AND NICO DIALESANDRO, Hope Pisoni, Sam Donndelinger, Uncloseted Media

As the Trump administration continues waging an unprecedented war on transgender people in every facet of American society, local school boards have continued to serve as crucial battlegrounds. In the face of escalating attacks on LGBTQ+ students and teachers, curricula, books, and diversity initiatives, queer leaders are not retreating. They are stepping up to serve and lead in some of the most embattled public institutions in America.

In California, for Culver City school board president Triston Ezidore, the battle is not abstract. Elected in 2022 at just 22 years old, Ezidore quickly saw how national talking points about vaccines, “critical race theory,” and transgenderyouth filtered into even his West Los Angeles community.

“I’ve been on the board for three years, president this year, gonna start my fourth year in December,” he told The Advocate. “I’m directly a product of the election where I think we saw that shift of Moms for Liberty and people with just extremist views running to change a bunch of things at our school board level. Even in West LA, even in a blue state of California, we see the difference.”

Ezidore said that after Trump returned to power, the rhetoric intensified. “There are people who, you know, watch Fox News or look at Truth Social and regurgitate that information as if that is a fact, and are asking for us to make our schools battlegrounds instead of safe places for kids to learn,” he explained.

When the administration threatened to withhold federal funds unless California complied with its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, Ezidore said his district had to consider the impact on Title IX enforcement, adult education, and services for English learners. “We were already universally experiencing budget deficits because of the loss of the one-time COVID dollars,” he said. “We then are now having to reimagine what schools would look like if we had a complete loss of federal funding, which is very unfortunate because at the end of the day, that means we can’t serve our students who really have the most needs.”

Ezidore described his greatest frustration: policymakers who treat education as a political pawn without facing the consequences. “There are a lot of people who know nothing about education who are having a large say in education, and it’s really, really detrimental,” he said.

That trickle-down, he added, now includes a surge in ICE enforcement around schools. “Our students are very much feeling the rhetoric that’s coming out of Washington,” Ezidore said. “It’s no longer just in interviews on MSNBC. It’s very much trickling down into how our communities are feeling.”

In Minnesota, Ellie Krug, a transgender 69-year-old attorney, author, and advocate, serves on a school board in a politically mixed exurban county. While her district has so far avoided the fiercest attacks, Krug said she remains braced for change.

“Trans folks generally, we’re a small minority,” Krug told The Advocate. “Many trans women don’t pass. I mean, you’ve got six-foot-two, broad-shoulder people, you’ve got Ellie Krug with this [masculine] voice. And now, society has been conditioned to look for us. And much of society has been conditioned to think that somehow we are a threat.”

When she ran in 2022, Krug knocked on more than a thousand doors. “I figured I was going to be attacked right away, because I’m transgender,” she recalled. “And I didn’t get attacked. I can count on one hand the number of times I got a negative reaction, and I never got at least blatantly a negative reaction to me being transgender.”

Instead, she focused on conversation. “My approach is not to scream or yell, but to say, let’s have a conversation,” Krug said. “Come on, we’re all trying to survive the human condition.”

Still, she knows the political climate could change quickly. “We are two elections away from becoming Iowa,” she warned, pointing to the possibility of a Republican governor and legislature in Minnesota. “When we have fear involved, people say and do dumb things.”

For Elliot Imse, executive director of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, which invests in getting LGBTQ+ people involved in political office through training support, the trend is clear: LGBTQ+ people are running for school boards and local races in record numbers despite heightened hostility.

“Right now we have around 110 out LGBTQ+ school board members across the country,” Imse told The Advocate. “They are on the front lines of defending LGBTQ students and people, and moving forward progressive policies when possible. We know that when these LGBTQ+ school board members are in the room, it changes the policy debates, it changes the hearts and minds of parents and their legislative colleagues.”

Related: Teen targeted by homophobic school board member now running for his job

But the risks are real. Victory Institute’s research shows that more than seven in ten LGBTQ+ candidates experienced anti-LGBTQ+ attacks during their campaigns, and 15 percent faced them weekly. Imse said the group now trains candidates not only in messaging but also in safety. “We are spending more time talking about defending against anti-LGBTQ attacks and effectively pivoting back to the issues that are most important,” he explained.

Demand is surging. A recent training for trans candidates had 53 applicants for just 12 spots. “The demand is there,” Imse said. “They’re absolutely motivated to run as a way to counter the hatred that we’re seeing.”

These local fights are unfolding as the federal government sharpens its posture. In February, the Department of Education launched the “End DEI portal,” a website soliciting reports of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in schools. Until a federal court enjoined its use, the portal allowed parents and community members to submit complaints that the administration said could be used to identify potential civil rights investigations. The portal has displayed an error message since May, effectively halting its operation.

By September, the department had rolled out the America 250 Civics Coalition, partnering with organizations such as Hillsdale College, Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty, and the America First Policy Institute. USA Today reports that more than 40 groups have joined the coalition, which the administration claims is an effort to improve civic education; however, critics warn that it’s an effort to embed conservative ideology into classrooms ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Related: Georgia mother of trans and nonbinary children forcibly removed from school board meeting

The administration’s directives on DEI have left districts in a bind: many rely on federal funding that supports low-income and minority students, yet complying with the new restrictions could require dismantling programs that protect those same students. The New York Times reports that some districts are now weighing whether refusing federal funds entirely would be less damaging than rolling back DEI.

This moment echoes the backlash cycles of recent years. As The Advocatereported in 2023, Moms for Liberty suffered widespread defeats in school board races across the country, a sign that voters in many communities rejected book bans and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. However, as Ezidore observed, the group has since become entrenched in local politics. “They want their person in the White House, but they also want their people at the local level to make sure that there’s no one pushing back against some of these extreme asks and these extreme agendas,” he said.

Krug, who describes herself as a “hopeless idealist,” said she feels compelled to run again in 2026 despite the personal toll. “It is critical, critical that people take some risks,” she said. “I don’t necessarily want to run, since I’ll be 70, but I feel compelled to run for a school board, to stand for all students, to stand for policies that are inclusive, because in the end, it’s about making students feel that they matter, that they are worth investing in, that they are worth being on this earth.”

She encouraged people who find themselves compelled to get involved to do so.

Ezidore shared some advice on that front. “First and foremost, I would say show up. I think that way too many people don’t take that very first step to show up and vote. Whether we vote or not, people still get elected and decisions are still being made.”

Imse echoed that message, urging people to stop “doom-scrolling” and instead engage locally. “More than half of elected offices in the U.S. go uncontested,” he said. “There are always opportunities in your community to run for office and have a voice.”

As the Trump administration escalates its attacks on LGBTQ+ people, the response from queer school board members and candidates reflects a simple truth: representation itself is resistance.