Donald Trump‘s Department of Education is drafting plans to gut a student loan forgiveness program for public servants — and employees of LGBTQ+ groups are being singled out. 

Trump signed an executive order in March dismantling access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, directly pointing to nonprofits that serve transgender people as ineligible for loan forgiveness. Now, the Education Department has unveiled drafted plans that would follow through with the order. The cuts are expected to disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ people, who are more likely to have student loans and more likely to work for nonprofits. 

“The proposed restrictions on student loans will particularly affect the nearly one-quarter of LGBTQ adults employed in the public or nonprofit sectors, which qualify for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program,” Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute, said in a statement. This “could potentially disqualify anyone working for an organization involved in gender-affirming care, or possibly those serving transgender individuals more broadly, from the PSLF program.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the proposed PSLF changes, and how LGBTQ+ organizations could be affected. 

What is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgives the student loans of those who work for federal, state, tribal, or local government, or for non-profit organizations, after they’ve made payments for ten years (120 payments). The program was created as part of the 2007 College Cost Reduction and Access Act and signed into law by President George W. Bush as a way to encourage students to pursue careers in public service. 

The first borrowers who were able to obtain forgiveness were in October, 2017, though the vast majority of people who have applied for forgiveness have been rejected. The U.S. Department of Education released data in 2020 revealing that out of 180,798 processed applications, only 3,376 were approved while 177,422 (98.5 percent) were rejected. Of those who were approved, 74 percent worked for the government and 26 percent worked for non-profit organizations.

What does Trump’s PSLF executive order do?

Trump signed an  executive order in March that drastically limits who qualifies for PSLF, preventing forgiveness for people who work at organizations that engage in the supposed “subsidization of illegal activities, including illegal immigration, human smuggling, child trafficking, pervasive damage to public property, and disruption of the public order.” 

The order directly singled out organizations that assist trans people, including with gender-affirming care, which it falsely refers to as “child abuse, including the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children.” 

The order also targeted organizations that Trump claims are “trafficking children to so-called transgender sanctuary States for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents, in violation of applicable law.” Sanctuary states have laws preventing those who receive gender-affirming care from being prosecuted by states that have banned it. Trump’s executive order against the life-saving care, which is being challenged in court, is not law.

The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the World Medical Association, and the World Health Organization all agree that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary not just for adults, but minors as well.

What are Trump’s proposed changes to PSLF?

Trump’s executive order would task the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, with creating a standard determining if a qualifying employer has engaged in the “subsidization of illegal activities.” The Education Department would be required to give notice to employers deemed ineligible, and the ability to appeal to the decision, with a final judgment being issued by a state or federal court. 

Payments from borrowers employed at organizations that are stripped of their PSLF eligibility will only count towards student loan forgiveness until the cut off date of July 1, 2026. 

What LGBTQ+ organizations will be ineligible for PSLF?

While no specific organizations have yet been named publicly as ineligible for PSLF under Trump’s new rules, LGBTQ+ organizations operating as 501(c)(3) nonprofits are likely to be targeted. Even large legal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union or Lambda Legal working to legally protect gender-affirming care could be misconstrued as the “subsidization of illegal activities.”

Employees of hospitals who provide gender-affirming care could also lose PSLF, as could teachers at public schools that refuse to comply with Trump’s orders to misgender and out trans students, ban trans students from sports teams and facilities that align with their gender identity, or any other policy handed down by the administration. 

Trump’s order also targets groups that he claims are “engaging in a pattern of aiding and abetting illegal discrimination.” This is a reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which are not policies that give some groups preferential treatment as Trump implies, but rather suggestions to enforce and comply with existing anti-discrimination protections. Under the order, any organization that works with LGBTQ+ communities or communities of color could lose eligibility. 

How will PSLF cancellations affect LGBTQ+ people?

Trump’s federal student loan restrictions are expected to disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ people, who are more likely to have student loans and experience economic insecurity, poverty, and disabilities. 

More than one-third (35 percent) of LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 40 — an estimated 2.9 million — held more than $93.2 billion in federal student loans at the beginning of the Biden Administration, according to a March report from the Williams Institute and the Point Foundation, including over half (51 percent) of trans adults, 36 percent of cisgender LBQ women, and 28 percent of cisgender GBQ men.

Through loan forgiveness, new repayment plans, the expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), and relief for students with disabilities, the Biden administration approved over $183 billion in student debt relief for more than five million borrowers. Assuming that LGBTQ+ adults received the benefits equally, an estimated 11.6 percent of queer adults with student loans — about 336,000 — benefited.