It’s a basic premise of the League of Women Voters’ work: the US cannot have a healthy democracy unless all members of our community can live freely and access their fundamental rights. Unfortunately, over the past few years, the League has tracked a surge in legislative and administrative attacks chipping away at the rights of LGBTQIA+ community members, particularly transgender individuals. This presents a threat to both personal safety and, on a broader level, democracy.  

These attacks range from bans on necessary gender-affirming care to the prohibition of classroom discussions of gender identity, from limits on military service to the removal of the “T” from “LGBT” on government websites — the latter of which is no less than an attempt to erase official documentation of an entire population. At their core, these mounting attacks are a dangerous escalation that personally affect the more than 1.5 million transgender individuals in the US. 

Make no mistake: this surge of anti-trans legislation and government action is also a direct attack on democracy. Protecting the rights of minorities and vulnerable populations is a key characteristic of a healthy democracy; in fact, one of the defining features of anti-democratic movements is the stripping of rights and protections from vulnerable groups.  

The League of Women Voters stands firmly against all attacks on the transgender community and is committed to supporting equal rights for all under state and federal law, regardless of identity, including sex, gender, and sexual orientation. 

Tracking Attacks on the Transgender Community 

In 2025, state legislatures introduced more than 575 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills  — an increase from each of the previous five years — at least 74 of which passed into law. These bills included restrictions on drag performances, ‘bathroom bans’ that would prohibit people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity, attacks on gender-affirming care for trans and non-binary individuals, and prohibitions on classroom discussion of gender identity. 

These attacks have been coupled with an escalation in transphobic rhetoric from public figures, as politicians seek to politicize the issue of basic fairness and access to fundamental rights to divide the electorate and attack bodily autonomy. Taken together, it reflects a deliberate attempt to scapegoat transgender individuals for political gain. 

Now, under the most recent administration, attacking the transgender community is, in essence, the policy of the federal government. According to GLAD Law, in the last six months alone, the federal government has adopted the following policies (this is a non-exhaustive list): 

• Changed “LGBT” to “LGB” across federal websites;
• Rescinded all existing federal policies protecting transgender people from sex and disability discrimination;
• Revoked the ability to obtain passports and federal documents reflecting gender identity;
• Attacked transgender people’s ability to serve in the military;
• Deleted CDC public health research and guidance about transgender people;
• Denied transition-related health care to federal employees;
• Moved to revoke equal access protections in homeless shelters;
• Directed federal prisons to deny gender-affirming medical treatment and to house transgender people by birth sex; and
• Ordered law enforcement to prosecute school officials who recognize transgender students. 

Furthermore, at the federal level, the anti-voter SAVE Act, which LWV opposes, would directly suppress trans voters by forcing them — and anybody who has changed their name, such as married women — to provide updated documentation (since their name may not match their deadname on a birth certificate or passport) to register to vote or update their voter registration. 

Each of these policies has real, negative effects on transgender individuals. Taken broadly, they represent a concerted attack on a vulnerable population. 

Impacts on the Trans and Broader LGBTQIA+ Communities 

These legislative and administrative attacks, combined with the surge of transphobic rhetoric, have very real consequences for the transgender and broader LGBTQIA+ communities.  

According to a 2023 poll, 86% of trans and non-binary youth report that debate over anti-trans bills have negatively affected their mental health. This may be one reason why, in the US, LGBTQIA+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers, with roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considering suicide in 2023.   

Additionally, hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community have spiked since 2022, with the FBI reporting a 15% increase even as the overall US crime rate declines. Just last month, an Illinois woman was beaten unconscious at a McDonald's by a group of individuals who attacked her for her perceived sexual orientation as she entered a restroom — an assault now being investigated as a hate crime.   

The medical impact of anti-trans action is equally life-threatening. Bans on gender-affirming care can block doctors from providing lifesaving medical treatment, putting doctors in the uncomfortable position of either breaking the law to provide necessary care or leaving already-vulnerable patients at risk of health complications. 

Taken together, these attacks on the transgender community, whose consequences often reverberate through the broader LGBTQIA+ community, inflict real harm upon a vulnerable group of people. 

How These Attacks Impact Democracy 

This, in turn, harms our democracy. According to a study by researchers at the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric is often accompanied by democratic erosion (also known as backsliding) and rising authoritarianism.  

Why? At its core, a healthy democracy promises to protect the rights of minority groups and vulnerable populations, with the understanding that if a population is stripped of its rights and protections by the government, no one is safe.  

Democratic erosion is characterized by attacks on rights. These often start with assaults on a vulnerable population used to test institutional guardrails, intimidate entire communities, and normalize governmental abuse of authority. According to numerous metrics and prominent scholars, the US is a backsliding democracy. 

How to fight back 

We should not — and for the sake of impacted communities and our democracy, cannot — stand idly by while attacks on the transgender and broader LGBTQIA+ communities continue unabated.  

This Pride Month, join the advocacy efforts of the LWV’s Women Defend Democracy campaign and the Unite and Rise 8.5 initiative to: 

• Call on your representative to fight back against the federal government’s attacks on the trans and LGBTQIA+ communities;
• Attend a Pride event this June (local jurisdictions and organizations will have a schedule of parades and events in your area);
• Call on your representative to oppose the SAVE Act;
• Join your local League and see how they are defending democracy at the local level; and
• Support trans and LGBTQIA+ rights organizations nationwide and in your neighborhood.  

There is no true democracy without trans rights!