{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/Primetransexperience","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"Prime.transexperience","excerpt":"UCLA’s transgender community seeks answers amid new executive orders.","headline":"‘We Just Want to Live’","author":"Amanda Velasco","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.transexperience/Copy_of_prime.trans1-f29d362ceb57444963fffc7ca921d2c3.jpg","covercred":"Selin Filiz and Ruby Galbraith","coveralt":"Photograph of a straight-faced person sitting on an orange chair.","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"Editor’s note: This article contains discussions of suicide that may be disturbing to some readers."},{"type":"text","value":"Sgt. 1st Class Kate Cole rarely says no to service."},{"type":"text","value":"Her list of deployments is seemingly endless. She enlisted at 17 years old, spent one year in Afghanistan as a designated marksman and later served several rotations in the Baltic states during the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. Cole was also stationed in Colorado and Germany, later going to Korea for a 12-month deployment where she led 36 soldiers as a platoon sergeant."},{"type":"text","value":"Seventeen years later, Cole works as a UCLA Army ROTC military science instructor from an office in the Student Activities Center – guiding students to become skilled leaders."},{"type":"text","value":"To her students, she is a model for service. But to the Trump administration, she’s a target."},{"type":"text","value":"Eight years into Cole’s service, she came out as a transgender woman, receiving nothing but support from fellow soldiers. Yet her identity came under scrutiny when President Donald Trump signed executive orders attempting to bar her and other transgender personnel from service."},{"type":"text","value":"\"​​I just want to continue to do my job that I've been doing for 17 years,\" she said. \"That's all I'm asking for, and that's all most people are asking for. We just want to continue to do our job.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of Sgt. 1st Class Kate Cole standing in front of her office.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.transexperience/Copy_of_prime.trans.SF_2-09d4171692d3a4112681789fbdd2ea0d.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Selin Filiz/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Transgender individuals make up <a href=\"https://www.kff.org/mental-health/poll-finding/kff-the-washington-post-trans-survey/\">less than 1%</a> of adults in the United States. But as legislation shifts at the national level, transgender members of the UCLA community fear erasure and the long-term repercussions Trump’s executive orders might bring. With medical care, careers and safety at risk, they are determined to continue living their lives."},{"type":"text","value":"Trump has attempted to roll back transgender people's rights in his second term through several executive orders, some of which include a ban on openly transgender service members and moves to limit transgender people’s access to health care and federal documentation. Implementing <a href=\"https://19thnews.org/2025/01/trump-congress-transgender-bills/\">anti-transgender legislation</a> is also a priority to a currently Republican-controlled Congress."},{"type":"text","value":"Will Tentindo – a staff attorney at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law – said the executive orders may have limited impacts on federal law because of additional rulemaking procedures, constitutional nondiscrimination laws and potential lawsuits from advocacy organizations."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Some of the impacts are going to be felt immediately, but others might take a while to go into place.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"But even just the threat of legislation can dehumanize transgender people and push some into hiding."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Some of the impacts are going to be felt immediately, but others might take a while to go into place,\" Tentindo said."},{"type":"text","value":"Just eight days into his second term, Trump issued an executive order to revoke federal funding for gender-affirming care for people under 19. If implemented, the order would impact people covered by state-funded insurance plans, while directing federal agencies to cut research and education funding of federally funded medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care. Some medical providers have already halted care before they were legally required to."},{"type":"text","value":"For people such as fourth-year theater student Tyler Neufeld, gender-affirming care is lifesaving and essential to mental health."},{"type":"text","value":"Experiencing gender dysphoria, Neufeld had suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide at 8 years old. He was pulled out of public school and enrolled into a Christian homeschool program, limiting his interactions with friends until he returned to public school in his junior year. For two years, his parents refrained from calling him any name at all. Since he began attending UCLA, his family has come to terms with his identity."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I was trying to ignore my dysphoria for as long as I could – and as much as I could – just to survive until age 18,\" Neufeld said."},{"type":"text","value":"Once he came to college, Neufeld gained the newfound freedom to be himself. After accessing UCLA’s gender-affirming care services through the UC Student Health Insurance Plan scholarship, his mental health improved, and his life changed for the better, he said."},{"type":"text","value":"But that autonomy might be taken away. He questioned if transgender people will have the same opportunities and degree of visibility in politics and health care as everyone else."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Health care should be a basic human right, and trans health care is health care,\" Neufeld said."},{"type":"text","value":"Michael Hunter, a lecturer in LGBTQ studies and urban studies, said the vilification of gender-affirming care in conservative media contributes to widespread misconceptions that doctors perform unsafe surgeries on minors."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Health care should be a basic human right, and trans health care is health care.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"However, decades of <a href=\"https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(22)00503-1/fulltext\">research</a> by organizations such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society support the treatments and describe it as a process guided by patient and guardian consent. <a href=\"https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/145/2/e20191725/68259/Pubertal-Suppression-for-Transgender-Youth-and?autologincheck=redirectedfulltext\">Empirical evidence</a> indicates gender-affirming care results in lower rates of suicidal tendencies among transgender people – with leading medical groups such as the <a href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/fighting-government-interference-evidence-based-medicine#\">American Medical Association</a>, <a href=\"https://www.acog.org/advocacy/policy-priorities/lgbtqia-and-gender-diverse-individuals/health-care-and-support-for-transgender-and-gender-diverse-adolescents\">American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a>, and <a href=\"https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/25340/AAP-reaffirms-gender-affirming-care-policy?autologincheck=redirected\">American Academy of Pediatrics</a> opposing government interference in doctor-patient relationships, including gender-affirming care."},{"type":"text","value":"The issue of transgender access to health care reflects a larger question of medical autonomy that affects all human beings, Hunter added."},{"type":"text","value":"\"The threat to policing trans bodies is a threat to policing all of our bodies,\" he said."},{"type":"text","value":"Neufeld added that criminalizing gender-affirming services will not stop the practice. Another student, a fourth-year STEM student who was granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said that in the wake of these orders, people wasted no time stockpiling medical supplies and creating backup plans to move to other countries more accepting of transgender people."},{"type":"text","value":"For Tentindo, he believes the gender-affirming care executive order will not have an immediate effect across California health care providers but may be visible down the line. The executive orders do not override all state protections – such as <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB923\">California Senate Bill 923</a>, which aims to increase access to gender-affirming care services in California."},{"type":"text","value":"\"The Trump executive order can only go so far,\" he said. \"However, the Trump administration has already tried to revoke funding from certain community health care centers that provide care for transgender people.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Tentindo added that the national impact of anti-transgender legislation will depend on the outcomes of the Supreme Court case United States v. Skrmetti, a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for people under 19."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of a person standing on the stage of an empty theater.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.transexperience/Copy_of_prime.trans.SF_1-dd7b70e6baf26b456d2051bb479797cb.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Selin Filiz/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Although Bruins may still be able to access care at UCLA and in California, they may not have those same protections elsewhere."},{"type":"text","value":"The fourth-year STEM student, a transgender man, knows this firsthand. As an aspiring paleontologist, he travels to the Midwest for fieldwork, living the life he always dreamed of as a \"dinosaur kid.\" Now, he is researching how climate affects the ecology of the California coast. Throughout his lab work, he earned the opportunity to choose official names for undefined specimens in the fossil record and assign them to species."},{"type":"text","value":"But as he travels across the country for field visits, fear for his safety hangs over his head."},{"type":"text","value":"\"If I have an accident on a field site, will I be able to be treated by a doctor because my gender marker on my medical records doesn't match my lived gender?\" the fourth-year asked."},{"type":"text","value":"He added that he is afraid of being assaulted while traveling to a field site, such as stopping to use a gas station bathroom. This fear reflects broader trends, according to a <a href=\"https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-trans-press-release/#:~:text=Transgender%20people%20(16%2B)%20are,1%2C000%20people%20for%20cisgender%20people.\">2021 study by the Williams Institute</a>. Transgender people are over four times more likely to experience rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault than cisgender people. The data comes from results of the 2017 and 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey."},{"type":"text","value":"\"We're just people at the end of the day, you know,\" the fourth-year student said. \"We're not big, scary monsters like how the government is trying to paint us. We’re just trying to live life.\""},{"type":"text","value":"The student prepared to update all his documents to reflect his gender. But one day before his appointments, Trump issued an executive order directing the departments of State and Homeland Security and the Office of Personnel Management to ensure government-issued identification documents – including passports, visas and global entry cards – reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth. This order is in line with the directive to redefine sex as a biological difference between men and women."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"We're not big, scary monsters like how the government is trying to paint us. We’re just trying to live life.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Tentindo said if people apply to get a gender marker different from their sex assigned at birth, the request would be denied – subsequently exposing transgender people to an increased risk of discrimination. He added that mismatched documents put transgender people at risk for increased security screenings when trying to cross the border into a different country – making them vulnerable to <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5268876/a-look-at-trumps-executive-order-that-the-government-will-recognize-only-two-sexes\">invasive questioning</a>."},{"type":"text","value":"The executive order feels like much more than just a denial of his existence as a transgender man, the fourth-year student said."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It basically outs us to federal workers who see our documentation, and it lets people be open bigots to us because they know who we are,\" he added."},{"type":"text","value":"The fourth-year said he is tired of being afraid. Sylvan Oswald is, too."},{"type":"text","value":"Oswald, the head of playwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, will see his sex assigned at birth on his passport, ID and global entry card upon their renewal for the first time in 14 years, he said."},{"type":"text","value":"Now, he has to think twice at every turn. He will be anxious when flying to see his partner, who lives outside California. He will fear the simple task of driving his car across the country, just because it means crossing states with anti-transgender policies, he said."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It just returns me to a time when I didn't pass as well as I do now, and I was much more nervous all the time,\" he said."},{"type":"text","value":"The order has already limited transgender people’s access to professional opportunities. The fourth-year sought to attend a professional conference hosted by the Geological Society of America – a milestone significant to his graduate school applications. However, the student said he opted not to attend the conference because he feared traveling to states with anti-transgender legislation."},{"type":"text","value":"While the fourth-year is restricted in his ability to pursue his passions, other transgender community members fear the orders could have large impacts on their careers."},{"type":"text","value":"When Cole retires, she plans to become a climbing guide in Colorado. But today, the question is no longer \"when\" – it’s \"if.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Military service members are eligible for retirement benefits after 20 years, and Cole is just three years away. However, with Trump’s executive order barring openly transgender service members from the army, her career might be put to an end, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Despite the uncertainty, Cole remains deeply committed to her work. Her favorite part about serving the army is being able to teach ROTC students at UCLA, she said. Students often consult her on \"con-ops,\" or a concept of operation slide, and Cole would spend hours talking through their products, labs and field training."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I just want to make good leaders,\" she said. \"I want these cadets to be awesome officers whenever they commission.\""},{"type":"text","value":"This same passion in service stemmed from her peers in the military. For half of her life, she spent 18 to 24 hours a day with her troop members on holidays and in combat zones. In every new deployment in a faraway country or state, Cole started over with her fellow soldiers. The army is her \"forever family,\" she said."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of a person standing in front of a bookshelf with a flag wrapped around their shoulders.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.transexperience/Copy_of_prime.trans.RG-9868c70c884457d3fefa53e390d3cf2b.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ruby Galbraith/Daily Bruin\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"A love for her found family is the reason why Cole, alongside five other transgender service members, is suing the Trump administration for its transgender military ban. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders filed the lawsuit just one day after the executive order was announced – the order based on troop \"readiness\" and \"integrity.\" While officials at the Defense Department say there are 4,240 active duty personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria, some transgender rights activists say there are as many as 15,500 transgender individuals in active service – all at risk of being pulled from the armed forces for a single aspect of their identity."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Right now, there are trans people who are deployed to combat zones,\" she said. \"There are trans people who are working in hospitals. There are trans people who are lawyers, and we’re all on active duty, and we all just want to continue to serve.\""},{"type":"text","value":"As Cole fights for her career through legal means, other transgender community members are reclaiming their rights in their own ways."},{"type":"text","value":"As a kid, Neufeld naturally turned to art to find solace. He often made backyard productions, performed jukebox musicals with Vacation Bible School CDs and wrote original songs from piano compositions. Now, in his last year of college, he is harnessing scenic design and playwriting to make a statement. Since entering UCLA, Neufeld has been featured in the Los Angeles Times for transforming a Courtside dorm into an immersive escape room with recycled cardboard and blankets."},{"type":"text","value":"His latest production to premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival is \"Escape! The Great Specific Garbage Catch.\" Through interactive puzzles and themes of climate activism, it aims to make people think twice about the waste they produce, he said. Neufeld also delves into traditional theater, as he produced a comedic play to raise awareness on everyday issues transgender people face. With an increasing amount of attacks against transgender people, he said the comedic play aims to bring more joy within the LGBTQ+ community. He wanted to show them they aren’t alone, he said."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Creating art about something is just a way to try to bring a little bit more peace and connectedness to the world,\" Neufeld said."},{"type":"text","value":"Despite Trump’s executive orders limiting rights and access for transgender people, these UCLA community members continue with their work and daily lives."},{"type":"text","value":"Neufeld is focused on making interactive art that sparks social change, and the STEM double-major is on track to pursue graduate school. While Cole’s lawsuit is still underway, she continues to hold onto her plan to retire in Colorado."},{"type":"text","value":"For Oswald, he described his role as a professor creating a bigger impact than his gender identity. In higher education institutions, students need to see that every kind of person is represented – because his students are every kind of person too, he said."},{"type":"text","value":"As a guest speaker in a lecture on \"High Winds\" – a play he wrote inspired by his experiences with insomnia, gender transition and moving to LA – he recalled a tearful student telling him he was the first trangender adult they had ever met."},{"type":"text","value":"\"They need to see that I'm here,\" Oswald said. \"I'm doing it. This is happening. I'm living life. I'm fine and well adjusted and mature – and they will be, too.\""}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"spring25","slug":"Prime.transexperience"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}