As a clinical psychologist, Devin Dihenia has held several conversations with transgender youth over the last week who are worried about their futures under a second Trump presidency.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to roll back key protections for transgender people when he returns to the White House, and he made rhetoric against the community a key driver of his campaign. But for San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community, there’s a looming uncertainty over what the new government will bring.
“I’ve been kind of on autopilot,” Dihenia, 30, a North Park resident, said Tuesday evening at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, where more than 200 people gathered for a post-election event to show LGBTQ+ solidarity and connect with local resources.
Some community members have felt hopeless and scared and had a hard time getting out of bed since the election. But they also say finding moments of connection and discussion has been a priority — whether they’re seeking community in gatherings like this one or in going out dancing with their friends.
They’re also getting together to mobilize and prepare for the potential effects of a Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress. Some are thinking about whether their marriages will remain valid in other states; others are even considering whether to leave the country.
“He showed us a preview of it,” Jessica Bahena, who lives in National City, said of Trump’s first term on Tuesday. “He might have not completed it, but now he has hired a whole team to do the rest of his work.”
During his presidency, Trump banned openly transgender people from joining and serving in the military and shut trans people out of nondiscrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act.
But in the years since he left office, the Republican party and its allies have ramped up their rhetoric against trans people and promised to undo many rights and protections, particularly at the state level. Hundreds of bills to limit LGBTQ+ — and especially trans — people’s rights have been proposed, and many enacted, in state legislatures nationwide.
On the campaign trail, Trump made anti-trans policies and rhetoric a center of his messaging, including in pervasive TV advertising. “Kamala is for they/them,” one such ad said. “President Trump is for you.” Other Democratic candidates also were targeted with anti-trans ads.
He promised to ban gender-affirming care for youth, prevent federal funds from providing transgender care, pull funding from schools deemed to promote trans acceptance, and block federal agencies from promoting gender transition for anyone, regardless of age.
With Republicans newly in control of Congress, he could have a more receptive partner. Around the country, dozens of GOP-controlled state governments have restricted or banned gender-affirming health care for trans minors and have barred trans athletes from competing in certain competitive sports.
A Trump administration could also swiftly move to exclude transgender students from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.
The outcome of the election “affects everything — the way we travel, the jobs we apply for, and it takes away our access to public services and the way we build our community in different places,” said Angelle Maua, the president of San Diego Black Pride.
In response, their group plans to ramp up its fundraising efforts for its scholarship programs, its resources for transgender people and its general emergency fund, which helps people pay for everything from rent to health care.
Maua and several other community members are most worried for transgender youth.
For months, Trump has repeated false claims that students are undergoing gender-confirmation surgery during the school day. He has said he would ban transgender students from participating in youth sports. And has promised to ask Congress to pass legislation declaring that there are only two genders.
Many LGBTQ+ San Diegans say they feel safer living in a progressive state like California, where they hope they’ll be more protected. But they know they can still be vulnerable.
Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation banning school districts from requiring employees to notify parents if a student’s gender presentation changes — policies that transgender advocates say amount to forced outing. Weeks later, one East County school district passed just such a ban, calling it a matter of parents’ rights.
The Center is making such policies a central part of its advocacy. This week, it’s launching a letter-writing campaign to school districts to notify them of the risks they can pose to students.
Educators’ decisions to tell parents how their children are presenting at school “can be really dangerous and harmful for some kids who maybe don’t have the most accepting environment at home,” said Karina Piu, a policy and advocacy coordinator at the Center.
Jose Tinoco, the Center’s director of Youth and Family Services, which leads the Hillcrest and South Bay youth centers, said that since the election they’re increasing their available mental health support resources, including bringing more case workers and crisis managers on site.
They also plan to lean into existing resources, such as family and peer programs, so that families can support the LGBTQ+ young people in their lives, and advocacy teams for youth who want to get more involved in activism. “It’s been a little over a week… and we’re just learning as we go,” Tinoco said.
But even before the election, LGBTQ+ youth have been more vulnerable.
In one feedback study conducted by the trans immigrant advocacy group Proyecto Trans Latinas, young people in South County already reported feeling “mental and emotional strain from being trans and Latinx,” board member Alejandrina Medina said Tuesday night. “Maybe they can’t get to Hillcrest or the Center to get things they need or reach services anonymously,” she said, adding that efforts should focus on underserved communities.
The North County LGBTQ Resource Center’s executive director Max Disposti said more people have called the center in recent days with concerns — but the election is just the latest struggle for their community.
“The elections haven’t been an easy path… because in the past few years, LGBT identities have become the scapegoat for any political conversation,” he said. “There’s been an intense few years.”
And even beyond the policy impacts of a new Trump presidency, LGBTQ+ San Diegans worry about a rise in disrespect and violence by those who feel emboldened by it.
“It’s not good to have a culture war that threatens people’s identities, even if you’re not trans,” said North Park resident Mary Hobbs on Tuesday. “That’s something that everyone, I think, should relate to.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
