Trump’s second-term agenda on LGBTQ issues alarms civil rights groups

The former president, who has shifted his positions over the years, is now planning to lead the GOP charge on gender identity if he returns to the White House.


Former president Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pa. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post)

By Hannah Knowles
September 22, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Penny Nance slid a form across the table to Donald Trump at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Her Christian nonprofit, Concerned Women for America, wanted Trump to pledge in writing that a person’s “gender identity” doesn’t “overrule their sex,” and that if he becomes president again, “all federal agencies will be directed to uphold this fact in every policy and program at home and abroad.”

Such a promise would have wide-ranging implications, the form emphasized, affecting schools, prisons, shelters, health-care providers, the military and more. But it was an easy sell, Nance recalled of her June 2023 conversation, and Trump soon signed the pledge. On the trail a few days later, Trump marveled aloud at the crowd’s standing ovation for his promise to crack down on “transgender insanity.” … “It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that. You see, I’m talking about cutting taxes, people go like that,” he said, mimicking a polite, reserved clap. “I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy,” he added. “Who would have thought?”

The former president, who has shifted his position over the years on LGBTQ issues, is planning to lead the GOP charge on gender identity if he returns to the White House, according to his campaign and interviews with allies, testing the legal limits of federal action as the Supreme Court also takes up the issue. He says he wants to kick providers out of Medicare and Medicaid for offering gender transition care to minors, such as hormone therapy and surgery; pull federal funding from schools if officials suggest a child “could be trapped in the wrong body”; and purge anything in the federal government deemed to promote transgender identity. The moves would go against the advice of leading medical groups.

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A second Trump term would be a sharp turn away from the Biden administration, which rolled back many Trump-era policies — including Trump’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the military — and is battling in court to require federally funded schools to accommodate transgender students. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has also promoted LBGTQ rights as Republican-led states pass laws restricting gender transition care and discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools.

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By Hannah Knowles
Hannah Knowles is a national politics reporter covering campaigns at The Washington Post. She previously reported for The Post's general assignment desk.follow on X @KnowlesHannah