GLAAD is releasing a fact sheet for reporters on Pres. Trump’s LGBTQ record ahead of his 2026 State of the Union address. Reporters are urged to provide facts and context to Pres. Trump’s remarks about LGBTQ people:

The Trump Accountability Tracker documents at least 470 policies and statements targeting LGBTQ Americans, including 50 instances of Pres. Trump mentioning “transgender for everybody” since taking office in January 2025. The phrase is deployed to diminish support of transgender people with broad criticism of political opponents in unrelated speeches, interviews, and topics.

By contrast, transcripts of all presidential remarks since January 2025 show fewer than 25 mentions of “affordability,” the majority of which criticize opponents rather than propose solutions to the issue that polls show is the number one concern of Americans.

A new CNN poll shows 68% of Americans say Pres. Trump has not paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. His overall approval rating has fallen to 36%.

More Americans support policies that protect LGBTQ people (75%) than approve of how President Trump has handled the economy (40%), immigration (44%), crime (46%) and foreign policy (38%), according to Real Clear Polling.

Pres. Trump and supporters frequently claim targeting transgender people is an “80/20” issue. “Transgender issues” ranked last in a list of 20+ top concerns for 2024 voters.

Voters have rejected candidates in Virginia, New Jersey, Nebraska, and Wisconsin in elections throughout 2025 who spent millions in campaign ads attacking support of transgender people.

The Trump Accountability Tracker shows a pattern of false, extreme, and derogatory comments made by the President or his administration, including at least seven mentions in his address to Congress in March 2025:

• Highlighting inaccurate and discriminatory executive orders, including an order claiming a false premise of “two sexes” that ignores the reality of intersex people, who make up approximately 1,7% of the American population.
• Introducing a former high school volleyball player who has claimed, without proof, that a trans player caused her injury, neglecting to note that she went on to play more varsity sports, and failing to disclose that she is a paid spokesperson for a White House-connected group that advocates against transgender people.
• Criticizing research about “making mice transgender,” providing no evidence or citations, in an apparent attempt to mischaracterize studies on the impact of hormone therapy and the search for an HIV vaccine, on chronic wound care, and on fertility.
• Introducing a parent with false and inflammatory claims about her child’s school. Records show the parent worked with the school district to support her nonbinary child before the parent sued the district with lawyers from a national anti-LGBTQ group; and that the foundation of her lawsuit, which she continues to appeal despite dismissals by lower courts, may be built on lies.

“Transgender for Everybody”

Pres.Trump has used the phrase “transgender for everybody” or “transgender for everyone” at least 50 times in his second term in events having nothing to do with LGBTQ people.

The phrase has come up in Oval Office meetings with world leaders and an international soccer team, Cabinet meetings, at an appearance to talk about a White House flagpole, and in interview after interview when asked about tariff policy, the government shutdown, immigration enforcement, or judicial nominees.

A December 9th speech in Pennsylvania, which was to focus on affordability, veered into multiple tangents, including transgender people.

Health care for transgender people is supported by every major medical association, and includes best practice mental health noninvasive support for transgender youth including affirming hairstyles, clothing, names, and pronouns. Research shows affirming LGBTQ youth improves mental and physical health and improves academic performance.

25% of transgender and questioning students missed school because of feeling unsafe in the past 30 days compared with 8% of cisgender (non-transgender) male students and 15% of cisgender female students. 2024 CDC researchshows schools with supportive policies and inclusive activities for LGBTQ youth are safer for all students with reduced bullying, violence, and suicidal ideation.

Data shows that school districts with policies that allow trans students to participate in sports have no negative effect on cisgender girls, and in some cases actually increase all girls’ participation.

The Trump administration has been blocked in multiple federal courts from enacting its policies against LGBTQ Americans, which have included:

• Censoring government websites of any mention of transgender people including sites specific to LGBTQ history and the Stonewall National Monument
• Fighting to the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to fire transgender military service members, who have been serving capably and honorably for years
• Fighting to the U.S. Supreme Court to deny passports that reflect who people are
• Fighting at the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn protections against debunked and discredited conversion practices proven to increase self-harm in LGBTQ youth
• Using federal agencies to censor mention of gender identity and sexual orientation, and intimidate allies from providing LGBTQ people and youth with best practice health care and safe and affirming schools
• Threatening to withhold Congressionally appropriated funding to demand ideological compliance from hospitals, universities, the arts and other educational institutions
• Removing mental health services for LGBTQ youth, including a designated suicide hotline
• Banning books about LGBTQ people, Black Americans, and women from schools for children of military service members
• Firing federal employees who displayed a Pride flag on their desk, or displayed their pronouns in their social media profile

GLAAD’s ALERT Desk (Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker) documented more than 1,042 incidents targeting LGBTQ people across the country in 2025. More than half specifically targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people, up 10% from 2024.

Voters Reject Campaigns Focused on Attacking Transgender People

“Men playing women’s sports. Transgender for everybody. I don’t talk about it much,” Pres. Trump said in a speech to the U.S. – Saudi Investment Forum in November, a claim in contrast to the public record of him repeating the same words more than fifty times.  “I tell people, wait til two weeks before the election and hit the hell out of them.”

Pro-equality candidates swept the high profile elections of 2025, with voters rejecting multi-million dollar ad campaigns targeting transgender people in Virginia, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. Voters repeatedly said they were motivated by high prices and high cost of living.

The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia and frequent longtime anti-trans groups spent millions, more than 57% of her total budget, on ads attacking support for transgender people, and lost by 15 points to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who will deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union.

“Attacking trans people to kind of stir up anti-trans bigotry for its own sake is a losing proposition,” New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, “for the simple reason that it’s just not that salient to people’s lives. 1% of the total population identifies as transgender, right? Like it’s not that many people. It’s not something that anyone other than, you know, bigots, frankly, sickos are thinking about all the time if they themselves are not transgender.”