Trans people have faced a relentless barrage of attacks since Trump declared his war on “gender extremism” and “woke ideology.” Alongside immigrants, trans people have been a key target of Trump’s administration as the reassertion of the nuclear family and the infiltration of Christian nationalism reaches a fever pitch. The denial of the right to exist is the horrifying reality being posed to both trans youth and adults.
In just the last two months, the Idaho House passed a bathroom bill which can throw trans people in prison for up to five years, Kansas has revoked driver’s licenses of 1700 trans people, and the Supreme Court has ordered California public schools to report to parents when their child is transitioning. This paints only a partial picture of sports bans, gender-affirming care bans, and ID bans that have rained down in the last year. The news coverage of these attacks has been minimal, to say the least. What has been even less visible is a real fightback or defiance of these attacks.
Resistance In Schools
A glimmer of hope can be found in Colorado, where Jeffco Public Schools (JPS), the second-largest school district in the state, has recently declared they will not comply with the order from Trump’s Department of Education to instate bathroom and sports bans for trans students. This is very much a targeted attack—JPS has a history of LGBTQ inclusion and in 2019 was the first district in Colorado to pass anti-discrimination policy to protect LGBTQ students. Last July, five schools in Virginia similarly announced they will not comply with the anti-trans orders from the DOE. Public schools, which represent key ideological battlegrounds for the Trump administration, have an important role to play in protecting trans youth.
However, these districts rely on the law to justify their defiance, which is simply not enough against a vicious enemy like Trump, who won’t let the law get in the way of revoking federal funding, or worse. Under this immense pressure, school administrations can cave. Only mass action and defiance, that makes clear business cannot run as usual when trans people are under attack, can force back the right wing. Last year at the University of Cincinnati, over 500 students and faculty packed a Board of Trustees meeting to force them to remove the newly unveiled “biological women” and “biological men” bathroom signs.
Teachers & Students—Strike & Walk Out!
The sickouts of teachers and mass walkouts of students across the country against ICE raids are an inspiring example of what is possible. These walkouts urgently need to connect the attacks on immigrants to the attacks on trans people, and coordinate with teachers and staff to take strike action in solidarity. This May Day, declared by some national labor leaders to be a day of “No Work, No School, No Shopping,” needs to be a flash point for shutting down business as usual and building our movement against Trump, ICE, war, and all oppression.