The Winter Olympics kick off this Friday in Northern Italy, and it will feature a single out trans athlete.
Elis Lundholm, a freestyle mogul skier representing Sweden, will compete in the female category despite being a transgender man. 24-year-old Lundholm says he has “always been treated well” by the women he competes alongside.
Nevertheless, he also knows that as his profile elevates to the national stage, an increase in hate is inevitable. But Lundholm isn’t letting that specter break his spirit.
“Of course it’s something I thought about,” he told Aftonbladet. “You can hear the voices out there. But then I do my thing and don’t give a damn.” Outsportscalled his attitude “pitch-perfect and inspiring.”
Outsports also said that to the publication’s knowledge, Lundholm is the first out trans athlete to compete at a Winter Olympics.
The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) has a strict anti-trans policybanning anyone with an SRY gene – usually found on the Y chromosome – from competing in a women’s category. While the rules for trans men appear to be more lax, many have speculated that Lundholm has not undergone hormone therapy, which is why he competes with the women.
Anti-trans advocate Jamie Reed posted what appeared to be a complaint on social media about Lundholm’s participation in the Olympic Games. She then clarified she was actually celebrating that Lundholm – whom she repeatedly misgendered – was competing in the women’s category.
“This is a good thing,” Reed wrote in response to someone calling out her hypocrisy. Others on the right have echoed this, but not all are thrilled, despite the fact that this setup is actually what they have been fighting for.
The conservative account, The American Girl, for example, seemed genuinely confused about Lundholm’s gender and sex, but nevertheless posted a transphobic message. “Sweden has a mentally ill MAN named Elis Lundholm who thinks he’s a woman competing in moguls. Hope he loses.
Trans advocates are mixed on the situation. While they are happy for Lundholm, they are also upset that he has to compete with women.
On Reddit, one person lamented, “It’s insane that ‘progress’ now is considered trans people misgendering themselves and having to pay lip service to the ‘what you were assigned at birth is your rEAL sEX ForEVer’ ideology. And the actual transphobes will still be shi**y about it.”
Another commenter said the moment should still be celebrated. “Trans people competing and being out is still resistance,” they declared.
In a world overrun by fake news, Professor Juana María Rodríguez is unflinchingly committed to facts.
Since 2016, the University of California, Berkeley professor has mobilized students to preserve LGBTQ+ stories on one of the world’s most extensive historical records: Wikipedia.
Through a unique course taught in partnership with Wiki Education, Rodríguez and her students produce entries for the site that cover niche LGBTQ+ subjects, many of which have fallen through the cracks due to contributor bias. And as the Trump administration works overtime to erase LGBTQ+ history from the national consciousness, Rodríguez knows that the best defense is putting cold, hard facts in front of as many readers as possible.
“We can really change the narrative of how some of these stories are told,” Rodríguez told LGBTQ Nation, explaining that her students are involved in both editing existing pages and creating new ones.
“The Trump administration can erase the T from Stonewall, but we can point them to 20 academic sources that talk about the centrality of trans people to Stonewall and to other uprisings,” she explained.
In essence, she added, “We bring the receipts.”
Creating lifelong Wikipedians
Professor Juana Maria Rodriguez teaching a Fall 2025 Wikipedia course | Brandon Sánchez Mejia/UC Berkeley
Rodríguez has taught the course in nine different iterations over the past decade. Her students have tackled everything from Transfemicide (a page that has now been translated into four languages) to Indigenous Drag Performers to lesser-known activists like Adela Vázquez to the stories of historic, now-shuttered queer bars like Esta Noche and Jewel’s Catch One.
One student, Alexia Guerra Cardona, spoke on a Berkeley podcast about the course’s incredible impact on her. A child of Guatemalan immigrants who fled civil war, Cardona said she is most proud of the content she produced on trans asylum seekers from Mexico and Central America because it helped her feel closer to her own ancestral history. She attended a predominantly white school growing up, where Central American history was never centered.
“You need to know where you come from in order to understand where you’re going or what you want to do,” she said.
Rodríguez has loved watching her students – who often start the course feeling extremely anxious about the responsibility before them – gradually feel empowered to be disseminators of knowledge rather than passive consumers of it.
It is no small accomplishment, she said, to ensure accurate, inclusive information is available to anyone who needs it.
“My goal is always to create Wikipedians,” she said. “To know that they can read something and maybe what they read doesn’t quite reflect what they learned from this class, and they can go in and change that… to make them better or more inclusive or more representative… It feels great for everybody.”
We did that
Professor Juana Maria Rodriguez teaching a Fall 2025 Wikipedia course | Brandon Sánchez Mejia/UC Berkeley
Rodríguez emphasized that Wikipedia editing isn’t the wild west. There are strict standards, and some of the larger pages are locked down to experienced editors only. Beyond that, editors constantly communicate with one another to ensure that pages provide accurate information.
“There’s the Wikipedia that we see, and then behind that, every page has a talk page where people talk about issues.”
She said her students have experienced pushback at times, such as when one wanted to add information about same-sex desire in Imperial China to the page on the Han Dynasty.
“The Wikipedia page on the Han dynasty, you can imagine, is very well sourced, it’s very reputable. It had absolutely nothing about same-sex anything… So they brought the receipts, they added a very small section, but now that section exists there.”
But at first, the student received a note warning them of the page’s high quality. But Rodríguez said it only motivated them to ensure accuracy even more. “It was like, OK, we received the warning. We’re going to make sure that we’re bringing high-quality receipts.”
“And we did that.”
Now, anyone who reads about the Han Dynasty will know that, as the page explains, “bisexuality was the norm” among nobility, among whom there was “openness to bisexuality or homosexuality.”
It may seem small, but it is moments like these that affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been here.
Fighting fire with fact
Professor Juana Maria Rodriguez teaching a Fall 2025 Wikipedia course | Brandon Sánchez Mejia/UC Berkeley
Many college students today have no doubt come from the increasing number of K-12 schools (largely in red states) that have taken active steps to suppress curriculum that teaches LGBTQ+ issues or even acknowledges that LGBTQ+ people exist at all.
Over the past several years, GOP-led governments at the state level have authorized a slew of book bans and curriculum restrictions under the guise of “parental rights” in education.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, 19 states have at least one LGBTQ specific school censorship law, while only 8 have a law mandating LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula. The organization estimates that 39% of LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 13 and 17 live in states with censorship laws, compared to 26% that live in states with inclusive laws and 35% that live in states with no LGBTQ+-specific curricular statutes.
The second Trump administration has also taken extraordinary steps to prevent Americans from learning anything about LGBTQ+ history or identities.
In 2025, alone, among many other anti-LGBTQ+ actions, the administration removed all references to transgender people from the National Park Service webpage on the Stonewall National Monument; renamed the USNS Harvey Milk (named for the assassinated gay activist) after a straight person; repeatedly attempted to cut federal funding to schools with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs; instructed schools operated by the Department of Defense to purge curriculum related to immigration, gender, and sexuality; and declared the federal government would no longer recognize the existence of trans people at all.
In response to Donald Trump’s executive orders, even some universities have cracked down on LGBTQ+ curricula. In September, for example, a lecturer at Texas A&M University was fired for acknowledging trans people exist. The school also recently announced it has ended its Women’s & Gender Studies program for being too “woke.”
And a Catholic college in Illinois, Benedictine University, removed pages from its website claiming to offer safe spaces for diverse communities after anti-trans groups called out the school for hosting an event to honor the Trans Day of Remembrance.
Rodríguez believes that the fact that her students create extensively researched entries that must be written in a neutral tone is especially powerful under the current climate. “It’s persuasive because the facts are on our side,” she said.
Rodríguez credits Wiki Education as an indispensable partner in the project. “They do all the trainings, they train professors, and they train students.” She has also since joined one of their boards and has served as a mentor for other professors who want to do this work.
She hopes more classrooms take up projects like hers and that more students feel empowered to engage in this kind of active learning and knowledge-sharing, which allows their work to go far beyond the classroom.
“It’s not like they’re giving me a paper that only I’m reading,” she said. “They really are writing for the world.”
Who they write for
Professor Juana Maria Rodriguez chats with a student | Brandon Sánchez Mejia/UC Berkeley
Rodriguez acknowledges that Wikipedia is not the “be-all end-all” source of information, but that it offers a great jumping-off point for people who need to build a foundation of knowledge on a topic.
That said, millions of people worldwide rely on Wikipedia for information. Rodríguez said her students’ pages have racked up millions of views, which isn’t surprising, considering the encyclopedia behemoth’s monthly pageviews number in the billions. It is consistently ranked among the top 10 most visited websites in the world.
Many readers of the site no doubt lack access to world-class academic resources like those available in the Berkeley library for students to draw from. It is critical work, Rodríguez said, to reproduce this information in an easy-to-find, digestible manner that isn’t hidden behind a paywall.
“One of the things that I tell my students is that they’re writing for the teenager in Arkansas, and in Lagos, Nigeria,” Rodríguez said. “They’re writing for the person in Scotland who maybe just met a trans person for the first time, and they want to know more about it. They’re writing for activists. They’re writing for each other.”
As part of LGBTQ Nation’s January issue, we asked readers to tell us how one year of the second Trump administration has affected their lives and what they hope LGBTQ+ leaders and allies do differently in 2026.
We received dozens of submissions and have been sharing them throughout the month.
For this post, we will be sharing the answers of queer folks of all identities who bravely gave voice to their pain and fear.
Here is what they had to say.
How has living under the second Trump administration affected you personally over the last year?
“As a transgender woman, the past year has been defined by fear, instability, and constant vigilance. The administration has actively moved to take away my medically necessary hormone therapy while simultaneously undermining basic civil rights — including legal identification, passport recognition, and even the right to safely use a restroom. I’ve spent enormous emotional energy fighting insurance denials, preparing for care interruptions, and worrying whether my existence will continue to be treated as political leverage rather than a matter of human dignity and survival.”
-AT, 60 years old, trans woman and lesbian
“My family had already moved the year prior to flee anti-trans policies in the red state we’d owned a house in, prior. When trump was elected, we used the rest of our resources to leave the country. Each move introduced significantly more precarity.”
-N Alexander, 36 years old, queer nonbinary trans man
“I hear more homophobic/transphobic things from conservative family members. I’m scared for established rights, like same sex marriage, to be taken away, especially after Roe v. Wade. I really hope there’s not another president like him when I’m older. It’s also hurt my family a lot financially.”
-Anonymous, 16 years old, bisexual and agender
“This administration makes me look at the US flag differently. I want it to stand for everyone but I’m not sure it stands for me and folx like me. I have had to consider things that no one should rush into but may be taken away, like surgery. I’ve been stocking up on medication. Some of my friends have left the country. Preparing for the unknown is stressful.”
Ginger, 64 years old, bisexual trans woman
“It has been devastating, and eye opening. I knew this time was going to be difficult, but the experience of living through it has been nothing short of a mountain of indescribable horrors.”
-Anonymous, 25 years old, pansexual trans woman
“It has made me afraid everywhere I go that I will be shot or treated disrespectfully if I wear anything rainbow. I was actually really afraid of going to my local pride parade this year. I am very disappointed Kamala Harris did not win. I hope that it isn’t too late to take our democracy back.”
-Anonymous, 16 years old, gay
I married my husband 4 years ago. I’m afraid that this right will be taken away by the illegal SCOTUS he put in place. Im a government contractor serving at risk young adults. I’ve been fired and unfired twice this year, saved only by court injunctions. I await the court decision next month if I will still have my union job. At my workplace, I have seen draconian and hurtful anti-trans policies applied to our trans and non binary students. I’ve seen ICE show up at work looking for students. I’ve agonized over the fear this administration is forcing over our community. It’s all personal to me.
-Josh, 45 years old, gay
“Never knowing if my marriage will be impacted; always wondering if my child is safe at school; worrying about who is watching us as a family when we’re out together in public. Makes me reimagine our entire democratic system and path forward while considering running for president myself.”
-Mariah R., 34 years old, bisexual and nonbinary
What do you hope to see from LGBTQ+ leaders and allies in 2026?
“I want to see courage backed by action — not just words. LGBTQ+ leaders and allies must aggressively defend trans healthcare, legal recognition, and bodily autonomy, and refuse to let trans people be treated as expendable or negotiable. Real unity, coordinated legal challenges, and sustained public support are essential if equality is to mean anything at all.”
-AT, 60 years old, trans woman and lesbian
“Organization. An organized resistance on every front to facism, and gentleness and mercy to the members of our own community. Empowered governments try to divide the populations they’re trying to control and destroy; resistance also means resisting that impulse and showing clear guidance on how to do that on the ground level. And above all, protect trans people. We stand together or we all fall.
-N Alexander, 36 years old, queer nonbinary trans man
“Push back against any consideration of taking away rights. Maybe more work done in Christian communities since the homophobia is so bad.”
-Anonymous, 16 years old, bisexual and agender
“We all need to keep up the good fight and take time celebrate the small victories when we get them. History tells us that the queer community is resilient and innovative and that gives me hope.”
-Ginger, 64 years old, bisexual trans woman
“Be a voice for the voiceless.”
-Anonymous, 25 years old, pansexual trans woman
“That they will stop being quiet and stand up for our rights. They (a lot of leaders) want to play moderate on the LGBTQ+ issues when we need real change. We cannot sit idly by and let (I pray to God it never comes to this) an erasure of us, whether it be of our culture or by genocide.”
-Anonymous, 16 years old, gay
“Someone who will fight fire with fire. Leaders who inspire. Leaders who won’t back down. Leaders who can motivate and activate our community in real time to real threats against us and our rights. I ain’t going back!”
Political expert Robert Reich believes the tide may finally be turning against Donald Trump.
“The slumbering giant of America is awakening,” wrote Reich – who served as President Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor and is now a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley – in a recent op-ed.
He was referring to what he called an “extraordinary week” during which irate Americans “forced Disney to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air” and during which Trump’s “dictatorial narcissism revealed itself nearly as dramatically in the criminal indictment of former FBI director James Comey.”
“Over 6 million people watched Kimmel’s Tuesday monologue assailing Trump’s attempt to censor him,” Reich said. “Another 26 million watched it on social media, including YouTube. (Kimmel’s usual television audience is about 1.42 million.)”
In the same week, Reich pointed out that Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to invade “war ravaged Portland” and “ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
“There was also his bonkers speech to the United Nations telling delegates that their nations are ‘going to hell,’” Reich continued. “His attribution of autism to Tylenol, even though doctors say it is safe for pregnant women in moderation. His unilateral imposition of tariffs as high as 100 percent on imports of pharmaceuticals and kitchen cabinets.”
All of this, Reich concluded, indicates that “his neofascism and his dementia are both in plain sight.”
Trump’s approval ratings are plummeting, Reich said. Voters are increasingly turning against him, as evidenced by the several recent Democratic wins in special elections.
Recently, CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, detailed the president’s plummeting approval ratings regarding his anti-immigration crusade and his deployment of the National Guard into U.S. cities. Enten said 42% of Americans support Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, while 58% oppose it. He added that 64% of independents also oppose the move, which indicates it is not a winning strategy.
He also showed how approval ratings on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) have nosedived in Trump’s second term, dropping from zero points in his first term to negative 14 points today.
“Bottom line is the president may think this is a politically winning issue for him, but the numbers tell a very different story,” Enten said. “It’s, in fact, a political loser.”
Reich also pointed out that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) “is struggling to hold House Republicans together, facing rebellion on issues” like the release of the Epstein files.
He also praised Democrats in Congress for resisting budget approval without Republican agreement to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.
He said he doesn’t know exactly when the “tipping point” will take place or what it will be, but he also assured Americans that “we’re getting closer.”
“I’ve been in and around politics for 60 years and have developed a sixth sense about the slumbering giant of America,” he said. “That giant is now stirring. He about to stand. He’s angry. Soon he will roar.”
He told Americans to continue fighting, assuring them, “Your activism is working.”
Reich has long been outspoken against Donald Trump. In May, he called the GOP’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill the “ugliest thing ever seen” and wrote a short and to-the-point op-ed on how only a “tiny minority” of Americans actually understand the content of the bill due to right-wing efforts to confuse and overwhelm them.
The first time Donald Trump took the oath of office, I felt an overwhelming sense of doom. My whole body somehow felt both impossibly heavy and utterly empty at the same time, like it couldn’t decide whether it’d be safer to sink into the ground or float away into the clouds.
I’ll forever remember when Sean Spicer – Trump’s first in what became a revolving door of White House press secretaries – stormed up to the podium, red-faced and fuming, to declare in his first-ever meeting with the American people that no inauguration crowd had ever been as large as Trump’s.
I already knew the country was in trouble, but that was the first time I really, deeply felt it, the first time it was clear Trump would not be rising to the occasion.
This time around, it felt different. In January 2025, when Trump laid his hand on the Bible to begin his second term, it wasn’t heaviness or emptiness or darkness or doom that consumed me. It was resignation. None of this was unbelievable anymore. In fact, what made it so hard was just how believable it had become.
One term could have been a fluke, a voting bloc gone off the rails by a professional con artist promising roads paved with gold. But two terms? That’s a movement. Maybe this really is just who we are, I thought. Maybe it’s time to accept that.
I didn’t watch Trump’s second inauguration. I was too deflated, too beaten down, too exhausted by years of clinging to a childlike optimism that America would right itself in the future.
Despite decades of oppression, the queer community has always had an enduring dedication to joy. Take the moment police raided a Pittsburgh queer bar in the middle of a drag event last May. The crowd was forced to wait outside as authorities inspected the premises, but the performers and patrons refused to let the cops quash their spirit.
Video captured during the wait shows the crowd belting Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club while the drag queen Indica dances up and down the sidewalk, collecting tips.
Every day, as more stories like this one found their way to us, I was reminded how much inherent good exists in the world, and how determined people are to drown out hate. Slowly, I allowed hope to creep back in.
The January Issue of LGBTQ Nation isn’t about hope, per se, but it is meant to inspire it. It is meant to remind us that no matter how dire things seem, there are always good people trying to make it right.
The stories in this issue examine what LGBTQ+ activism has looked like during the first year of the second Trump administration, what needs to change moving forward, and how our leaders can do better. It will also cover that enduring joy, in itself a form of resistance.
I hope the pieces in this issue inspire you, as they’ve inspired me, to rise above that resignation that can seem so hard to resist at times. I don’t know what will happen to this country or to democracy or to the world as a result of the second Trump presidency, but I do know that as much as it has revealed the worst of humanity, it has also revealed the best.
Mr. Rogers once told us that in scary times, “look for the helpers.” I am choosing to not only look for them, but also to look to them, for guidance on how to stay engaged in this endless fight.
The queer resistance lives on, and now’s the time to give it all we’ve got.
In a moment of resistance and queer solidarity, a drag show went on despite patrons and performers being kicked out of a bar by about 20 police officers in bulletproof vests.
Police raided Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ venue P Town Bar on Friday in the middle of a drag event.
Drag artist Indica was performing alongside trans model and nightlife legend Amanda Lepore when police began to gather in the back of the establishment, QBurgh reported. When Indica finished her rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” police directed patrons to exit the bar but did not explain why beyond saying it was a “compliance check.”
“We waited 30 minutes outside for them to inspect every crevice,” Indica told QBurgh. But the patrons and performers refused to let the cops quash their spirit and instead created their own public performance space.
Video captured during the wait shows the crowd belting Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club while Indica dances up and down the sidewalk, collecting tips.
“Guess what, divas?” she said when the performance ended. “This is why queer people have gotta stick the f*ck together in 2025… Make some noise for the queer people in your life everybody.” The crowd cheered.
QBurgh described the moment as one of “resistance, solidarity, and improvisational beauty” and one that “reminded everyone there that drag isn’t just entertainment, it’s political. And when the music stops, the queens don’t.”
Police proceeded to allow 70 people to reenter the bar, saying it had been over capacity with the 130 people who were in attendance.
“The raid was a jarring experience in 2025,” one witness said. “Dozens of state police, geared up with bulletproof vests, flooded the bar and told us to get out. None of the officers would explain what was happening. We stood in the rain for maybe 30 minutes or so until most patrons were let back in. Fortunately the situation was calm and orderly, but they really just overtook this queer space with an entire fleet of police to ‘count heads’ or whatever their excuse was.”
Corey Dunbar, a security guard for P Town Bar, praised the way the staff handled the incident, saying they “ensured patrons’ safety and nerves during the process” since “many people were shaken up.”
State police told QBurgh the raid was instigated by the Allegheny County Nuisance Bar Task Force. It is not known who made the initial complaint that led the cops there.
Witnesses said officers would not look the queens in the eye and would not answer their questions about why things like this never happen at straight bars. Indica also said that some officers even asked to take selfies with Lepore.
Trans rights have taken a big hit in the United Kingdom this year, but one community project is working to give trans youth a reason to smile this holiday season.
Over the past few years, Trans Secret Santa UK has provided over a thousand gifts to trans youth under 25. But the group’s call for donations this year acknowledged that this year was especially tough.
Earlier this year, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the country’s 2010 anti-discrimination law, The Equality Act, is based on “biological sex.” Following the ruling, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recommended policies to ban trans people from restrooms and other public single-sex spaces.
“While trans adults might be struggling, imagine what that must feel like as a child,” said activist Jude Guaitamacchi in a fundraising video for Trans Secret Santa. He said many trans youth feel “isolated and powerless over their environment,” and Trans Secret Santa wants to “bring a little bit of joy to their lives this year.”
In a video spotlighting the program, one of the group’s founders explains that many of the gifts have been purchased from trans authors, artists, and other trans creatives. “We put money directly back into the community,” they said.
“We’ve already had messages from young people just thanking us for this project even existing,” one volunteer said, adding that it’s “important people know their authentic self is respected and cherished.”
“I grew up just not wanting any young person to go through what I went through,” said another.
This year, the group will deliver gifts to 896 trans young people who applied, which it described as a record number.
The CEO of an anti-trans clothing company is trying to bribe professional women’s soccer players into speaking out against trans athletes – but none of them are taking her up on it.
Jennifer Sey, a retired artistic gymnast who won the 1986 National Gymnastics Championship, runs the anti-trans clothing company XX-XY Athletics, which donates money from each purchase to organizations fighting against trans inclusion in sports.
Sey regularly spouts anti-trans rhetoric on social media and recently wrote that she’d give $10,000 to the next player in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) “to stand up in defense of keeping women’s soccer female.”
“A full-throated defense,” she emphasized. “A press conference. Nothing mealy-mouthed.”
Her offer aimed to build on an anti-trans New York Postessay by NWSL player Elizabeth Eddy in the wake of her team, the Angel City Football Club, signing an intersex player. Eddy claimed to be fighting for the “integrity of women’s sports.” In other words, she was arguing to exclude trans and intersex players from women’s leagues.
After Sey’s post, others offered to add money to the pot. Two anonymous people added $5,000, and Clay Travis – founder of the anti-LGBTQ+ sports site Outkick – offered $15,000, bringing the total to $35,000.
But according to Out, not a single player has taken Sey up on her offer. What’s more, there are reportedly no trans players currently in the league.
In fact, after Eddy published her essay, Angel City captain Sarah Gorden and vice captain Angelina Anderson spoke out in support of trans athletes.
“That article does not speak for this team and this locker room,” Gorden said during an October 30 press conference.
She said her teammates were “hurt,” “harmed,” and “disgusted” by Eddy’s words.
“We don’t agree with the things written, for a plethora of reasons, but mostly the undertones come across as transphobic and racist as well.” (The essay used a photo of cisgender woman player Barbra Banda, who is from Zambia.)
Anderson added that Angel City “is a place for everyone” and that Los Angeles is “a place that was founded upon inclusivity and love for all people.”
Sey, on the other hand, appeared on Fox News after Eddy published her essay to claim that there are “several males” in the NWSL. She then claimed Banda, who plays for the Orlando Pride, is a man.
The NWSL does not have a formal policy when it comes to gender eligibility, which has earned the league criticism from folks on all sides of the debate.
“You have to take a stance,” sports writer Julie Kliegman told The Athletic. “It has to be clear, it has to be transparent, and it has to be inclusive. Otherwise, this neutral ground isn’t really so neutral, because it’s leaving room for players like Eddy to steer the conversation.”
Stories of anti-trans vitriol dominate the media, which makes it easy to forget just how many folks out there give endless love and support to the trans people in their lives.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of parents across the country fight with all their might to provide their trans kids with love, hope, and a community of support. They fight to shield their kids from pain and to make them feel proud of who they are.
The November Issue of LGBTQ Nation celebrates the incredible parents uplifting their trans children at one of the most challenging times in history for the community. It highlights the passionate, furious, and exhausting behind-the-scenes work these unsung heroes do to give their kids the lives they deserve.
LGBTQ Nation asked these parents a simple question: What do you wish the world knew or understood about your trans child? We received dozens of responses, and will publish some of our favorites every Friday this month (you can also still submit).
In every single message, one thing became clear: These parents want nothing more than for the world to see the humanity in their kids, to see past the pronouns and body parts and understand that they are so much more than their genders.
Here is what 10 of these parents, who we have allowed to remain anonymous, had to say.
He is going to be a veterinarian
“I wish the world knew that my trans kid is just like everyone else. He’s funny, he’s kind, he loves his family and his family loves him. He is going to be a veterinarian when he finishes school and he’s a great student with life goals. He needs the world to see him as the generous young man he is because he is not a sin. He is the greatest gift and we are lucky to have him.“
She’s a loving big sister
“While people on the news are shouting about how trans girls are a threat to women everywhere, my willowy, soft-spoken daughter is here finishing up high school, making plans to study marine biology. She is kind, witty, wise beyond her years, passionate about the environment and human rights, and such a loving big sister. Our trans daughters are our hope for the future, not a threat to it.“
| Shutterstock
They still give the same smiles
“They are still my kids, the same smiles, the same giggles, the same dreams for their future. No one plans on having two trans children. It’s the same way one plans on having a child prodigy in piano or a math genius. A parent adapts to the needs challenges and individuality of their children. Full stop. If you don’t have a math genius, you may not understand the decisions the parents of a math genius would make. You don’t know. Don’t judge.“
He makes a mean candle
“I wish the world understood that his gender identity is the least interesting thing about him. He is intelligent, snarky, funny, loving, kind, generous, resilient, and so much more. He loves cooking, reading, fantasy sports, and, just like any other teen, hanging out with his friends. He speaks Mandarin, rolls sushi, and makes a mean candle.“
He is a community-builder
“He is funny, smart, brave, and caring. He is a community-builder, an activist, a listener, and a friend. He truly puts his whole heart into making the world a better place for everyone!“
| Shutterstock
It’s all for them
“The most important thing I learned was that it wasn’t about me.”
Loving them is easy
“I wish the world knew how hard it was for my child to tell me that they felt different inside and they were scared I wouldn’t love them anymore. I wish the world knew that in that moment, I had never loved them more.”
She can sing
“She is incredibly talented. She can sing and play guitar. She is kind, witty, a brilliant mind and has so much empathy for others. She is just like any teenage girl. That’s the part that’s most important. She’s just trying to get by and find her place in the world like everyone else. Being trans is only a small fraction of who she is.“
| Shutterstock
She loves harder than anyone
“I wish people knew that she is wildly brilliant. She loves Taylor Swift, unicorns, mac and cheese and flared leggings. She hates brushing her hair and when her socks don’t feel just right. Her favorite days are the days she’s building legos, watching Spidey and his Amazing Friends or playing on the trampoline with her friends. She loves harder than anyone I’ve ever met and is filled with so much silliness and joy. She is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I am so proud to be her mom.“
She leads & we follow
“That she is only ever been herself. She leads and we follow. She’s not a trans kid, she’s a dancer, a lego master, a reader, an archer, a harpest, a mentor for english readers, a keen gardener. She’s a big sister, a little niece, a best friend, a granddaughter, my eldest child. She’s sensitive, funny, messy, clever, acrobatic, curious. She’s not a trans kid. She’s a kid, who happens to be trans.“
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.
Molly Sprayregen is the Deputy Editor of LGBTQ Nation and has been reporting on queer stories for almost a decade. She has written for Them, Out, Forbes, Into, Huffington Post, and others. She has a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Northwestern University.
A grassroots organization supporting transgender people from South Asia (often known as Hijrah or Kinnar) has opened a physical location in San Francisco after operating for 6 years without one.
Parivar Bay Area opened its brick-and-mortar doors on October 20, during Diwali. The group’s founder, Indian immigrant Anjali Rimi, was brimming with emotion when she cut the ribbon.
“I’m feeling very grateful,” she told KQED. “We have tried many times to see if we can actually have a place where we can belong, we can be ourselves. And being in this physical space, it gives us that rooting.”
“It also looks at our existence as one that is formidable when we are being erased as human beings,” she added.
The center’s director of strategy, Phanny Lun, said it is a critical time to provide legal advice, leadership training, and other support to transgender immigrants, who are being attacked intersectionally by the current administration.
“It’s knowing that there’s community and support,” Lun said. “That’s a really big thing – and making sure that our community knows that there are services out there for us. Not just doom and gloom.”
Lun said the narratives in the media make it easy for trans people to believe there is no support for them. “That’s not true,” Lun emphasized, adding that immigrants and trans people “have a place and a group that will be of assistance to them.”
While the center focuses on trans immigrants from Southeast Asia, Rimi made it clear Parivar is open to immigrants from any country.
The website says the center is the country’s “first & only Kinnar Hijrah led and empowering organization centering Indian South Asian and Global South transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex (TGNCI) immigrants and asylees” with a goal to “advance social, economic, and legal equity through advocacy, arts, direct support, and leadership development.”
“We reclaim spaces beyond cisnormativity,” the site continues, “confront systemic barriers, and build bold, affirming pathways where our communities thrive locally and globally grounded in dignity, belonging, and pride.”
