Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV)

Photo by Katie Rainbow

Trans Day of Visibility is this week, and for those who have not heard of this day, it was founded by Rachel Crandall-Crocker (she/her) in 2009 as a way of celebrating the lives of trans and gender diverse folks across the world. This year, the celebration comes during a storm of attacks against the trans community with an exceptionally vicious focus on trans youth. CLDC often celebrates our comrades by increasing knowledge about rights and risks, and this week is no different. Knowledge is power! Many within the trans community and their allies are carrying deep concern and confusion about how best to proceed, given the new wave of threats: ICE in the airports, legal documentation challenges, medical care barriers, executive order rollbacks and more.

As a non-binary parent of a trans kiddo, these concerns and knowledge are also personally relevant. Along with the rest of our trans community, we are also navigating the challenges of travel concerns, medical barriers to gender-affirming surgery and threats to hormone treatment, confusion over the ever-changing legal documentation laws, and constant assessment for safety. CLDC recently provided a training for trans youth and their allies on these topics and current resources. (There will be an upcoming training for trans adults and their allies, which will be announced soon!) One of the youth panelists spoke to the reality of living in this time: “I am constantly worried and confused about how safe I really am and if I will continue to have access to my medical gender-affirming care. It is not because there are laws preventing the surgeons from treating me, but they are really afraid of the government coming after them. I am just trying to do well in high school and get ready for college, and things like this and the confusion about if I am safe enough to stay in this country or travel safely make it really hard”.

Trumpaphobe Takes Aim

President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14168 on inauguration day, January 20, 2025, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which rescinded Biden-era protections and declared the official U.S. policy that there are only two biological sexes, male and female. Executive orders are not law, they are a statement of the president’s policy priorities and how he expects federal agencies to change or implement his hateful ideology.  This EO mandated several significant attacks on trans rights including:

• Federal Documents: official federal documents must reflect sex assigned at birth.
• Healthcare & Funding: no federal funding for gender-affirming care and requiring all federal agencies to rescind any policy that contradicts Trump’s ignorant/religious extremist fallacies and ignoring international transgender health guidance.
• DEI at federal workplaces and education:  removes non-discrimination protections for LGBTQAIA+ federal workers and contractors; directs schools to stop recognizing gender identity in classrooms and textbooks.
• Military:   bans transgender people and those with a history of gender dysphoria in the U.S. military

Other EO’s target DEI and affirmative action, K-12 schooling, sports and “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutiliation.”

These policies were immediately challenged in federal court with preliminary injunctions ordered suspending enforcement of them.  Check out this Trump Anti-LGBTQ+ Executive Order Litigation Tracker– “a one-stop resource to locate up-to-date information on all pending litigation addressing anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders issued by the second Trump Administration.”

And just a reminder, the overwhelming majority of these EOs targeting federal agencies or federal funds do not negate state law protections or services provided at the state and local level (for progressive states).  When Trump leaves office and (hopefully) democrats regain the executive branch, new EOs will be issued immediately to rescind these ignorant policies and restore equal rights again.

National Anti-Trans Legislation:

In 2025 alone, there were 1,022 bills introduced that targeted trans and gender nonconforming people and mainly in the areas of education, healthcare, sports, bathrooms, public events, and documentation. Of those, only 126 were passed. 2026 has followed this trend with 747 anti-trans bills introduced so far, and of those, 47 have failed with 23 passing and 677 still active. (https://translegislation.com). Trans Legislation Tracker provides regularly updated information about anti-trans legislation, including bills and executive orders, which can help to tame the overwhelm, confusion, and stress around ongoing legislative threats to our community. It is important to realize that while the threats to our rights are real, the fight is strong and overwhelmingly winning.

Below are two national maps, one for trans adults and one for trans youth, that show states by safest to highest risk. (source: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-legislative-risk-assessment-2a4) It is worth noting that there are movement groups focused on removing barriers for trans people to move to safer states, and supporting these groups is a strong form of allyship. TransLash (translash.org), Trans Lifeline (translifeline.org), HRC (hrc.org), and Rainbow Railroad (rainbowrailroad.org) are all groups leading this important work.

Adult Trans Legislative Risk Assessment Map

Youth Trans Legislative Risk Assessment Map

Airport Security and Your Rights:

Travel has always carried a certain degree of concern for the trans community, and the ever-changing legal landscape of gender markers on documentation has been a historical concern, especially at airport security checkpoints. One of the most common concerns is that body scans will reveal differences between what TSA agents expect to see when looking at the gender markers on ID and what they see on the screen. As a result, many trans travelers have either avoided air travel all together or traveled with intense anxiety for this reason. Recently, these concerns have only increased due to the TSA decision to implement more intrusive body searches and the presence of ICE agents in some airports. The good news is that the vast majority of trans travelers have been able to travel without incident, and the legal jurisdiction for ICE agents is limited to immigration matters. The TSA agents are really only looking for metal, guns, and weapons and are not able to see the details of your body.

• Security Screening Rights and Risks (https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening): The screening machines at security check-points use software called Automatic Target Recognition (ATG) that scans the body and displays the contour of the body and provides alarms of ‘anomalies’. According to the TSA, humans do not actually view the images generated by the ATG and specific details of the body are not provided. ATR can alert when the generic contours are not congruent with the gender markers on documents. Wearing loose clothing, binders, STPs, packers, etc can potentially trigger an ATR alarm which can result in a pat down.

You do not have to consent to body scans, however, the alternative will be a pat down. According to TSA policy, children 12 and under should receive lighter pat downs under direct observation of their parent and all pat downs should be conducted by a TSA agent with the same gender identity as the traveler. “A pat-down may include inspection of the head, neck, arms, torso, legs, and feet. This includes head coverings and sensitive areas such as breasts, groin, and the buttocks. You may be required to adjust clothing during the pat-down” (TSA).

A possible alternative that could feel safer is using the TSA Pre-Check option, which often avoids the body scans and pat downs and replaces them with a metal detector. To access this option, you will need to fill out an online application, provide fingerprints, and pay an $85 fee. It is important to note that the application requires you to provide all previously names.

• ICE Agents at the Airports:

It is important to know that not all airports have ICE agents deployed to them, and in fact, there are only 14 major airports where ICE is present:

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York
• LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York
• Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), New Jersey
• Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
• Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston
• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE)
• Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
• Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), Fort Myers
• Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport(SJU), San Juan, Puerto Rico

According to Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, ICE agents are not trained on the body scanning machines and are primarily there to cut down on wait times over three hours at the above major airports (CNN State of the Union). Lauren Bis, his assistant secretary elaborated by explaining that ICE agents are supposed to support the TSA process by “guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, doing crowd control, and verifying identification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures” and Homan went on to underline the mandate for ICE agents stationed at airports to “carry out what they believe is their charge of identifying potential immigrants who are not in this country legally” (https://www.npr.org/2026/03/26/nx-s1-5759159/trump-ice-airports-tsa).

It is important to know that trans folks have been able to travel without a lot of TSA hassle. They are looking for weapons, and even in pat-downs, that is what they are looking for – regardless of what else they may see or notice about your body. This is also true if you happen to get pulled over or arrested while not traveling- they only care and are looking for guns and weapons. We will be sharing a blog soon on the realities of arrest and incarceration for trans folks.

On this week of celebrating trans and gender diverse people, we want you to know that we see you and we have your back! Our movement and community have a long history of resilience in the face of state repression and threats, and we know how to survive and even thrive in the face of this current storm. Mutual aid and community support are just as important now as during crisis in previous years, including the AIDS crisis. Trans youth are learning this for the first time, while many of us are bringing those time-honed skills to the current moment. One trans youth shared, “This is the first time something this scary has happened to me and my peers, regarding our sexual and gender identity. I mean, we have all endured peers who bully and use slurs, school administrations who claim to have anti-bullying policies and do nothing, and many have had to experience unsupportive families. We have never had our own government attacking us , lying about us, and taking away our rights. I am learning from people in my community who are older than me and remember before we had insurance for gender-affirming care. They are sharing how they got access to care and how to find those who will help. I have grown up hearing We Keep Us Safe – my mom is an activist, but I am really only starting to really understand that now. There is a beautiful network of adults who are already stepping in to help us youth and one another, and on most days, this is the only reason the panic does not win” (Anonymous trans youth). May we all bloom in the face of adversity and lift one another up! Stay strong. We love you, and we’ve got your back!