This post was updated April 3 at 9:03 p.m.

President Donald Trump enacted several measures limiting LGBTQ+ rights in his first month in office.

The administration rescinded multiple protections expanded under the previous administration and issued new executive orders regarding gender and sexual identity, raising concerns over restricted opportunities and weakened protections against discrimination. Arianna Roberts, a second-year mathematics/economics student who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said the new administration’s rhetoric has sparked fear within the community, with policy changes already impacting her and her family.

“My sister is trans, but she hasn’t done anything legally … on her passport or identity documents,” Roberts said. “Now, under him (Trump), that’s something she’s not going to be able to do, and how she sees herself is never going to be reflected in her identity.”

One of Trump’s key measures was an executive order aiming to change legal identity procedures and impose new barriers for transgender individuals. According to a 2022 report by UCLA’s Williams Institute, over 1.6 million transgender individuals live in the United States. Specifically, the order directed federal agencies to recognize only two sexes and restricted access to single-sex facilities on federal property to sex assigned at birth. The order also instructed federal agencies to no longer issue personal identification documents such as passports with gender designations other than male or female.

William Purdy, an education and information studies professor, said this provision could have far-reaching consequences.

“For a lot of transgender Americans who maybe come from states where transgender rights are not as robustly protected, these transgender Americans use their passports as their primary identifications,” Purdy said. ”To have their gender identities wiped clean from their primary ID is both a bureaucratic problem and an ethical disaster.”

The executive order also creates a challenge for intersex individuals, who are born with a combination of male and female sexual genetic characteristics, because the order defines sex based on the type of reproductive cells – a sperm or an egg – produced at conception. There are as many as 5 million intersex individuals in the U.S. who do not meet the criteria of biologically aligning with their cells produced at conception, according to the Williams Institute.

Beyond restricting legal recognition of gender, the Trump administration also dismantled broader protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, such as in the workplace. For instance, the administration revoked former President Joe Biden’s executive order that protected individuals from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Instead, Trump’s new order requires removing factors such as race, gender and sexual orientation from employment criteria entirely.

In response to the policy change, major companies, including entertainment company Disney, technology company Google and broadcast network PBS, have begun to end diversity hiring goals and scale down diversity, equity and inclusion programs, according to Forbes.

In addition, Jody Herman, a senior scholar at Williams Institute, said the Trump administration is creating gaps in data collection by removing questions about gender identity in the U.S. Census.

“If the National Crime Victimization Survey does not collect data about LGBT people, we no longer will be able to study those disparities, so we won’t know what is the rate for LGBT people of experiencing violent victimization in the United States,” Herman said.

A Brookings’ Institution study found that proper data collection was crucial in creating and implementing equitable policy and can lead to more appropriate policy interventions supporting the LGBTQ+ community. According to the same study, data on workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals helped contribute to the 2020 Supreme Court ruling that extended federal employment protections to include sexual and gender identity.

Roberts said she is fearful of how LGBTQ+ policy will evolve under the new administration.

“I think there’s stuff he’s (Trump is) already doing that’s really scary. … Him trying to erase people’s identity and the rights we’ve already fought for,” Roberts said. “Right now, maybe he’s mostly targeting trans people, but I think eventually that’s going to inevitably expand.”

Although legislation reflects a broader trend in redefining civil rights protections, Purdy said Scott Bessent’s appointment by Trump as secretary of the Treasury – which made Bessent the highest-ranked openly gay official in American history – is a noteworthy event for the LGBTQ+ community. While conservative groups praised the decision as a sign that Trump prioritizes alignment in ideology over identity, civil rights organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign saw Bessent’s appointment as an opportunity for both political parties to engage in advancing equality, according to The Hill.

Public response, including lawsuits against the administration’s executive orders, is likely to initiate legal change, Herman said.

“I don’t know that there will be any immediate relief or resolution through the court system, but that’s probably the best venue right now for challenging some of the anti-trans, anti-LGBT policies that are being made,” Herman said.

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights were among the first to take action, filing a federal lawsuit against the administration for banning transgender and nonbinary individuals from the military. The lawsuit was brought forward by both active service members and individuals attempting to enlist on equal protection grounds. Civil rights groups Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal challenged three executive orders that terminate DEI funding and programs as well as the recognition of transgender individuals.

Additionally, federal courts have already intervened in several cases, temporarily halting key provisions of these policies. Judges have ordered the restoration of DEI-related content on federal health agency websites, prevented restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth and blocked efforts to cancel federal DEI contracts, according to NPR and Healthline.

Public opposition to Trump’s measures has also grown.

The proportion of people who were “very satisfied” with the nation’s acceptance of gay and lesbian individuals has steadily declined in the last six years, from 19% in 2019 to 11% in 2025, according to Gallup’s annual State of the Nation Survey. Additionally, protests to protect LGBTQ+ rights have increased, including in Los Angeles after Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced in early February it would not provide hormonal therapy treatment to new transgender patients under 19 in response to Trump’s executive order aimed at stopping hormone treatment for transgender youth, according to ABC News.

Herman said in order to address ongoing challenges to LGBTQ+ rights, citizens must take an active role in advocating for change.

“There are advocacy organizations that are keeping their eyes on these situations and planning actions. I would say that if people want to get involved, they could try to find groups that reflect their values and try to get involved that way,” Herman said.