Pride Month has come to an end. But for millions of LGBTQ+ Americans, this year’s celebrations were overshadowed by a growing sense of pressure and uncertainty.
Since January, President Donald Trump has launched a sweeping series of executive actions and policy shifts targeting LGBTQ+ people, especially young people.
From schools, health care, and even suicide prevention resources, the Trump administration is making significant changes.
Melissa Combs founded the OUT Accountability Project, a Connecticut nonprofit working to make schools safe and inclusive for LGBTQ+ students.
She said the project grew from her youngest child’s experience in middle school.
“There was bullying and harassment, not just from peers but from adults,” Combs said. “I learned a lot about what laws and things are in place to protect students and what resources are available.”
LGBTQ+ students in the U.S. are protected by federal laws, including Title IX and the Equal Access Act. Despite that, her son still struggled.
“We were focused on really keeping our child alive,” she said. “My child experienced depression, anxiety, decreased academic performance, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. He lost two years of his childhood as well as two years of learning. As a parent, it was painful and challenging, and enraging.”
That’s why she dove into research, learning about how to protect LGBTQ+ students. She moved her son to a new school and got him gender-affirming care, and he began to thrive.
“My youngest child is at the point where he can see a future for himself again,” Combs said.
She also filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights.
“Obviously, now with the gutting of the Department of Education, it’s nearly impossible for anything to be investigated,” Combs said. “I have no idea where our case now lives.”
So now she’s a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the gutting of the Office of Civil Rights. She wants all kids to have the same support she gave her son.
“What I want for them is simply to be able to exist in society and have equitable access to an education and healthcare, and that is what I work toward,” she said.
The Trump administration has also banned federal funding for gender-affirming care for anyone under 19. The order would “protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation.”
But experts say gender-affirming care for children typically includes counseling, hormone therapy and puberty blockers, rather than surgeries.
A Harvard study shows that gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed on trans youth, and that gender-affirming medications are rarely prescribed to adolescents.
Between 2016 and 2019, fewer than three surgeries were performed per 100,000 teens aged 13–17, and none for children under 12.
“Right now, there’s a lot of misinformation out there about gender-affirming care coming from people who haven’t spoken to anyone with lived experience,” Combs said. “When you talk to someone with lived experience and learn about the process, you learn that it’s not how people frame it publicly.”
Mel Cordner is the founding executive director of Q Plus, a Connecticut advocacy group for LGBTQ+ youth. The group believes that gender-affirming care saves lives.
“If you aren’t trans and don’t know people who are, then that feels dramatic,” Cordner said. “But the thing you’ve got to understand about gender, if you’re trying to support transgender people, is that there isn’t a single aspect of your life that’s not touched by gender expectations, social norms, and relationships.”
One order states that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and will use the term “sex” instead of “gender.”
It also requires government-issued identification documents, such as passports and visas, to accurately reflect the person’s biological sex.
Cordner knows people in Connecticut who’ve lost their passports “simply and entirely because they’re transgender,” they said.
“People are losing their stuff, and it’s like, okay, now if we want to leave the country, we can’t,” Cordner said.
Cordner also knows people who are planning to leave the country to feel safe.
“That is the point we’re at. I know people who have left. I know people who live in Canada who did not live in Canada a year ago. I know a lot of people have plans to do that, and it’s a constant conversation in the trans community, like, ‘hey, what’s your line? What’s your red line? When are you leaving? What are you gonna give up? Who’s gonna take your pets?’ Like we have those conversations. It’s scary,” Cordner said.
The administration has also targeted schools, issuing an order stating the administration will “end radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,” meaning that schools would be unable to use federal funds to support students who are socially transitioning or have curriculum that promotes gender fluidity.
The order would require teachers to use students’ names and pronouns that align with the sex they were assigned at birth, rather than ones that align with their preferred gender identity.
Cordner said that’s causing teachers a lot of stress, and some have already lost their jobs for standing up.
“Who do we cause harm to, our kids or our careers?” Cordner asked.
They say teachers are quietly reducing their support, such as taking down pride flags or no longer asking kids for their pronouns.
“And it's subtle things to the point where they’re like, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna do this so that I’m under the radar.’ But you know who’s really super noticing that is your trans kids,” Cordner said. “That’s soul-crushing to a kid.”
But Combs said there’s hope. She points to recent state wins in Connecticut, including the Freedom to Read bill that passed this session.
“We are able to keep books on the shelves for these kids now so that they can see themselves in their school library, in their public library, and ultimately in their community, and I cannot underscore how important that is,” she said. “And not just read by them, but read by others because reading builds empathy, I mean that’s a fact.”
The state also strengthened the Shield Law, which protects providers of gender-affirming care.
Despite that, LGBTQ+ young people will lose another resource later this month when the Trump administration shuts down their dedicated suicide hotline on July 17.
The lifeline was created under a bipartisan effort in 2022 to address sky-high suicide risks in queer and trans communities, especially among teens. Since its launch, it has received nearly 1.3 million contacts.
But now, the administration has accused the service of promoting what it calls “radical gender ideology.”
“I think it’s dangerous for anybody to not feel seen, not feel appreciated, not feel connected to their community,” said Cordner. “It’s especially, statistically dangerous for queer people, even more so for trans people, even more so for trans people of color, and even more so for trans youth, especially trans youth of color. It’s not a contest, but the more marginalized identities you hold, the more isolated you’re already likely to feel, and the fewer resources you’re already likely to have access to.”
Cordner said Q Plus doesn’t charge kids for their services; they offer community-based support, like peer discussion groups. Although it’s technically not therapy, Cordner said, “For a lot of these kids, it’s all they’ve got.”
“Right now, the federal government is literally trying to erase their existence,” Combs said. “That has had a profound effect on trans youth. And the second group of kids that we cannot forget in all of this are the ones who are not out, and are suffering in silence.”
Melissa encourages young folks to keep fighting.
“We’re in a moment where it feels like hope isn’t a reasonable emotion to have, and I’m going to push back on that and say that there’s a lot of people across the country who understand, who are fighting, and if anything what this moment has done is pushed us all together,” Combs said.
