Transgender people fear uncertain times ahead after Donald Trump's election as president.
The Trump campaign spent at least $17 million on ads showing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ support for gender-affirming care during the 2020 Democratic primaries. The Senate Leadership Fund super PAC aired ads in Ohio and Wisconsin painted Democratic candidates as supporters of biological males playing in girl’s sports or access to puberty blockers for children. Ads for at least eight competitive house races also featured trans-focused language.
“I think that Trump has been playing up his anti trans rhetoric because he knows that his base will eat it up,” said Brie Byers, a board-member-at-large for the ISU Queer Coalition, on WGLT's Sound Ideas. “I think mostly it's just a fear of an unknown people, because transgender people don't make up a lot of America, not a whole lot of the average American personally knows a transgender person.”
Gov. JB Pritzker issued a post-election statement promising Illinois will continue to welcome marginalized groups, including "LGBTQ friends and their families."
Transgender athletes in sports have been an increasing focus for key races recently, even affecting non-transgender athletes. Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer who won gold at the 2024 Olympics, was ensnared in controversy over unfounded accusations that she should not qualify to compete.
Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 for failing unspecified sex eligibility tests. However, Khelif was deemed eligible by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which no longer recognizes the IBA for concerns about its governance, finances and ethics.
Byers said misleading information about Khelif’s participation in the Olympics gave people against transgender athletes false narratives to latch onto.
“It just comes down to that certain people don't believe that transgender people are who they say they are, and transgender women are women, transgender men are men and gender expansive people who might not fit in that binary are who they say they are,” said Byers.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is Nov. 21. The Bistro in downtown Bloomington will hold a vigil event that night to honor those from the transgender community who lost their lives to violence.
Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan Universities are awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Education regarding changes to anti-harassment protections within Title IX and declined comment at this time.
