In a three-minute video released on Tuesday, January 31, former US President Donald Trump went on an anti-trans rant declaring that if re-elected in 2024, he plans to effectively eliminate transgender rights.

Trump vowed to cut federal funding to health providers that offer life-saving gender-affirming care which he described as “child abuse” and “sexual mutilation”. He also announced plans to sign an executive order instructing federal agencies to stop promoting the concept of gender transition at any age, and vowed to pass a law establishing that the only genders to be recognised by the United States government would be those assigned at birth.

Instead of educating children about LGBTQ+ themes, Trump said that his administration would push for “positive education about the nuclear family” and celebrate the things that make men and women different.

He also threatened teachers, saying that by affirming a trans student’s gender, they would face, “…severe consequences including potential civil rights violations.” 

Trump also claimed that transgender people didn’t exist until “a few years ago,” stating, “Nobody’s ever heard of this”.

Trump went on an unhinged rant about how he was going to weaponize the federal government to eliminate trans people and criminalize our healthcare and any discussions about our existence. Stop telling us we're overreacting.pic.twitter.com/ZTBmcp9CMz

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) February 1, 2023

The twice-impeached ex-president also made transphobic remarks while announcing his candidacy last November, and during his term in office, he appointed anti-LGBTQ+ federal judges, stacked the Supreme Court with anti-LGBTQ+ justices, and removed inclusive language and resources from government websites.

He also restricted LGBTQ+ rights by reversing protections the Obama administration had implemented for trans students, removing healthcare protections for trans patients, banning trans service members living with HIV from the military, and allowing federally-funded homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people based on the shelter’s “religious beliefs”.

GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project provides up-to-date information on Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, as Republicans continue to target the nation’s queer community.

Over 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in the US in January 2023 alone. Right-wing lawmakers across the country continue to propose bills similar to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, and states are proposing legislation that targets LGBTQ+ books, drag shows, and trans girls competing in school sports.

Several US states have already passed anti-trans laws banning gender-affirming care, including Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Florida, but the threats against transgender rights that Trump made in his video are even more severe.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, and the American Psychological Association all support gender-affirming care for minors, and research overwhelmingly demonstrates that trans youth who have access to gender-affirming care are significantly less likely to experience depression and anxiety.

The Trevor Project released a report that demonstrates the negative impact of anti-LGBTQ+ discourses on mental health, sharing, “An overwhelming majority of LGBTQ+ youth have been negatively impacted by recent debates and laws around anti-LGBTQ+ policies”.