A Year of Rollbacks: LGBTQ+ Rights Under Trump's Second Term
From the trans military ban to erasing federal protections for 100,000 workers, here's a factual accounting of what's changed for LGBTQ+ Americans since January 2025 — and where things stand now.
In the first hours of his second term, Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders that fundamentally changed the legal landscape for LGBTQ+ Americans. Fourteen months later, the effects are real, ongoing, and still being challenged in courts across the country.
This isn’t a doom piece. It’s an accounting — because the LGBTQ+ community deserves accurate information, not panic or false reassurance.
What Actually Happened
Day One — January 20, 2025
Trump signed Executive Order 14168, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” It declared that federal policy would recognize only two sexes — male and female — described as immutable and determined “at conception.” Within hours:
- All federal agencies were directed to replace “gender” with “sex” in official materials
- Recognition of nonbinary “X” gender markers on federal documents ended
- LGBTQ+ resources were deleted from federal government websites, including EEOC guidance pages on Bostock v. Clayton County (the 2020 Supreme Court ruling protecting LGBTQ+ workers)
- Two Biden-era executive orders protecting LGBTQ+ federal workers were revoked
The same day, Trump signed orders ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the federal government, eliminating protections for an estimated 14,000 transgender federal employees and over 100,000 LGBTQ+ employees of federal contractors.
January 22 — Passports
Secretary of State Marco Rubio suspended all passport applications seeking a gender marker change or nonbinary “X” designation. The State Department webpage for amending gender markers went offline the following day. A federal court temporarily blocked this for named plaintiffs in April — but the Supreme Court halted that injunction in November 2025, allowing the passport ban to be enforced nationwide.
January 27 — The Military Ban
Executive Order 14183 effectively prohibited transgender people from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, rescinding Biden-era policy. The Pentagon’s implementation guidance followed in February. Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s February 7 memo directed TRICARE to immediately cancel all gender-affirming surgeries for transgender service members — regardless of prior approvals or where they were in treatment.
Approximately 4,000 transgender people serve in the military. About 1,000 began voluntary separation proceedings by May. Separation deadlines were: active-duty, June 6, 2025; Reserves, July 7, 2025.
A federal court blocked the ban in March 2025. In May 2025, the Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect while the Ninth Circuit litigation continues.
The 988 Suicide Hotline
In June 2025, HHS eliminated the “Press 3” LGBTQ+ youth option on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline from its 2026 budget. The service ended July 17, 2025. The Trevor Project and other advocates condemned the decision as directly harmful to LGBTQ+ young people in crisis.
Healthcare Coverage
HHS finalized a rule prohibiting health insurers from treating gender-affirming care as an Essential Health Benefit under the ACA, effective for plan year 2026. Separately, in August 2025, OPM announced gender-affirming care would no longer be covered by federal employee health benefits beginning 2026.
The Supreme Court: United States v. Skrmetti
The most consequential legal development was the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on June 18, 2025, upholding Tennessee’s SB1 — a law banning gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender minors.
The Court ruled that the law did not classify based on sex or transgender status and was not subject to heightened scrutiny — only the deferential “rational basis” standard. The law passed that low bar.
Immediate impact: As of the ruling, 27 states had enacted gender-affirming care bans for minors. Approximately 120,400 transgender youth aged 13-17 — 40.1% of all trans youth in that age range — now live in states that have banned their access to medically recommended care. The ruling effectively cleared constitutional challenges to those bans.
The Court described the ruling as narrow, leaving open state constitutional challenges. Advocates have pivoted to state courts, where independent state constitutional protections can still apply.
State-Level Picture
The state legislative environment has accelerated, not stabilized. In early 2026, the ACLU was tracking nearly 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across state legislatures, with the Trans Legislation Tracker monitoring 645 anti-trans bills specifically. Prism Reports noted in February 2026: “Anti-transgender legislation accelerates in early 2026.”
New Hampshire’s HB 377, effective January 1, 2026, criminalizes provision of puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and certain surgical procedures for patients under 18 — among the most sweeping enacted so far.
A federal judge in Texas filed a lawsuit in December 2025 asking courts to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges — the 2015 ruling establishing marriage equality nationwide. The case reflects continued legal pressure on foundational rights, though most legal scholars consider an Obergefell overturn unlikely in the near term.
Legal Wins
Despite the hostile landscape, advocates have secured important court victories:
- June 2025: A federal court blocked executive orders threatening to defund LGBTQ+ health and HIV-prevention organizations, finding violations of equal protection, free speech, and due process
- Summer 2025: A federal judge restored $6.2 million in federal funding to LGBTQ+ programs
- August 2025: Sixteen state attorneys general sued the Trump administration, arguing its enforcement activities constitute a de facto national ban on gender-affirming care
- February 2026: A court granted a preliminary injunction blocking EO provisions targeting gender identity protections in education
Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and GLAD Law maintain active litigation portfolios challenging virtually every major order.
What Hasn’t Changed (Yet)
Obergefell — the 2015 Supreme Court marriage equality ruling — remains the law of the land. No federal action has directly targeted same-sex marriage.
Bostock v. Clayton County — the 2020 ruling holding that Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition includes sexual orientation and gender identity — also remains binding precedent, though the current administration’s narrowed reading of “sex” creates conflict with it.
Twenty-four states plus Washington D.C. maintain their own LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections. Several governors have explicitly positioned their states as sanctuaries for transgender residents.
The Human Number
Behind the legal framework are people. Approximately 1.3 million transgender Americans are navigating a federal government that no longer recognizes their legal identity. 120,000 transgender adolescents cannot access medically recommended care in their states. Transgender federal employees are required to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, and class-action lawsuits are ongoing.
The Trevor Project reported a 25% increase in crisis contacts during the first quarter of 2025.
At the same time, LGBTQ+ community organizing and legal defense funding have both reached record levels. The community has not been passive.
Sources: Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD Trump Accountability Tracker, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Executive Order Tracker, KFF, ACLU, Lambda Legal, Wikipedia (EO 14168, Skrmetti), Trans Legislation Tracker, Prism Reports.
