feature image photo by Michael M. Santiago / Staff via Getty Images
In the month since the Trump administration took over the White House, we’ve seen the President and the members of his little ministry of terror do everything they possibly can to torment undocumented immigrants, trans people, Palestinians, women, and thousands of federal employees who have been trying to keep their sectors of the government from falling apart. Even before Trump and his administration took office, dozens of states were already engaged in trying to pass and enforce policies similar to the Executive Orders that have been signed by Trump since January 20. The more the administration pushes, the more the media and every person who’s on social media responds, and we’re once again trapped in the cycle of watching people post their outrage over and over again as if we haven’t done this before. Of course, this time around, the Trump administration has moved much more swiftly to assert their power and make us feel as if we’re powerless to do anything against them, which is exactly the point. But that doesn’t mean we actually are.
Outside of a political and social revolution (which I’m certainly hoping for and working towards in my corner), some of our best chances at preventing the effects of the enforcement of the worst federal, state, and municipal policies and laws is by challenging them with any tools we have available to us. People have been doing that in a variety of ways over the last few years, but it feels especially imperative right now to pay attention to the kinds of legal and more localized challenges happening across the country — not just because it’s important to learn by example but also because these challenges show us a different route is possible even when it seems impossible. This week, we’ve seen a number of city- and state-level wins and larger developments happening across the country, especially in regards to the protection of young trans people.
Since 2023, the Attorney General of the state of New Jersey has been trying to get three school districts in the state — Marlboro, Manalapan-Englishtown, and Middletown — to repeal policies that would force school officials to forcefully out trans and gender-nonconforming students to the students’ parents. As a result of these policy decisions directly contradicting the state of New Jersey’s guidance for schools on this matter, cases against the three school districts were brought to the New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division by the Attorney General, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Garden State Equality where it was decided last week that these school districts are officially blocked from instituting or enforcing these policies. In their decision, the judges wrote, “Regarding the findings of irreparable harm, the trial court appropriately found, relying on several studies, that the [forced outing policy] would harm students by discriminating against them based on their gender identity and expression. Additionally, the trial court found that the [forced outing policy] would harm school staff by subjecting them to discipline for failing to abide by its disclosure requirements.”
Following Trump’s signing of the Executive Order designed to block gender-affirming healthcare for young trans people and to keep trans women from competing in women’s sports this month, a number of young trans people — along with their families and their lawyers — filed federal lawsuits against the administration. The first lawsuit regarding gender-affirming care was filed in the District Court of the District of Maryland by American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, ACLU of Maryland, and private law firms Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block, who filed the suit on behalf of two trans young adults and five families of trans minors. The suit states that “The Executive Orders were issued for the openly discriminatory purpose of preventing transgender people from expressing a gender identity different from their sex designated at birth—and expressing governmental disapproval of transgender people who, by definition, have a gender identity that does not align with their sex designated at birth. These Orders are part of a government-wide effort by the Trump Administration to restrict legal protections and essential services for the transgender community.” Representatives for the young people and families involved in the suit are arguing that these Executive Orders are unconstitutional overreaches by the president and that he does not have the authority to withhold federal funds approved by Congress and that the order “restricting transition care violates parents’ fundamental rights and the rights of trans people under 19 by discriminating against them based on sex.”
The second lawsuit filed in New Hampshire is almost entirely at the helm of two young trans teens in the state. Parker Tirrell, 16, and Iris Turmelle, 15, gained national attention when they originally sued educational officials at their public schools in the state of New Hampshire in 2024 over House Bill 1205, a law preventing young trans girls from participating in girls’ sports teams at their schools. That lawsuit is still ongoing, but in September, it was ordered by a U.S. District Court that the girls be allowed to play on their teams as the trial continues. The girls’ lawyers from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the ACLU of New Hampshire took that ongoing suit and filed an amended complaint to take the case national in order to legally challenge Trump’s Executive Order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” Similar to the previous lawsuit, this one argues an unconstitutional use of power by the president and also argues that the Order is in direct conflict with Title IX, the civil rights statute that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funding.
Additionally, a continuously updated database of legal challenges to all of Trump’s recent Executive Orders can be found at Just Security. As of right now, there are over 70 cases documented in full on the database.
Beyond legal wins and new legal challenges, we’ve also seen a wave of direct pressure and action from people standing up against institutions in their cities and states. Healthcare institutions in New York and California were moved to act in response to local groups pushing for them to reverse course in how they were proceeding in response to Trump’s Executive Order on gender-affirming care for trans youth. In New York, where some hospitals and healthcare facilities were quietly complying with the Order, hundreds of people showed up to NYU Langone Health earlier this month to protest their early compliance, and the New York Attorney General put out a statement warning healthcare providers not to comply. This past week, the New York Department of Health took the warning a little further by issuing direct guidance ordering all the healthcare facilities in the state to keep providing gender-affirming treatment without question.
Similarly, in early February, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced that in compliance with the Executive Order, they would stop providing gender-affirming care for patients younger than 19-years-old. After the announcement, parents, their families, and their allies began holding weekly protests outside of the hospital demanding that they reverse the order and continue providing their vital care for their children and other young patients at the hospital. On February 21, the administration at CHLA announced they would stop the pause on the part of the order that prevented their clinicians from providing gender-affirming hormonal therapy. Although the administration claims they are lifting the pause because of their review of the legal challenges against the Executive Order, the ongoing protests can’t be fully disentangled from their decision-making. As of right now, the hospital has not commented on when they will resume gender-affirming surgeries for trans youth, but people who organized the protests are not going to cease until a decision is made.
Although this is just a small sample size of what is going on, everyone should continue to keep their eyes open for more legal challenges and direct action against the Trump administration and what they’re doing. Anger and outrage is only useful if it’s channeled into meaningful action, so keeping tabs on what is going on locally and nationally can help you see where you can materially contribute to these ongoing battles. Most of these issues aren’t new and many have been alerting people to their existence for years now, but as restrictions get even harsher and institutions continue to comply early and without question, it’s as important as ever that people are taking a stand from wherever they are. If even the youngest amongst us aren’t sinking into hopelessness, then we shouldn’t either.
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Read more of Autostraddle’s recent coverage of Trump’s illegal Executive Orders:
- Hunter Schafer’s passport was returned to her with an M.
- The Stonewall Monument website removed all references to trans people.
- The government is also removing vital health information and data from government websites.
- Athletic governing bodies are unfortunately complying with Trump’s transphobic sports EO.
- Hundreds protested NYC-based hospital’s early compliance with Trump’s gender-affirming care EO.
- Trump wants to indoctrinate kids in public schools with anti-trans, ahistorical, patriotic education.
- How you can argue against the transphobic talking points being used to attack gender-affirming care.
