Inauguration Day
Today, Donald Trump is inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States of America. It’s important that we acknowledge and remember who Republican lawmakers and the incoming President have marked as their greatest enemy: the transgender community.
by Alyssa Steinsiek
Well, folks, today is the day… MLK Day. The late, great David Lynch’s birthday. And also, regrettably, Inauguration Day 2025 or: the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States. How we got here has already been talked to death, by us here at Assigned and many others, so rather than argue about who is or isn’t responsible (except to point out that trans people definitely aren’t responsible), I want to reiterate a point that our esteemed founder, Evan Urquhart, made just over a year ago:
Persecuting the transgender community is the absolute top priority of the Republican party.
This has been the case for a long time now, and I’m afraid it isn’t going to let up any time soon. Republicans feel emboldened by Trump’s landslide victory, winning his campaign for a second term after dumping a staggering amount of money into anti-trans election ads. Since then, we’ve seen Congress gleefully segregate bathrooms between cisgender and transgender people in their workplace and pass legislation that would ban trans girls from all levels of school sports, not to mention attaching transphobic riders directly to must-pass legislation with virtually no pushback from our supposed allies in those halls of power, the Democratic party.
Donald Trump has promised to reinstate his previous term’s transgender troop ban, this time ousting all trans servicemembers entirely. He has promised to issue executive orders, “on day one,” that would all but exclude us from everyday life. He has vowed to end “transgender lunacy,” and rule at the federal level that there are only two genders.
It’s bleak. I absolutely will not lie to you about that. Here, I will echo some of Evan’s thoughts from last year that I believe are absolutely still relevant:
First, do not let any elected official trick you (or anybody you know) into believing that they are not anti-trans. Each and every Republican, and now many Democrats, are expressly against our community. Their claims about protecting women and children are blatantly facile, because trans people pose absolutely no threat to women and children… obviously, many trans people are women and children.
Second, remember that their feelings towards us are irrational, because they’re driven purely by hatred. Whether that hatred is ideological in nature or just based on their personal ick factor for anything that deviates from the societal norms they cling dearly to, identifying it as hatred is important. Because there is no underlying rationality behind that hatred, they lie. They lie to reduce our access to healthcare and public life. They are working tirelessly, day and night, to convince the public of lies about us; that we are predators, or misguided, or malicious. Don’t let them lie to you or anybody else, if you can help it.
Third, if anybody suggests to you that hating us is not the Republicans’ top priority, you might point out how they now devote their attention to us at every level of government. I already covered their federal efforts against us, but you should know too that individual states devote an inordinate amount of time to attacking the transgender community. In 2024, 398 new pieces of anti-trans legislation across 43 states were introduced, and 274 were carried over from 2023. 613 of those bills failed, 50 passed.
I’ve thoroughly established that, right now, we are firmly in Republicans’ crosshairs. They may have other goals for the next four years, but we are regrettably their most hated enemy for the time being. So… what can we do about that?
For a start, as Riki Wilchins told us just a few weeks ago… don’t panic. I know it can be difficult when it feels like the walls are closing in and the whole world is out to get us, but remember this: we do have allies, we do have support, and this battle is not lost. Context is always key, and arming yourself with the facts beats breaking down over the possibilities any day of the week.
Next, focus on what community you can find. We help us and we keep us safe. That is the truth, and it has always been the truth. If you don’t and can’t have community in person, build what community you can on the internet. I have done and continue to do that myself. We should still be writing to our senators and demonstrating where we can (and supporting those who do protest in the streets), but nobody will look out for us the way that we will.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, try to keep hope for a better future. Like a lot of you, when I started transitioning I was looking forward to a world where no kid had to endure what I did as an adult transitioner. A world where trans youth would be armed with the language and knowledge they needed to carve out their identities and live their truth without any regrets. Maybe that world won’t come about in my lifetime, as I once hoped.
Yet I remain hopeful that it will come to be one day. I have to believe that it will.
… Oh, and if you’re reading this before noon EST on the 20th, come check out our inauguration counterprogramming stream on Twitch!
Alyssa Steinsiek is a professional writer who spends too much time playing video games!
