Project @ thewellproject.org / United States nonprofit that primarily supports women and girls living with HIV/AIDS.
Trans Lifeline @ translifeline.org / 877-565-8860 / Transgender-centered crisis organization that does not use involuntary intervention/forced hospitalization to provide support to transgender people through fully anonymous and confidential calls within the United States and Canada.
UNAIDS @ unaids.org/ 41-22-595-59-92 / International agency that seeks to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and has operated since 1996 to assist the United Nations in combating HIV and AIDS.
At the beginning of February, I created a set of shareable images of actions anyone can take if they’re feeling angry, upset, or otherwise motivated due to the current anti-trans political climate. It’s a fantastic starting point as a guide – this post is more advanced for folks wanting additional context.
DISCLAIMER: This guide does NOT promote illegal activity and does not incite the public to violate the law. This article is strictly for informational purposes and takes no responsibility for what individuals do with this information.
Why act? Why does it matter?
It is easy to give in to hopelessness. The world can be a terrible place and there are individuals in power whose mission is to eradicate transness alongside other people deemed invaluable by themselves and the organizations that support them. There has never been a time within human history without queerness and there will never be a time without us – the world is overwhelmingly a better place with trans folks like you and me in it, which is why we must act. It is unfair and exhausting, but do not let bullies push you out of existence – your life is worth fighting for, as are the future lives of transgender kids and the past histories of transgender elders they erase.
Most Americans are not aware of what is going on. The United States is one of the best countries in the world at distributing propaganda to its citizens, and most Americans lack media literacy skills regardless of their age, political affiliation, or educational background. Americans are not stupid, but most of us are unable to connect the dots on how fascism is taking hold in our government based on past fascist regimes. Currently, mainstream American media is owned and controlled by the Republican party – this isn’t an exaggeration. Large news sites like the New York Times and Washington Post are being censored by their billionaire owners, and similar actions are being done by television media like CNN by moving ‘controversial’ hosts to worse spots. The top social media platforms also fall into this, with sites like Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and even TikTok catering to the GOP. Google changed the official name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America while removing Black History Month and LGBTQIA+ topics and doodles.
Why? Personally, I think Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are great case examples. At the end of the day, Zuckerberg and most other insanely wealthy people do not subscribe to the ideas or politics of the GOP: they’re in the business of making as much money as possible, regardless of the political party in power. Many were shocked when Facebook officially released its new rules stating harmful speech against transgender folks was no longer considered hate speech on the platform – but Mark is attempting to appeal to what he believes will get him the most profit. These term updates and making the office “more masculine” aren’t that different from when Facebook changed into a rainbow logo in June. Similarly, Bezos barred the Washington Post from making a political endorsement in 2024 because he feared making the ‘wrong’ endorsement would harm profits since an angry Trump would be liable to use his political power to persecute his enemies. Elon is super-gluing himself to Trump’s backside because he believes it will produce the most profit. Unfortunately, the same thing happened during Hitler’s rise to power and Nazism as BBC History writes, “The elites [of 1930s Germany] thought they could ride Hitler like a horse. But they soon discovered that they were the horse and that Hitler was the horseman.” Like those German elites, today’s American billionaires believe they can use fascism to deepen their pockets – even if they lack the foresight or integrity to see how terrible a decision that is in the long run.
Combined, most of the actions I recommend circle around visibility. If the American public cannot see our anguish because we are being censored by mainstream media, then we must draw attention until they are unable to censor us.
That being said, I’m a strong believer that there is more than one way to be an activist and incite change. For a movement to work, we can’t all be on soapboxes and leading marches: to lead a successful demonstration in your community, you need leaders but you also need folks well-versed in first aid, marketing, security, and empathy to make it work. I’m a fan of education as a form of activism (hence this blog) – there’s so much value in meeting people where they are and opening their values to social justice. The American public largely wants ‘radical’ programs like universal healthcare, better wages, and marriage equality, but they lack the language to see their value beyond the GOP versus Democrat binary that pushes them to see anything ‘radical’ as un-American and communist. When considering what actions you want to take, that’s worth remembering: to win the American public over and see our struggle, we have to cater to their human nature and play to their values. Our fight is everyone’s fight in the war on fascism, so open them up to ideas like fascism is inherently un-American, hatred is un-Christlike, and anyone who preaches hatred over empathy should be questioned.
All of the actions discussed can be performed with or without a large group. Many forms of social change can be carried out best with a small group of tight-knit folks united by a common cause (also known as an affinity group) – so empower yourself and your friends to get out there. Every action, no matter how small, is valuable. Even if just one person sees your message before it is removed or censored, it matters and is worth the effort.
Do Not Comply: In Advance or Otherwise
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” – On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
Laws do not dictate morality and something being legal does not make it okay. Fascism relies on obedience and thrives when individuals obey in advance. We are already witnessing this – upon Trump’s executive orders, hundreds of hospitals immediately halted transgender care in fear of violating the administration’s unjust orders. Upon Trump’s return to the White House, sites like Facebook preemptively changed its guidelines to harm transgender users. When Trump banned DEI via order, thousands of companies compiled without a second thought because it is easier to follow unjust laws than it is to sue or refuse to obey.
OnTyranny goes into this a great deal, and I recommend the entire book – it’s easy to follow and uses historical examples from previous fascist regimes, and compares them to modern times. Snyder explains, “If lawyers had followed the norm of no execution without trial, if doctors had accepted the rule of no surgery without consent, if businessmen had endorsed the prohibition of slavery, if bureaucrats had refused to handle paperwork involving murder, then the Nazi regime would have been much harder pressed to carry out the atrocities by which we remember it.” In other words, fascism would not have been able to flourish if the public had been resistant or refused to comply with terrible rules. Remind people of their values, personal and professional ethics, and their role in preventing tragedy. Call out institutions and people who comply in advance. Offer space to change and learn, and encourage them to stand up.
Call Your Reps
This action is… Legal!
Admittedly, this is hard to do – it’s easy to be overwhelmed with life and be too socially awkward to call your elected officials. No matter your social skills, you’re entitled to be heard by your representatives because they work for you.
Emails, written letters, and petitions usually get dumped directly into the trash before being read. Some officials are better than others about reading these, but they’re commonly disregarded unless they’re presented in a remarkable way. Phone calls are harder to ignore – which is why Republicans call a LOT. On an average day, right-wingers call their elected officials four times compared to others. When specific issues come up like queer rights being included on an upcoming bill, that number skyrockets 11:1. Unlike unread emails and letters, representatives have to listen to phone calls. Officials assign staff to listen to all callers every day and report on the top issues via a summary. When a topic gets enough attention, that representative will be pushed to take a stance based on the views of their callers since they’re assumed to be voting constituents – even if that view contradicts their party platform.
The phone numbers of all elected officials in Congress are publicly available. Some people find it helpful to save these numbers in their contact list to call regularly. If you don’t know who represents you in Congress, usa.gov/elected-officials will give you current information based on your address to direct you. Take the information there and insert it into house.gov and senate.gov to get the contact details of your officials. You will likely be sent to their personal website, which you will need to navigate to find their phone number – most ‘contact’ forms will try to force you to stop at an email, so look for something like ‘offices.’
When calling, make sure you have a script. It’s easy to stumble over your words, especially as you’re calling about issues that matter deeply to you. After enough practice, you’ll be able to call without a script – but there’s no rush. I have a practice script focused on DOGE, but it’s not hard to write one with AI tools like ChatGPT available to organize your thoughts.
Anyone Can Write
This action is… Legal!
Even if major media outlets are catering to fascism, news isn’t dead. Everyone and anyone is qualified to write op-eds and letters to the editor. A select number is published in print and online with each release, letting your message be read by thousands. Opinion sections have been used to highlight political topics for decades since it’s a free way to publish your work. The following buttons direct you to relevant places for both the Post and NYT.
Major news publications have thousands of writers submit their work each day – so you are less likely to be published compared to other outlets. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it – keep writing until you get published, and then keep writing for the cause. Look up the specific submission guidelines for your local, regional, or national news of choice. All newspapers (as well as many other media outlets) invite reader submissions.
Make Your Mark
This action is… Illegal!
It’s easy to post flyers, stickers, and other messages in your community. You can look up a recipe for wheat pasting, the old-school method of sticking flyers, online – or you can purchase a can of high-strength spray adhesive at any local home improvement store. Like always, public libraries are your friend since they offer printing services significantly cheaper than commercial alternatives like Staples or Office Depot – some libraries have self-service stations that allow you to print without getting the help or approval of staff.
Label 228s are free stickers issued by the United States Postal Service meant to allow the general public to easily write addresses on packages. These labels can even be ordered and mailed for free directly to your home – which is why they became widely associated with graffiti culture beginning in the 1990s. ‘Slaps’ are easy to access, decorate, and adhere to – but it’s technically illegal to use Label 228s for non-mail purposes.
Some places are more legal to tag than others. Walls, utility poles, and public restrooms are generally considered illegal unless you have permission from the city or business owner. Of course, in the words of many graffiti artists who use spray paint, paint markers, and other tools to leave their mark: “No face, no case.” On the other end of the spectrum, lots of community venues have public boards where anyone can place flyers – but a political or pro-trans message may be likely to be taken down in these locations.
Under Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code, defacement of currency is a punishable crime. Defacement is defined as mutilating, cutting, disfiguring, perforating, uniting, or cementing together bills with the intent to make them unfit to be used – but it leaves two things to note. One, it’s only a crime if you are caught defacing currency – it’s not a crime to have defaced money and there is no way to know who wrote what on a bill which is why money defacement is an unprosecutable crime. Secondly, writing on money is not considered defacement despite what most people believe.It’s actually commonly used to spread messages regarding social change since cash is widely used.
Okay, spreading information as a whole is not illegal – but the following method is. Most people have a mailbox to receive items through the postal service – these mailboxes must be kept safe and easy to access for packages to be regularly delivered. It is illegal to place items in mailboxes if you are not authorized postal personnel (ex. a mail carrier or rural mail carrier) since without postage, it’s considered tampering with mail and a violation of federal law.
It is fully legal to send mail through the postal service, but you’ll have to pay postage. As long as the mail doesn’t violate any major rules, the USPS will send it – including junk mail. USPS even has an online tool to allow you to send mail in bulk based on zip code, “Every Door Direct Mail.” However, it is extremely uncommon for people to be arrested or prosecuted for placing mail directly into someone’s mailbox without postage or the USPS. Generally, this law only gets brought up when local companies try to send a ton of junk mail to communities.
Similarly, it’s sometimes legal to put flyers on cars and other personal transportation. Even when cars are parked in public areas, it can be considered trespassing since the car is private property – but these laws fluctuate too greatly to make large-scale assumptions. Look up your local laws to determine if it’s legal in your area or risk getting into trouble if you’re caught.
Show Up
This action is… Legal!
The Constitution guarantees the Freedoms of Speech, Assembly, and Petition to ALL people within the United States – regardless of citizenship, political view, gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, etc. In relation to social change,these rights give you well-protected status to be in ‘traditional public forums’ like streets, parks, sidewalks, and government buildings. When demonstrating in these spaces, you don’t need a permit to protest, picket, hand out flyers, or speak out as long as you’re not blocking traffic.
Some cities require individuals to fill out permits to hold demonstrations regardless of whether they’re in a public forum. It’s up to you whether you want to complete the appropriate paperwork or go for the “ask for forgiveness later” approach – again, remember you have the right regardless of permit regulations.
Stay in Touch
This action is… Legal!
Keep community connections and share information about upcoming actions in your social network. In deeply dangerous times when fascism is at its worst, it is easy for the general public to forget about the marginalized since those in power work to cover up the inhumane damage caused. By being a regular person in your community, you establish a connection that can’t easily be forgotten. When people realize they know a trans person, it’s difficult to demonize us once we are seen as people.
“Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society… A smile, a handshake, or a word of greeting—banal gestures in a normal situation—took on great significance. When friends, colleagues, and acquaintances looked away or crossed the street to avoid contact, fear grew.” – On Tyranny, Chapter 12
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, most actions can be done alone or with just a few friends. If you’re engaging in high-risk work that dabbles in activities either illegal or disliked by political opponents, you should learn some digital safety. Learn more about activism and digital safety here. As Snyder elaborates, “Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks.”
Lastly, it is important to stay up-to-date on current events – even if it’s triggering and exhausting. Fascism works best when it overwhelms you, but it is important to keep acting. This is difficult to do even when fascism is at bay, but an uninformed activist isn’t capable of much change. Pick a few select news sources that you can trust as reliable and do not feed into sensationalism – enough to keep you current on events, but not too much to overwhelm.
