‘Will I be safe’? Transgender California youth feel threatened by Trump’s executive orders

A spate of recent policy decisions by the Trump administration targeting transgender youth has led to an escalating mental health crisis among an already vulnerable population, experts and advocates say.

Even in California, where top state leaders have championed policies to protect transgender people, nonprofit leaders and case workers say they are seeing sharp increases in depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts among the young people they serve.

“Kids and families are scared to death. It’s like they’re terrorized, that’s what it feels like,” said Jill Jacobs, chief executive officer of the Bay Area-based Family Builders, which works with young people in the child welfare system, including LGBTQ youth and their families.

Jacobs points to data from The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to suicide prevention among this population. The organization documented a nearly 700% increase in contacts to its mental health crisis hotline the day after the election.

Anti-trans policies at the federal level have also led to some normalization of prejudice that would previously have been considered taboo, she and other advocates said. In recent years, some local communities have been emboldened to pass their own anti-trans policies. That includes cities in California, where a handful of school boards began requiring staff to tell parents if their child identified as a gender other than that listed in their official records. The state has since outlawed such policies.

At the same time, previously outspoken advocates have begun to worry that drawing attention to their organizations will lead the Trump administration to target them for funding cuts.

These threats have not been lost on transgender youth, Jacobs said. While many of the children she serves are remarkably resilient, she said, hearing the president of the United States threaten their rights is terrifying them.

“What’s happening now is this overt hatred that’s being endorsed and supported,” she said, saying vitriol against the transgender community is the worst that she’s seen in her 29 years leading the organization.

Last fall, the Trevor Project published a peer-reviewed study that found that states with laws negatively targeting transgender youth saw suicide attempts among that population increase by as much as 72%.

In response to such laws elsewhere, California secured its status two years ago as a sanctuary state for transgender health care, implementing a law allowing out-of-state youth and their families to seek hormones and puberty blockers here. Other recent laws require California insurers to cover transgender health services and protect the medical licenses of doctors who provide the care.

With the Trump presidency, that sanctuary status is now being tested.

Among the executive orders targeting transgender people: one recognizes only two biological sexes, another threatens funding of schools that support transgender students, and another prevents transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports.

Another executive order seeks to end the use of hormone therapy, puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care among people younger than 19, including by prohibiting federal funding for such care. It characterized this care as “chemical and surgical mutilation” despite the fact that dozens of studies show that gender-affirming care positively impacts youth mental health and decreases suicidality.

In response to the order, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles temporarily stopped transgender health services for anyone under the age of 19, only reversing course after California’s Department of Justice sent them a warning letter.

The Trump administration has also launched an investigation into the governing body that oversees high school sports in California, criticizing the organization’s policies that support transgender student athletes

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued statements reminding hospitals and clinics of the state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

New bill to strengthen protections for transgender care

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who authored a 2022 law to make California a safe refuge for transgender youth, introduced a new bill in February to strengthen those protections.

In an interview, he decried the “scapegoating” of what he describes as a tiny, vulnerable population.

“It should not surprise anyone that with this kind of toxic, horrific environment targeting trans people, that it would lead to mental health issues,” he said.

Joscelyn Inton-Campbell, a youth program manager at the San Diego-based TransFamily Support Services, said the support sessions her organization offers have been marked by increasing fear and hopelessness.

When the first executive orders hit in January, more than 300 people logged into a zoom meeting hosted by the organization, said Inton-Campbell, who uses she/they pronouns.

“A lot of the responses are ‘Do I have a future? Are they going to try and take away my access to my medical care? When I go to school are they going to deadname me, bully me, misgender me?” Inton-Campbell said.

‘Can I be myself and will I be safe’?

Daniella, a 20-year-old community college student in the San Diego area who identifies as transgender, said a man recently burst into her classroom and began verbally harassing students and the professor over their decision to voluntarily list their gender pronouns. The man was not enrolled in the class and was reported to college authorities, Daniella said.

“It was literally terrifying,” she said. “This is the new normal. That is what this society is coming to because that is what people see from leadership.”

Daniella is only being identified by first name because she is not out to her parents.

Even knowing about California’s state protections, Daniella said her mental health has declined. For safety, she has changed the way she dresses. She has also increased the dose she takes of psychiatric medication.

“I really have to ask myself the question ‘Can I be myself, and will I be safe?’” she said.

L Tuiletufuga, a therapist who works at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, said the trans youth that they counsel feel “specifically and uniquely targeted by this administration.” This has led to increasing concerns about personal and physical safety as well as feelings of isolation, said Tuiletufuga, who uses they/them pronouns.

The center is in the crosshairs of the federal government as a result of Trump’s attempted federal funding freeze, which paused $3 trillion of federal spending before it was blocked by court order. Another attempt by the president to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which was also blocked by court order, has LGBTQ groups worried. Dozens of community centers, universities, and clinics in California receive federal grants specifically supporting transgender services. Some of the center’s grants are in jeopardy, Tuiletufuga said, however they are going to keep supporting San Diego’s LGBTQ community.

“The center isn’t folding, the center isn’t hiding,” Tuiletufuga said.

Ilan Meyer, a professor at UCLA’s law school who studies the impact of social stressors on mental LGBTQ mental health, said part of what’s being lost for transgender youth right now is a sense of progress, even here in California.

“We’ve always felt that we’re working towards progress and I think that is what is being attacked here,” Meyer said.

Inton-Campbell, with TransFamily Support Services, said she reminds the youth she serves that the transgender community has survived attacks before and that there are safe adults in their lives who care. That’s one factor that has been shown to reduce suicide risk, Inton-Campbell said.

For her, the worst part about Trump’s executive order on trans health care is that it targets children.

“It’s easy to bully a child,” she said. “That’s the thing that makes me the most infuriated. These are grown-ass adults picking on children.”

Kathie Moehlig, the organization’s executive director, had a message for state leaders:

“California lawmakers made California a sanctuary state at a time when it was easy for them to do it,” she said.  “Now that it is harder, we’re going to hold them to it.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.