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Transgender Americans are reportedly packing their bags and eyeing exile from the United States.
They fear President Donald Trump's second-term policies are turning their homeland into a no-go zone for those embracing gender fluidity.
Vox reports that many in the transgender community are preparing to flee the country. The outlet details how Trump's rhetoric and policies toward trans people have grown far more "menacing" since he returned to the White House.
Trump's 2024 campaign ramped up the heat. He hammered "radical gender ideology" and "transgender insanity" in fiery speeches.
One staple TV ad blasted Vice President Kamala Harris with the line, "Kamala is for they/them. Trump is for you."
Kate Sosin, an LGBTQ+ reporter at The 19th, unpacked the shift on Vox's "Today, Explained" podcast.
Vox host Noel King asked how Trump's attitude toward trans people has evolved since 2016.
"Trump is generally viewed as the most anti-LGBTQ+ president in history, and a lot of that has to do with his approach to transgender rights," Sosin replied. "When he first got into office in 2017, there were still some questions about how he was going to approach LGBTQ+ issues, and he made a number of anti-trans moves in his first term. But this time, he really campaigned on anti-trans issues, and he’s made them a staple of his administration."
Sosin traced the backlash to gains in gay rights.
Republicans, she said, pivoted to trans issues after losing the marriage equality fight a decade ago. Failed bathroom bills gave way to bans on sports participation and youth health care around 2020.
As King pressed for specifics on Trump's actions this term, Sosin outlined four key moves.
First comes the "erasure" of trans people from public life. On day one, Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two genders: male and female. That directive fuels school censorship. It cuts federal funding to schools pushing "indoctrination" based on "gender ideology," Sosin argued.
It also tasks the Justice Department with barring trans girls from sports. The NCAA has complied. Government websites have scrubbed mentions of trans people. Even the Stonewall National Monument lost references to transgender history.
Second, Trump reinstated the military ban on trans service members. Trans people serve at twice the rate of cisgender peers. The Pentagon tallied 4,200 trans troops before the January order.
In May, the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
Troops faced a deadline to leave voluntarily. Now, holdouts face discharge.
Sosin called it "the largest layoff of trans people in history."
Third, the administration limits gender-affirming care for youth.
Before Trump, 27 states already blocked such treatments despite endorsements from major medical groups. Trump's order yanks federal funding from providers offering it.
Twenty-one hospitals and clinics nationwide have halted services. Some states push back. California’s attorney general urged hospitals to resume under state law. But spots like Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles remain dry.
For adults, access holds for now.
Yet Sosin flagged last year’s Supreme Court Skrmetti ruling. It deemed trans youth care "special" and unprotected.
Finally, passport woes hit hard. Applicants once could select an "X" marker for non-binary identity. Trump’s team rejected all changes. They seized documents from some trans applicants, sparking panic.
An ACLU lawsuit won a July injunction restoring updates.
"If you are trans and you need a passport, you should apply for one right away," Sosin advised.
Sosin interviewed parents of trans kids who have fled or plan to. They cite blocked care, rising violence and eroding safe havens.
"The fear that I hear from my trans sources and friends is just really profound, that this country is becoming unlivable for trans people, and that seems like it’s by design," Sosin said.
After Joe Biden's reign force-fed transgender dogma to schoolkids through bathroom mandates, sports takeovers and puberty-blocker pipelines, America is purging the poison.
Youth trans identification has plunged since 2023, per a Centre for Heterodox Social Science report.
Alicia Powe
Eric Kaufmann, the center's director and a University of Buckingham politics professor, crunched surveys from FIRE, Andover Phillips Academy and Brown University.
"Whether trans and queer identities will drop to 2010 levels is an open question," he wrote. "But the fact both have declined sharply in just two years is a startling and unanticipated post-progressive development that the education and media establishments will be reluctant to acknowledge."
By defunding clinics, banning military roles and enforcing binary reality, Trump is handing America back its sanity —one executive order at a time.
Kids are safer. Sanity reigns. And the border to exile? That's for those who can't face the mirror of truth.
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