The T Isn’t Silent: A Reflection on Trans Rights in 2025
By Sophie Lucey
It is the twenty-first century, and the fight for human rights for all continues. That someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation would not matter, that it would be accepted. Not erased or attacked or belittled. Yet under the Trump Administration in 2025 America, this is exactly the case.
Instead of looking forward, Donald Trump’s America has brought a conservative wave, attacking and diminishing minority groups. Few are escaping the tirade that has been come about since the Trump administration came into power. Women, immigrants, people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, who are being persecuted for being daring and brave enough to be themselves in a society that would force them into a box.
One of Trump’s most recent targets is the transgender community. The hateful rhetoric surrounding transgender individuals has reached an upsetting high, creating fear and division in a community that is only asking for the safety and rights allowed to cisgender individuals. Donald Trump has built a campaign upon hatred and division. His administration has and continues to attack the most vulnerable groups of people.
Trump’s exclusionary policies serve to sow division, such as transferring incarcerated transgender women into men’s facilities despite multiple court rulings against such an executive order. Trump’s views on transgender and LGBTQ+ people have swept across America. From the removal of the letters TQ from the LGBTQ+ website on the American State Department website to Trump’s ‘gender ideology’ orders, it is clear his administration seeks to target transgender individuals and suppress their identities.
From the beginning of history to the present, trans people and other LGBTQ+ people have existed, through culture and history and time. Trans and queer identities are not ‘new’, any claim otherwise is attempting to shape history to fit a heteronormative narrative. Trans people deserve to exist in a world where there is safety and acceptance, not persecution and violence.
If you are an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, it is more important than ever to speak up, to amplify trans voices so they are heard. Before it was ever a party, Stonewall was a riot, a fight for equal rights. The first brick at Stonewall was thrown by African American trans woman Marsha P. Johnson. Today, Stonewall has removed the letters T and Q from its website, in an attempt to scrub its own history of the very people that began the fight. This must not be allowed to happen, trans people have always existed throughout history. No government order or erasing of history can ever change the truth of existence. Trans people cannot be erased, nor do they deserve erasure for simply being who they are. In a world rife with division, it is more important than ever to not let hate win. Community, acceptance, love is more important than ever to navigate this time.