What Trump's America means for transgender Australians

OPINION - Into the unknown, but it's okay, we've ventured into the unknown before.

Update: This was hastily typed out on a plane very soon after the election, I’ve spent some time expanding on my thoughts and fixing it up.

Copyright: Lucy Martinez

Convicted Felon and former President Donald J. Trump will return to office in 2025, and it’s worth reiterating that this is a very dark result for the American people. Even the most mainstream white middle-class Americans will suffer when mass deportations and high tariffs on imports rock the economy.

However, I wanted to take a moment to share some analysis on how this might affect queer and trans Australians.

The Local Backlash

I believe the biggest negative for queer Australians is that that local bigots will be emboldened to increase both the intensity and the frequency of their actions. For example, we’ve been hearing chants of “America for Americans” at Trump rallies, whilst back on our shores, the National Socialist Network have been carrying banners stating slogans like “Australia for the White Man”.

These kinds of, what can only be described as, anti-humanity actions are set to increase into the new year. Be prepared to see more brazen stunts, and an escalation, potentially into violence by the Neo Nazis.

However, it also appears the Police are beginning to take the Neo Nazi threat a touch more seriously. While it’s important to remember, that we keep us safe. A Police response could reduce the temperature and likelihood of more violent escalations by groups like the NSN.

That all said, the emboldening also extends to local politicians, particularly those on the fringe.

Senator Claire Chandler (Lib Fed) and Bev McArthur (Lib Vic) will absolutely be emboldened to continue their attacks on transgender people. You might be thinking about the threat posed by One Nation or Katter, but fringe parties are less of a concern as they cannot agitate for negative policies within the major parties. A recent motion by Pauline Hanson attempting to simply state bigoted beliefs about transgender identities was quickly stopped by the Senate.

It does seem though that this emboldening has already happened. With the increased temperature of the so called “trans debate” online, I’ve watched more brazen and outright messaging from anti-trans MP’s being shared, with the two aforementioned bigots in parliament consistently and regularly tweeting negatively about transgender people.

Our Upcoming Election

That said, it is inevitable that we will see a further increase in anti-transgender political rhetoric in the lead-up to the 2025 Australian federal election. We saw a taste of it in the Queensland Election with some mentions in Liberal Party marketing material about Puberty Blockers.

We do not have to despair, though; we are lucky to have organisations like Equality Australia and the Trans Justice Project advocating for our rights.

This coming election, Trans Justice Project will ask politicians to sign the #TransJusticePledge. A campaign to secure support across the board for trans rights.

It’s also up to us to get active politically, which means door-knocking, handing out leaflets, or phone calling for a party or candidate that is committed to trans rights.

Travel to America

A quarter of a billion dollars was spent during this election to convince Americans that queer and transgender people were a threat to the very fabric of society. As such, the lives of queer people in the US are in more danger than ever before.

Current Risk

As someone with a lot of travel experience in the US, here’s my current advice for those thinking about or planning travel to America.

At this stage, I would very strongly advise against travel to Florida or Texas (with the exception of travel exclusively within Austin, TX). Additionally, if you must travel to Florida, do not drive a vehicle if you have changed the sex marker on your documentation.

I would also advise at this stage to reconsider non-essential travel to any US state that does not have strong transgender protections, such as California, Oregon, and Washington.

Risk Post-Inauguration

Trump’s Project 2025 describes transgender people as pornographic and seeks to outlaw pornography. It doesn’t take a genius to realise what this really means. It is entirely possible that President Trump may criminalise being transgender and/or queer.

As such, I would advise any queer person to avoid non-essential travel for an extended period of time to states in the US without sanctuary protections for queer/trans people as the situation may change rapidly.

Hope

Personally, I feel a bit dejected. I’m hyper aware the climate can’t handle another trump presidency, and I pray that we are able to demand real climate action in every other country in the meantime, and later fix the damage Trump does to the climate with his “Drill baby, drill” mantra.

But for queer people, I know that we always will live, and living alone is a victory. Death before Detransition means that they’ll have to kill me before I’ll ever detransition. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not going easy. - Lucy

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