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The Resistance Brief: This week in the fight for justice 

Blog by Ricardo Martinez (he/him), Executive Director

For the record 

Earlier in the week, I attended a federal court hearing in our case challenging the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members (Talbott v. Trump). At the hearing, we argued for a Preliminary Injunction to block the Order’s enforcement, allow transgender people to continue to enlist and serve on the same terms as all people who want to serve their country and meet the rigorous standards to do so, and resume transgender service members’ access to medical care.

During day two of the hearing, the judge asked U.S. Attorney Jason Lynch if he agreed that transgender people have been discriminated against. U.S. Attorney Jason Lynch concurred that trans people have experienced discrimination, but he did not believe the discrimination proves trans people are a quasi-suspect class subject to protection under the Constitution.

Five plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Talbott v. Trump, stand in formalwear after a court hearing.
Talbott v. Trump plaintiffs

What followed reminded me of a couple of things I forgot to note in last week’s Resistance Brief: Why the Courts Still Matter: the importance of the public record and the courage of plaintiffs.

Courts keep permanent records of their proceedings which means that as cases are litigated, history is being recorded. 

Forever, it will be noted that the court responded to Lynch’s assertion by stating all the ways transgender people have been harmed by their country over the last three weeks. She spoke about how the president has tried to block schools from using federals funds to discuss transgender people, stop the State Department from allowing transgender people to obtain passports with correct gender markers, change the references to LGBTQ on government websites – including the Stonewall Monument website – to remove the T and Q, ban trans girls and women from participating in sports, direct trans people in prison be denied correct housing and withheld necessary healthcare, and stop trans people from accessing homeless shelters.

By the end of her enumeration, she had half the attendees at the hearing in tears, including me. The pronouncement of facts, antithetical to a political landscape anchored in disinformation and cognitive dissonance, was profoundly moving and validating. In that moment it was hard to not think about all trans and nonbinary people who I love and how they have been harmed.

As a matter of record, it will forever be recorded that upon judicial review, someone with power voiced the totality of the systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions and mirrored it back to the world and our courageous plaintiffs who sat quietly in the court room.

Those brave service members who bore witness to a hearing where people weighed their humanity, minimized the harm of presidential decrees, and debated their rights left the court room with their heads held high. I think that is because they are clear about who they are and the role they play in protecting a country they love, even when that country is not protecting them back. Nicolas Talbott, one of our plaintiffs, said leaving the court room on Tuesday, “The fact that I am transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me. Every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications to serve. When you put on the uniform, differences fall away, and what matters is your ability to do the job.” 

Hear, hear, Second Lieutenant Talbott, hear, hear.

Four recent wins:

  • On February 20, the Vermont House unanimously passed, with bipartisan support, a bill that will streamline the process for LGBTQ+ parents to confirm their legal relationship to their children. The bill now moves to the state Senate.
  • On February 12, a federal judge granted our request to expand our case on behalf of New Hampshire transgender high school students Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle to challenge President Trump’s executive orders banning transgender girls from participating in school sports.
  • On Tuesday February 19, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in our case representing three incarcerated transgender women at risk of being transferred to a men’s facility and having their necessary medical care stopped. This blocks the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing against our clients President Trump’s first Executive Order attempting to deny the existence of transgender people, while our case against it continues. We are moving to protect as many of the transgender women in the women’s facilities as we can, and are adding anyone we hear from in the same circumstances.
  • Also on February 19, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Massachusetts public school’s policy supporting transgender students. GLAD Law submitted a friend-of-the-court brief with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents describing how a positive school climate is crucial to educational success for all students.

What to know, what to do: 

  • Read this ABC News coverage of the hearing on a Preliminary Injunction in Talbott v. Trump.
  • Watch plaintiff Nicolas Talbot’s interview segment on Fox News Digital (yes, you read that right).
  • Check out this page tracking GLAD Law’s challenges to Executive Orders, as well as challenges from other movement organizations.
  • Sign up to receive updates on GLAD Law’s work for LGBTQ+ justice.
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News

GLAD Law, with ACLU of NH, is currently challenging the New Hampshire state law banning transgender girls from participation. The federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of that law against our plaintiffs, two transgender high school students, while the litigation continues. Last week amended our case to include a challenge to the Executive Order.

GLAD Law Senior Director of Litigation Ben Klein made the following comment on the NHIAA announcement:

“This is an unfortunate reversal of what had been a well-working NHIAA policy that allowed transgender girls to participate on school teams with their peers. It’s important to note, however, that the NHIAA has not prohibited schools from allowing transgender girls to play sports. They have essentially decided to have no policy in light of the chaos and confusion caused by the executive order and are looking to the Court to address the issue. It’s further evidence of why we need the Court to weigh in so that transgender students are not denied the educational benefits that come from the opportunity to play school sports.”

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The Resistance Brief: This week in the fight for justice 

Blog by Ricardo Martinez (he/him), Executive Director

Why the courts still matter

I know we are all feeling the weight of the strain that our democracy is currently under. In these moments, I try to remember what I learned about our government’s system of checks and balances. Our three-branch government is supposed to divide power amongst each part to prevent tyranny.   

And while the current administration may have gone into an Executive Order-issuing frenzy causing confusion, panic, and disorder, there remain built-in limits to what the president can do through executive action alone. This is certainly the case when politics are working business as usual. JD Vance’s most recent comments about the courts not being able to tell the executive branch what to do signal a concerning willingness to defy judicial review. But the courts must remain a backstop against unconstitutional actions. And we, the people, have a role to play in ensuring the courts exercise their rightful role – and enforce executive compliance. It is paramount we do not succumb to apathy; lives are at stake.  

Court decisions can impact our everyday lives. In the case of Maria Moe, an incarcerated transgender woman and client of GLAD Law, it was court intervention that prevented her from facing the imminent danger that would have come from being moved to a men’s facility and having her necessary medical care taken away. 

Court decisions can delay the implementation of discriminatory laws that pass at the state or federal level. In the case of Parker Tirrell, a district court judge blocked the enforcement of a recently passed New Hampshire state law, HB 1205, which prevented Parker from playing soccer with her friends. Earlier this week, GLAD Law and our partners at ACLU of New Hampshire expanded our case to include a legal challenge to President Trump’s executive orders that ban transgender girls and women from sports nationwide. 

Using the courts to delay dangerous policies is harm-reduction. It’s also strategically advantageous – it buys us time to allow the community to develop contingency plans and mutual aid networks, allows us and other advocacy organizations to educate targeted communities about their rights, and provides more time for state-level protections to be enacted where possible. And it can allow time for the democratic process, and those charged with safeguarding it, to reassert a commitment to civil rights. 

Ultimately, courts can stop unconstitutional policies and reaffirm that equal protection applies to everyone, without exception. 

This doesn’t mean that the courts are our only avenue for resistance. It is critical for advocacy organizations and individuals to use every channel we have to disrupt and reject the abject treatment of fellow Americans we are experiencing under this presidency – whether it be through acts of peaceful protest, calls to elected representatives, or engaging in the deeply important local battles being fought in towns big and small throughout this country.   

It’s going to take uncommon courage: faith leaders asking the President to show mercy for those in harm’s way, women in STEM preserving their stories and achievements, a Super Bowl halftime show strategically agitating the masses. We need outspoken lawmakers stepping outside of their calculus for reelection and leaning into values of equality and justice, and more unapologetic corporate tenacity the likes of Costco.  

If we are going to protect our civil rights and democracy, and turn away from tyranny, we need the courts, and we need all of us. We must swing big; it’s the only way to shift our collective consciousness. 

What to know, what to do:  

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From the Front Lines: Holding the Line—Together

Blog by Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Queer and Transgender Rights

Jennifer Levi in a light blue button-down shirt in front of a blurred green outdoor background
Jennifer Levi

In times that echo darkly with historical parallels, I find myself compelled to share both warning and hope. Sunken into an overstuffed living room chair, my inbox overflows with messages from people whose lives are being upended by presidential orders predicated on rejecting transgender people’s existence. Each message carries its own weight: a service member whose surgery was halted mid-preparation, IV already in arm; a parent whose adolescent’s medical appointment has been cancelled indefinitely. Even what might seem like trivial executive actions – like an order promoting plastic straw use – reveal, as Sue Donnelly observes, a calculated effort to break people’s spirits. But I hope – and have to believe – these actions will have the opposite effect: redoubling people’s resolve to resist. From the legal frontlines, I can report that the rule of law is holding – but only through constant vigilance and effort from advocates in every sphere.

Yesterday marked another day in this crucial fight. GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) filed our third case challenging Trump’s order to transfer transgender women to men’s prisons—a move that would put their lives at astronomically high risk of violence and sexual assault. While we stay low and ready for the next tackle – as I learned in my rugby days – I’m heartened to report that the temporary restraining order from one of our earlier cases continues to protect transgender women currently housed in women’s facilities, preventing their transfer.

Much of my day was spent preparing witnesses for an upcoming preliminary injunction hearing in our case challenging the ban on transgender military service. These service members, who have earned medals and highest honors, will testify about their commitment to service and the ways they have put their lives on the line for this country—a country that now threatens to discharge them from their duties simply for being transgender. They meet – and more often exceed – every standard required of military personnel. Yet they face discharge based on nothing more than who they are, a violation of our Constitution’s fundamental promise that laws cannot rest on a bare desire to harm.

The executive order that will bar them from service, if allowed to go into effect, marks a chilling shift in our government’s approach. While previous defenses of anti-transgender policies – whether about health care access or workplace discrimination – have hidden behind various pretexts, this order strips away that veneer. By explicitly labeling transgender service members as dishonest and undisciplined, the order reveals what has always been at the heart of anti-transgender prejudice: not protection of others, not health care concerns, but raw antipathy toward people who dare to be themselves.

The fight extends beyond the military. I helped my colleague Chris Erchull challenging the ban on transgender girls in sports, working to ensure a teenager in New Hampshire can keep showing up on the soccer field. And there was encouraging news: other legal teams secured a temporary restraining order blocking attempts to dismantle the USAID office, preserving – for now – vital support systems.

In these challenging moments, I find strength in Pauli Murray’s words which I carry in my suit coat pocket to every court appearance. Her poem “To the Oppressors” reminds us of the enduring power of resistance.

Now you are strong 
And we are but grapes aching with ripeness.
Crush us! Squeeze from us all the brave life Contained in these full skins. 
But ours is a subtle strength Potent with centuries of yearning, Of being kegged and shut away In dark forgotten places. 
We shall endure To steal your senses In that lonely twilight Of your winter’s grief.

We each have our lane in this fight. Mine is transgender legal advocacy, and I find myself grateful that my three decades of legal work have given me some helpful tools needed right now. But whether you’re a lawyer, teacher, parent, student, or citizen, your voice and actions matter. The rule of law holds not just through court decisions, but through the collective will of the people.

The echoes of history warn us of where unchecked power leads. Just today, I was forwarded a disturbing tweet from Vice President J.D. Vance: “if a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal; judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate powers.”

To say the obvious, this is a threat, aimed at both advocates and the judges charged with upholding our Constitution. These words chill me deeply. But they also make me hold tighter to the pocket Constitution I carry with me, often alongside a copy of Pauli Murray’s poems. When I’m asked to empty my pockets at courthouse security, these items remind me of the longevity of our flawed but enduring democratic experiment – more than two centuries old – and how it has held fast through repeated challenges.

They also remind me of Murray herself, who held fast to her principles throughout her life, regardless of the pressures that could have crushed her. Though she was made invisible for decades, her life now serves as an inspiration to my own and many others. History teaches us that organized resistance works. These preliminary court orders—temporary shields for service members, incarcerated people, and federal employees—show that our system of justice can still respond to urgent needs, but the real fights lie ahead and will require sustained engagement.

The stakes are too high for complacency. In every space – from courtrooms to community centers, from school boards to social media – we can bear witness to both the harms being inflicted and the resilience of those who face them. From where I sit right now, I watch our democracy strain but hold – sustained by thousands of small acts of courage and the slow, steady work of justice.

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Students and Families Move to Challenge Trump Executive Order Banning Transgender Sports Participation

GLAD Law and ACLU of NH ask court to expand existing NH case to challenge President Trump’s executive orders banning transgender girls from participating in school sports

Today, the organizations representing the families of New Hampshire students challenging a state law that categorically bans transgender girls from participating in school sports asked the court to expand their case to include a legal challenge to President Trump’s executive orders that ban transgender girls and women from sports nationwide.

“The Trump Administration’s executive orders amount to a coordinated campaign to prevent transgender people from functioning in society. The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel,” said Chris Erchull, Senior Staff Attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), which is representing the plaintiffs along with the ACLU of New Hampshire (ACLU of NH). “School sports are an important part of education—something no child should be denied simply because of who they are. Our clients Parker and Iris simply want to go to school, learn, and play on teams with their peers.” 

GLAD Law and the ACLU of NH filed the motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire in the case Tirrell and Turmelle v. Edelblut, a federal lawsuit challenging HB 1205, a 2024 state law banning all transgender girls in grades 5-12 from participating in school sports in New Hampshire public schools. Last September, the court ordered that students Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle be allowed to play sports during the litigation, ruling that HB 1205 discriminates against transgender students in violation of Title IX and the U.S. Constitution.  

“We’re expanding our lawsuit to challenge President Trump’s executive orders because, like the state law, it excludes, singles out, and discriminates against transgender students and insinuates that they are not deserving of the same educational opportunities as all other students. Every child in New Hampshire and across the country has a right to equal opportunities at school and all students do better when they have access to resources that improve their mental, emotional, and physical health,” said Henry Klementowicz, Deputy Legal Director at ACLU of NH.

In asking the court to add federal defendants to the lawsuit to formally challenge the Trump administration’s executive orders to ban transgender female athletes, GLAD Law and ACLU of NH contend that the Trump administration’s February 5 executive order, along with parts of a January 20 executive order, subject Parker and Iris to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX. The organizations also assert the orders unlawfully subject the girls’ respective schools to the threat of losing federal funding for allowing Parker and Iris to play school sports. 

Parker Tirrell is a tenth-grader who plays on her high school soccer team. Iris Turmelle is a ninth-grader who is looking forward to trying out for tennis this spring. 

“I love playing soccer and we had a great season last fall. I just want to go to school like other kids and keep playing the game I love,” said Parker Tirrell.

“We were so grateful and proud to watch Parker play soccer with her friends last fall, and to see the joy it brings her. Her father and I just want her to be happy, healthy, and know she belongs—the same things any parent wants for their child. It’s just not right for the federal government to come down so hard on a kid,” said Sara Tirrell, Parker’s mother. 

“The chance to try out for tennis means new teammates, new friends, and a sense of fun and belonging. I just want the same opportunities as other girls at my school,” said Iris Turmelle.

“It’s heartbreaking to have the federal government so aggressively go after our daughter,” said Amy Manzelli and Chad Turmelle, Iris’s parents. “Iris is looking forward to playing spring sports and being part of a team. We just want her to be able to attend school and get the most out of her education—on and off the court.”

President Trump’s February 5 executive order banning transgender girls and women from athletics is the latest in a series of executive orders and related policy changes deliberately aimed at broadly restricting the rights of transgender Americans in public life. Since taking office Jan. 20, his administration has worked to roll back access to non-discrimination protections, health care, equal educational opportunities, military service, and vital identity documents for transgender people.

Parker, Iris, and their families are represented by Chris Erchull, Ben Klein, Michael Haley, and Jennifer Levi at GLAD Law, Henry Klementowicz and Gilles Bissonnette at the ACLU of NH, and Louis Lobel, Kevin DeJong, and Elaine Blais at Goodwin. 

Today’s filing comprises of three documents:

Find additional filings and more information about the case.

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From the Front Lines: The Fight for Transgender Rights Is a Fight for Democracy

Blog by Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Queer and Transgender Rights

Jennifer Levi in a light blue button-down shirt in front of a blurred green outdoor background
Jennifer Levi

With a (tiny) bit of distance from the gloom of my D.C. visit, I have had time to reflect on an intense week of being in and out (and in) Court. Here is what I’ve got. It’s a work in progress as we all take in the enormity of what we are facing. While I remain laser-focused on my area of expertise – defending transgender rights – I’m acutely aware that many other communities are under similar attack. My fervent prayer is that there are fierce and tireless advocates in those trenches too. My lane is and has been transgender advocacy. Here are some reflections from my foxhole.

The systematic targeting of transgender Americans represents far more than isolated acts of discrimination. Last week, during our hearing seeking emergency relief from the military ban, the judge cut through the government’s pretense. She asked the government’s lawyer how she could possibly defend, as rational, a policy that literally declares that being transgender violates the values of honor, truthfulness, discipline, selflessness and humility – even though transgender service members must meet the exact same rigorous standards as their peers.

And then she went further, asking the government to reconcile this blatantly incoherent stance with the administration’s sweeping attacks on transgender people – far beyond the military and in so many disparate contexts. While our side will certainly argue that all these actions reveal the same underlying animus, what struck me most was the judge’s chilling, methodical listing of what this administration has done in less than two weeks. 

It wasn’t my list—it was hers, and what you read here draws from the actual court transcript. I share this list for two reasons: first, to show the breathtaking scope of attacks on transgender Americans, and second, to reveal how targeting this vulnerable minority is being used to systematically undermine core American institutions, paving the way for authoritarian control.

The administration has:

  • Rescinded all existing federal policies protecting transgender people from sex and disability discrimination
  • Revoked the ability to obtain passports and federal documents reflecting gender identity
  • Removed State Department safety information for transgender travelers
  • Changed “LGBT” to “LGB” across federal websites
  • Deleted CDC public health research and guidance about transgender people
  • Denied transition-related healthcare to federal employees
  • Announced plans to cut federal funding from organizations that serve or recognize transgender people
  • Moved to revoke equal access protections in homeless shelters
  • Directed federal prisons to deny medical treatment and house transgender people by birth sex
  • Ordered law enforcement to prosecute school officials who recognize transgender students

Each of these actions alone is disconcerting. Together, they reveal a calculated strategy to push institutional boundaries and normalize exclusion.

This playbook is dangerously effective:

  • Target a small, vulnerable group most Americans don’t know personally
  • Use them to test institutional boundaries
  • Create chaos in core institutions (military, healthcare, prisons, schools)
  • Establish precedents for broader rights restrictions
  • Normalize the weaponization of federal agencies against minorities
  • Stun and intimidate people into fear and silence

This is how democracy erodes – not all at once (though this feels like all at once, right about now), but by first establishing that vulnerable minority groups can be systematically stripped of rights and protections. 

But we are not powerless. State and local institutions—our schools, healthcare systems, and civil rights enforcement agencies—must resist federal pressure, and we must stand with them in that fight. In progressive states especially, we must work with our local leaders—pushing them to take meaningful action and providing the public support they need to resist federal pressure. 

There is time to stop this erosion of democracy, but only if we call out these attacks for what they are—test cases for authoritarian control—and build (and rebuild) solidarity across communities to resist the politics of division.

So grateful to be in this struggle with all of you! And seriously grateful for all the ways everyone across GLAD Law has supported the community as best we can over these challenging three (3!) weeks.

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From the Front Lines: Fighting for Transgender Rights in a Critical Moment

Blog by Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Queer and Transgender Rights

Jennifer Levi in a light blue button-down shirt in front of a blurred green outdoor background
Jennifer Levi

I’m writing this from a hotel room in DC, looking across the green to the Capitol, after one of the most intense weeks of my 30-year legal career. The pace and scope of what we’re facing is unprecedented, but GLAD Law is doing what we’ve always done: standing firm, acting swiftly, and fighting strategically for justice.

This past Monday, I caught a late flight to DC for an emergency hearing Tuesday morning. We were defending transgender women who had been suddenly removed from their general population housing in women’s prisons, placed in special housing units (SHU), and faced imminent transfer to men’s facilities. They were also at risk of having their essential medical care terminated.

While still in that hearing, I was called to chambers for another emergency matter – this one involving our challenge to the military ban. We had just over two hours to prepare. When we first filed our challenge, we thought there might be a brief window before the ban went into effect. That changed within hours, when we learned of a transgender woman pulled from basic training and pressured to sign a document denying who she is. When she couldn’t sign the form, she was removed from her barracks and placed in an isolated room with a single cot away from her peers. In the emergency hearing, when the government couldn’t assure the Court they would stop restricting her training, we knew we had to act fast.

By late yesterday evening, after intense legal wrangling, we secured a crucial ruling protecting our plaintiffs from any changes to their conditions of service. It’s an important victory, but just one battle in what we know will be a long campaign.

What we’re facing now is different from previous challenges to transgender rights. This isn’t just about specific policies or programs – it’s a coordinated effort to prevent transgender people from functioning in society at all. After decades during which transgender Americans have built lives, served their country, and contributed to their communities under the protection of civil rights laws, we’re seeing systematic attempts to shut us out of public life entirely.

I’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and I stand on the shoulders of giants – Mary Bonauto, Ben Klein, Gary Buseck, and our founder John Ward, among others. GLAD Law has always been courageous, nimble, strategic, and bold. That’s exactly what this moment demands.

These early court victories are crucial – they give us time to build stronger protections and help the American public understand what’s really at stake. Because this isn’t just about transgender rights. It’s about whether we will remain a nation governed by law rather than arbitrary power.

Looking out my window at the Capitol, I won’t pretend I’m not distressed by what I see. I do question our future. But I remain absolutely resolute in doing this work, as does everyone at GLAD Law. We’ve faced seemingly impossible odds before. We’ve prevailed because we’ve stayed focused, strategic, and unwavering in our commitment to justice.

The path ahead won’t be easy. But I know that with sustained determination and support, we can protect our communities and democracy. Thank you for standing with us in this critical moment.

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The Resistance Brief: This week in the fight for justice 

Blog by Ricardo Martinez (he/him), Executive Director

As a 14-year-old kid on a field trip to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City 30 years ago, I learned about ACT UP and the importance of responding to a crisis with urgency and strategic action.

GLAD Law has taken immediate steps to challenge the Trump administration’s harrowing and unconstitutional Executive Orders targeting our community, filing three new cases in the last two weeks. We secured an order blocking enforcement of Sections 4(a) and 4(c) of Trump’s January 20 so-called “gender ideology” order. Those sections unlawfully seek to house transgender women in men’s prisons – exposing them to an extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence, and sexual assault – and to take away necessary medical care. We also filed a challenge to Trump’s transgender military ban Executive Order, which demeans and dishonors transgender servicemembers. GLAD Law attorneys were in court over multiple days this week ensuring our plaintiffs will not face separation from the military or other adverse treatment while we plan for the first full hearing in the case on February 18. Read the op-ed from Jennifer Levi and Shannon Minter, the lead attorneys on the case.

The swift, strategic steps we have taken to use the law to stop, delay, and reduce the harm of Trump’s Executive Orders have been nothing short of inspiring. 

The GLAD Law team has also been working hard to provide support and guidance to our entire community during this tremendously destabilizing time. Our confidential legal helpline, GLAD Law Answers, fielded 341 intake calls in January alone. We also hosted an educational briefing about the current legal landscape for which over 1600 people registered. We will continue to provide information and guidance for our community as we navigate the weeks and months ahead. 

We are experiencing a sustained campaign aimed at making it impossible for transgender people to function in society. And we know that denying basic rights to one group of people without resistance and defiant opposition puts the rights of all of us at risk. By taking quick and decisive action, we send a message that we intend to continue our legacy of protecting the rights and liberty of all LGBTQ+ people and those with HIV and that it is not permissible to tread on anyone’s rights. We, the people, will continue to defend the fundamental principle that equal protection under the law is guaranteed to all of us without exception. 

At the same time, we continue the necessary work to defend against any attempt to reverse the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality decision, protect LGBTQ+ families, increase access and remove barriers to PrEP, and strengthen existing nondiscrimination laws. 

Before I began my tenure as Executive Director of GLAD Law, I was familiar with our legacy, but it wasn’t until I began working with this talented team that I understood the enormous value we bring to the movement. I wish you could see the countless ways they contribute every day to making the world a better place. I’ve watched our staff go above and beyond to ensure that we not only have a chance to survive the next four years but that we are concurrently building towards a future that delivers the healing, reconciliation, prosperity and collective safety we all deserve. 

What to know, what to do:  

  • Access our list of resources for LGBTQ+ People Under the Trump Administration 
  • Sign up to receive updates on GLAD Law’s challenges to Trump’s Executive Orders and other important work for LGBTQ+ rights
  • Check out our updated list of challenges to Trump’s Executive Orders by GLAD Law and others fighting for LGBTQ+ justice
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Trump’s Sports Order is Part of a Sustained Campaign Targeting Transgender People

President Trump signed an executive order barring transgender girls from participating in school sports.

Ricardo Martinez, Executive Director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), made the following statement: 

This order banning transgender students from sports is part of a sustained campaign aimed at making it impossible for transgender people to function in society. The avalanche of executive orders issued over the last two weeks cuts across every area of life – from employment to healthcare, from travel, to social services, to schools. 

The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel. These policies will have devastating consequences for years to come. 

The President cannot change the law or the Constitution. We will challenge this order.

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Making Sense of the Trump Administration’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Executive Orders

NOTE: This blog was published on February 4, 2025. Since then, the Trump administration has issued new executive orders impacting our community. For more up-to-date information, visit our page, “Information for LGBTQ+ People Under the Trump Administration.”

Blog by Ricardo Martinez, Executive Director

As we expected, we’ve seen multiple directives coming from the Trump administration in its first two weeks with the potential to affect the lives of LGBTQ+ people and their families. I know it’s overwhelming and you’re worried. GLAD Law will do our very best to keep you up to date.

Executive Orders Explained

To begin, most of the new directives came in the form of Executive Orders (EOs) from President Trump. So what, exactly, is an EO? 

An EO is a directive from the President, usually issued to guide federal agencies in their work.

EOs cannot change federal law, like Title VII and Title IX, which provide protections to LGBTQ+ people. 

EOs can’t change our constitution and the protections we have as LGBTQ+ people under it. They cannot change the role of our courts in interpreting laws and their constitutionality.

Further, state laws still exist and, in many areas, they can address some key concerns we have heard from community members. Visit our LGBTQ+ Protections page for information we have compiled in response to actions at the federal level.

That doesn’t mean EOs cannot cause harm, chaos and confusion, as we saw last week with an order that froze federal funding. 

Implementing EOs can take time and if they’re unconstitutional, they’ll be challenged in court, as we have seen with an EO purporting to end birthright citizenship. 

In fact, GLAD Law and our partner organizations are already challenging some of the new directives attacking transgender people, which we’ll dive into next.

Sex Discrimination Executive Order

This order is an attempt to regulate and control people’s lives. The Trump administration wants to define all people by their reproductive capacity—an alarming attempt to undo the basic protections that allow transgender people to go about their daily lives. It’s about dictating how trans people, and their families will be allowed to live.

This EO does the following:

  • directs the State Department to stop issuing passports that accurately reflect a trans person’s gender
  • directs the Bureau of Prisons to deny incarcerated transgender people healthcare and appropriate housing
  • directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reverse rules that give trans people safe access to shelters
  • requires federal agencies to remove mention of gender identity from language and forms

STATUS: GLAD Law was first to file a challenge to Sections 4(a) and 4(c) of this EO, which directs the federal Bureau of Prisons to house transgender women in men’s prisons and to unlawfully withhold necessary medical care. Last week, we secured a temporary restraining order in our case Maria Moe v Trump that prevented our client, a transgender woman, from being transferred to a men’s facility and ensured her continuing necessary medical care. We are now awaiting the judge’s further orders in this case, and have filed a second case in D.C. on behalf of incarcerated transgender women also at risk of transfer to a men’s facility and withdrawal of medical care.

Transgender Military Ban Executive Order

This is an order that intends to ban transgender people from enlisting and serving in the military.

Transgender service members must meet the same objective qualifications as everyone else. If they can meet those criteria, it’s harmful for everyone to deny them enlistment or subject them to discharge. Skill, discipline and courage—that’s what matters to military service, not identity.

STATUS: GLAD Law and NCLR filed a federal lawsuit on January 28 challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from serving and enlisting in the military. On February 3, we filed for a preliminary injunction in the case, known as Talbott v. Trump, to keep the EO from being implemented during the lawsuit. On February 4, we filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, asking the court for an emergency ruling to stop service members from being separated unlawfully.

Restricting Health Care for Transgender Adolescents Executive Order

This order is intended to be a broad ban on health care for transgender young people under age 19. It seeks to deny coverage for medically necessary care to transgender dependents of federal employees and seeks to ban federal funding for any healthcare organization that provides this necessary and proven healthcare for transgender people under 19. 

This EO continues the Trump Administration’s extreme, needless, and unconstitutional attack on vulnerable transgender Americans. It will deliberately make the daily lives of a very small group of young people and their families painful and more difficult—it’s simply cruel and wrong. 

STATUS: The implementation of this order cannot happen overnight. There is no immediate legal reason for hospitals or clinics to change the care they are providing to transgender youth. While we have unfortunately heard reports of a handful of hospitals pausing care, the majority are continuing to provide care as usual.

We fully expect this executive order to be challenged because it is blatantly unconstitutional. It’s important to remember that a president’s powers are not unlimited—the constitution, federal courts and our democratic system serve as a defense against this type of overreach. 

Removing Protections for LGBTQ+ Youth Schools Executive Order

This EO tries to tell schools to deny the existence of transgender people altogether. It attempts to ban federally funded educational institutions from respecting the identities of transgender and gender non-conforming students, including blocking them from using the correct restroom or participating in athletics, and forces schools to out student to parents if the student requests to be referred to with a different name or pronoun, even if the outing could put the student at risk of harm.

STATUS: While this Executive Order focuses on funding-mechanisms, the legal obligations our public schools have to protect all students’ right to learn remain unchanged. No Executive Order can change the expertise and dedication teachers bring to supporting every learner in the classroom. Fostering supportive environments where every student feels valued and can thrive is as important as ever. We expect this order to be challenged in court.

Please continue to check this space for news and updates about policy changes that affect LGBTQ+ people and their families and how GLAD Law and our partners are responding to each of them. If you have specific questions or concerns about how these changes may affect you individually, please contact us at GLAD Law Answers, our free and confidential legal information and referral service. 

Please take care of yourself, and others as you can. We’re stronger together.

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