Chris Kalcich

Like many people on the evening on Monday, January 20th, I was floored by what was flying off of the new President’s desk. We knew a lot of it was coming, but I think most of us thought we had more time for a lot of it.

The executive orders from this past week that I want to focus on here are the ones that directly affect the LGBTQ+ Community.

The one I was shocked to see on day one was the anti-transgender order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” redefining sex to be male and female and prohibits the use of the “X” marker and attempts to prevent the change between the markers of “M” and “F” (or vice versa). The primary thing being discussed about this is the documents of trans* Americans, but there is so much more to this order than just preventing changes in documents. It also bans the use of bathrooms in accordance with gender identity on Federal Property, halts federal funding on promoting “gender ideology” or collecting related data, cut federal funds in Medicaid and Medicare from going to towards transitions, reverses equal access for queer folks in housing, and attempts to remove protections on sex based discrimination.

I, like many, immediately began an internal panic on what this actually means for trans* Americans. I was lucky to get a passport in 2024, so I am covered for a decade, but many weren’t, or are floating in document purgatory still.

I have a lot of thoughts about this that have evolved over the past week. While a lot is still up in the air, there are a few facts that have provided people I have spoken with some comfort. Largely, many of our personal documents lie within the states, not the Federal Government. If someone is lucky to have been born in a state like Pennsylvania (list of others) that allows documents to be updated, we should be fine for a while as we are.

If individual states begin changing their legislation, there are other states that people can move to that are safer. While this doesn’t change what has been done with the executive order, it is what we can focus on for now as the ACLU challenges this in the coming months.

It is important though for us to recognize the historical nature of what this community is facing. Trans* and Queer people have existed in this country for as long as it’s been around and well before it was officially the United States. We have always been here, and will always be here whether or not the government supports us. Just because this executive order states that we no longer exist legally doesn’t mean we don’t.

We have always found a way to not just survive, but to thrive and find ways to build the lives that we deserve. There are more than a million trans* people across the country and there will continue to be.

They can take away legal protections, they can take away our documents, they can try to prosecute us for living our true lives, but we will fight our way through the same way we always have. If we need to, we will pick up the bricks once again to demand an acknowledgement and acceptance again. Since the legalization of Same-Sex marriage in 2013 by President Obama, we have been climbing uphill steadily as a Queer Community in our legal rights, and this will just be a bump in the road down the line.

It is time for us to go back to the roots that are within our bones- community. Focusing on supporting each other is all that most of us can manage right now, and it’s what we must embrace as we enter this new era. Check in on your fellow Queers and organize. A united front will keep us strong and together. I know personally, I will do whatever it takes to fight for myself and my community. If it’s not safe for you to be public, don’t be. If it’s only safe for you to label yourself as an ally right now, that is fine. Do what you can, how you can, and keep hope alive. That is how we survive this.