NYC trans community braces for Trump to attack students’ rights

President-elect Donald Trump’s expected assault on protections for trans kids has New York City advocates mobilizing as anxious parents hope that protections in the state will hold.

Parents of trans children told Gothamist that text chains and group chats have been lighting up since Trump’s re-election. The president-elect has pledged to “get transgender insanity the hell out of our schools” and reverse the Biden administration's Title IX protections for transgender students “on Day 1.”

“People are terrified,” said Amy, a parent of a trans high school student in Manhattan, who asked that her last name be withheld in order to protect her child from discrimination and harassment.

She said families are sharing tips on how to update legal documents and renew passports to accurately reflect genders and prepare for possible international travel. Many families said they’re stockpiling puberty blockers and hormones. And on Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

“People are talking about relocating, some for the second time,” Amy said, adding that some families in her group have already moved from the southern United States and are now considering moving abroad.

The future of Title IX is among advocates' top concerns. The 1972 federal law is widely known for boosting investment in girls’ sports on campuses. But it’s become central to national culture wars in recent years, as conservatives and progressives clash over whether trans students should play on sports teams aligned with their gender identities.

Last spring, the Biden administration issued new rules expanding Title IX to sexual orientation and gender expression, although courts have blocked those changes in many states.

Allie Bohm, an attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, was among the many lawyers preparing for a legal clash due to Trump’s expected unwinding of Title IX, along with potential threats to local and state laws that allow trans students to access sports teams, bathrooms, books and more that align with their gender identities.

“I think parents and students have really good reason to be scared right now,” she said. “I also think it’s important for folks to remember that we have some really solid protections here in New York state law.”

Bohm noted that New York’s Human Rights Law expressly protects sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, including at public schools.

New York voters also passed the Equal Rights Amendment last month, which enshrines abortion access and prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

New York City and New York state’s education departments also have rules that students should be able to play on school sports teams according to their gender identities.

When a Manhattan Community Education Council passed a resolution that called for reconsidering those rules, the city education department forcefully rejected it. Then-Chancellor David Banks called the measure “despicable.”

Maud Maron, the education councilmember who authored the resolution, said she opposes trans girls playing on girls sports teams. “I don’t think it’s fair that boys who say they are girls get to steal sports spots from girls,” she said. But she said her resolution did not necessarily seek to topple the current rules, only to bring them up for discussion “with all the stakeholders included.”

When asked whether she expected her cause would gain more traction under the Trump administration, Maron said she was focused on her recently announced run for Manhattan district attorney.

Bohm with the NYCLU said the Trump administration could interpret local policies designed to protect trans students as violations of federal law by arguing that allowing trans girls to play on girls sports teams violates cisgender girls’ rights. She said it was possible the administration would withhold federal funding for schools that refused to change policies on trans students.

She added that the controversy will get tied up in the courts, meaning it’s unlikely that any major changes to trans students’ rights will happen overnight. “I think the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX will be roundly challenged,” she said.

Amy, the parent of a trans high school student, said that uncertain timeline was on her mind.

“Will it take a year? Will it take three to five years?” she asked.

In the meantime, she said the charged political rhetoric is already having an impact.

“There’s a growing climate of harassment against trans people,” Amy said. “I’m worried.”

Alaina Daniels, cofounder of Transformative Schools, an afterschool program for trans students, said kids are struggling. “I think these attacks on sports are strategic,” she said. “They're a way to make it so that the public finds it acceptable to disparage and treat trans people as lesser than … and push trans people out of public life.”

Daniels said it’s already taking a toll on trans students’ education.

“If students don’t feel safe at school, it’s really hard to learn,” she said.