This is difficult to write. Donald Trump won on a platform that demonizes LGBTQ+ people. He promises to roll back hard-won gains, from marriage equality to the rights of transgender people to be our authentic selves. While it is unlikely that the positions he has taken on LGBTQ+ rights were a significant factor in his win (a recent Gallup Poll of issues voters said would influence their choice for President found that transgender rights ranked last) both his messaging and his policy choices will have consequences for our community. It would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
Messaging matters, especially to vulnerable young people.
In a recent Trevor Project survey, 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth said that debates over transgender rights had a negative impact on their mental health. And the consequences of the next four years will extend far beyond the rhetorical. I do not believe it hyperbolic to state that the government that Trump and his allies will assemble will be dedicated to the elimination of LGBTQ+ rights and to the erasure of transgender people from public life. There will be a focus on LGBTQ+, and in particular transgender, youth, with the end goal being a return to a time many of us know well – one in which it is both materially and imaginatively more difficult to consider coming out as LGBTQ+, transitioning to live as your authentic self, and making a meaningful life as an out and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community. A review of the campaign messaging and a read of the Project 2025 agenda outline these promises, and as Trump said in his remarks last night, intends to make good on them.
Where we live is important.
That said, we must not forget that LGBTQ+ rights have always depended in large measure on the state you live in. In New Jersey, the LGBTQ+ community has one of the oldest and strongest nondiscrimination laws in the country. Marriage Equality has been enshrined into law. Access to sex-segregated spaces in places of public accommodation, including but not limited to restrooms and locker rooms, is granted based on gender identity, including in public schools. Employers cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and temporary shelters, landlords, mortgage lenders and real estate brokers are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation in housing. Public schools are required to teach students about the contributions of LGBTQ+ people, the Department of Education hosts a Commission on LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity and Inclusion in Schools, and our DOE guidance on transgender students is among the strongest in the nation.
The Attorney General’s Office, following the recommendations of the Transgender Equality Task Force, issued landmark guidance for police interactions with transgender people. The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission also issued new guidance following the Task Force recommendations.
We have laws mandating equal protections for LGBTQ+ seniors and those living with HIV and prohibitions against discrimination in long-term care settings.
Recently, Governor Murphy issued an Executive Order making New Jersey a shield state for gender affirming care, and directed the Department of Banking and Insurance to issue Guidance to Insurance Carriers to Ensure Nondiscriminatory Health Coverage to Transgender Individuals. We must now act on legislation introduced by our ally Senate President Teresa Ruiz and codify the E.O. making NJ a shield state for gender affirming care.
We make the arc of history bend toward justice.
As a student of LGBTQ+ history I know, as do all of us who have lived it, that our community has faced hard times before. We know that the arc of history bends towards justice. Not inevitably but because we make it so. In this difficult moment we will continue to support one another, continue to fight for our freedoms, continue to fight for our democracy, continue to say no to hatred and division, and continue to rise up and assert that we are here, we are queer, and we are not going anywhere.
Aaron Potenza
Policy Consultant, Garden State Equality
Chair, NJ Transgender Equality Task Force
Principal, Potenza Public Strategies