With California’s arsenal of legal protections, transgender high schooler Benny Ouros is hoping the Golden State can fend off the impacts of President Trump’s first day executive order that leans into the country’s culture wars, dismantling gender identity policies and recognizing only two sexes.
But he’s worried nonetheless.
“When Trump was elected as the 45th president last time, there was a lot of discrimination and hate,” the San Jose 17-year-old said in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t know why they can’t just let us live our lives. We’re not hurting anyone.”
Trump’s order banning gender transition surgery in federal prisons, removing language promoting gender ideology from documents, requiring that single-sex spaces such as bathrooms be designated by sex as defined by a person’s reproductive cells, not gender identity, for instance, will directly affect federal programs operating in California, including VA hospitals and federal workplaces.
Passports holders could be affected, too. In Cupertino, Robb Zimmerman is worried his nonbinary child could face trouble on the family’s pending spring break trip to the Bahamas carrying a Biden Administration-issued passport marked with an “X” gender. It’s unclear whether those passports will be invalidated or new ones simply won’t offer that X option.
“It’s one thing to be upset about the political direction of the country,” Zimmerman said Tuesday. “It’s another thing to face my child’s existence being erased.”
It’s too soon to tell exactly how Trump’s directives will affect individual state programs, but it’s possible Trump could withhold federal funding on health care programs and education despite California state laws that prohibit discrimination in both those areas, said Assemblymember Chris Ward, who chairs the state legislature’s 12-member LGBTQ Caucus.
“My hypothetical is that if the federal government took it so far as they started to condition dollars on health care systems, on education systems, on social services, food stamps, other things that come down from federal assistance and are administered by the state,” he said, “then we have a real problem fully being able to support Californians and their daily needs.”
California has laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public spaces. Driver licenses and birth certificates issued by the state won’t be affected.
As much as Americans are divided over Trump — he beat Vice President Harris in the popular vote by just 1.5% — they are closer in agreement on certain highly contentious gender issues. According to a New York Times-Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month, 94% Republicans and 67% Democrats say transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports, for instance, while 90% percent of Republicans said minors must not have access to puberty blockers, and 54% of Democrats said the same.
From Trump’s first administration through his second campaign, he has railed against liberal “wokeness,” including diatribes against gender identity and gender transition surgery, especially for young people. Trump repeatedly played a television ad in battleground states showing Harris acknowledging that she would support taxpayer-funded transition surgery for federal inmates.
In an interview Tuesday, Kim Hermann of the conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation, which sued the Biden administration over Title IX changes involving gender identity, said Trump’s executive order sets the tone for his administration and will “bring back reality to the federal government.”
“Whether it’s critical race theory or radical gender ideology,” she said, Trump’s agenda will be “protecting our kids’ innocence and protecting the family unit.”
The Bay Area has been the epicenter of gender controversy as well.
Last fall, San Jose State University became the focus of nationwide controversy — actually blurring political lines — when NCAA rules allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the women’s volleyball team. Several teams boycotted the Spartans, calling the competition unfair to the other female athletes.
In Cupertino, a teacher for transitional kindergarten students was placed on leave in October for discussing gender identity in the classroom. The situation divided the community between those advocating for parental rights and appropriate curriculum and those fighting for an inclusive district.
Parent Sophi Scarnewman, of Cupertino, said she’s concerned Trump’s policy changes will lead to “much more overt and extreme rhetoric” and blatant transphobia in the district, despite California’s strong state protections for LGBTQ+ children.
Ouros, who attends the alternative Liberty High in San Jose, said he worries that Trump’s executive order could restrict his ability to access testosterone and medical care, force him to use the women’s restroom or prohibit him from participating in sports.
But overall, he said he’s concerned that the policy changes will lead to “skyrocketing” suicide rates among transgender and LGBTQ teens.
An estimated 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, according to a national 2023 survey by California nonprofit, The Trevor Project.
“It feels like their rights are going to be taken away and they’re going to be stuck in their own body,” Ouros said. “It’s sad, but I’d rather not be here than be forced to be someone I’m not or be forced into this gender role.”
Jorge Salinas, spokesman for civil rights group Equality California, said the Trump administration is doing an injustice to a tiny fraction, less than 2%, of the American population.
“This is an attack against any type of everyday life of a transgender person, which is sports, access to federal documents, housing protections, anti discrimination, workplace,” he said. “They’re all connected to ensure that, basically, there’s a full erasure of transgender, non binary people by making their lives a living nightmare in every sense and step of their life.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.