What are the effects of a ceaseless barrage of political attacks on the LGBTQ community?
Something like a scene from a horror movie animated into real life.
This article is in response to a press event attended by GLAAD Media Institute (GMI) organized by Human Rights Watch – a global organization that defends the rights of people worldwide – for the release of a new report titled “They’re Ruining People’s Lives”: Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US.
As new GLAAD research was released simultaneously, it is clear that there is an abundant overlap in findings: There are catastrophic effects from the lethal assault on the LGBTQ community with a flagrant focus on transgender people.
“We lead with facts first,” Tristan Marra, GLAAD’s Vice President of Research and Reports said.
Marra is responsible for making sure GLAAD’s emerging data gets out to the public in a way that helps shape accurate conversations about the at-large LGBTQ community.
“Facts are thought-provoking, facts build empathy, and facts are a bridge to greater understanding. Thoughtful research that shines a light on our lived experiences and the realities we face creates opportunities for cultural change,” Marra continued.
Today, the basic rights of trans people, about 1% of the population, continue to get eviscerated year-by-year, state-by-state, and now, under a federal administration dedicated to stripping trans people of their dignity.
Twenty-five states have bans in place for best practice healthcare for trans youth, and with at least 17 lawsuits challenging different states’ bans, according to the Movement Advancement Project (MAPS).
“They’re Ruining People’s Lives” documents the harm caused by bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the U.S. It highlights the severe toll this takes on the mental and physical well-being of transgender youth,” the lead researcher and writer of the report Yasemin Smallens said at the press conference. Smallens is an officer in the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
The report is based on the interviews of 51 people including transgender youth, parents, healthcare providers, and advocates across 19 states, and illuminates the barbaric effects of transgender healthcare bans on transgender people in the U.S.
Of those interviewed, 11 families told Human Rights Watch they were compelled to travel out of state for care, often making regular trips to consult physicians, or obtain prescriptions. Four youth were unable to begin care due to legal barriers combined with geographic and financial obstacles. One family relocated to another state to secure reliable access to care and escape an environment hostile to trans people. Seven other youth attempted suicide in relation to the bans; three attempts led to hospitalizations.
Likewise, GLAAD’s latest research affirms these experiences, and further predicts expectations of violence in the future.
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The 2025 ALERT Desk report released late last month shows that over the past year, 52% of all anti-LGBTQ incidents were targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people (485 out of 932 incidents). GLAAD’s 2025 Accelerating Acceptance also reported that two in three LGBTQ adults (68%) expect the violence or threats against LGBTQ Americans to increase within the next year.
For many, this data saves lives, even when it reveals the effects of maleficence.
“Research like this, reports like this, are used in court. They’re used to build policy in the legislature. They’re used to advocate for so much in a real, tangible way because there are reports out that are filled with misinformation and disinformation,” Executive Director of PFLAG NYC Clark Wolff Hamel said at the press conference.
Clark continued by saying that producing research that backs correct information along with actual experiences from real people of the community sets an “incredibly important” precedent.
Clark and Smallens were joined by Meredithe McNamara MD MSc, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine. NcNamara says that treatment described as gender-affirming care has been used for years.
She says that people lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of gender-affirming care for cisgender (or non-transgender) people is surgery. McNamara is trained in adolescent medicine and started learning about gender-affirming care in college. Now, with 15 years of experience, she advocates for trans truth through science and facts.
“Amongst youth, 97% of surgeries that could be described as for gender-affirming reasons were in cisgender teen boys who had an excess of breast tissue, and felt that did not align with their gender identity and wanted surgery,” McNamara said to the audience.
The Yale professor said bans are contradictory, and focus on a minority of people who receive gender-affirming care, while purposely mystifying the majority of people (non-transgender) who receive this care without any issues. The internal inconsistencies and conflicts of a broad ban for trans healthcare will create confusion, and codify dangerous procedures on intersex infants.
In fact, GLAAD’s Alert Desk found that the increasing attacks on trans communities directly coincides with at least four executive orders from the Trump administration that specifically demean and discriminate against trans Americans, and following $215M in political ads during the 2024 campaign targeting trans people.
What those ads don’t state is that nearly all trans youth continue their care into adulthood, most studies show, and satisfaction rates are high. Despite its proven efficacy, legislative bans have disrupted or denied access to this health care, replacing nuanced medical decisions with blunt, all-encompassing restrictions.
For now, as a need for change bellows out of the hearts and minds of LGBTQ people everywhere, verifiable truth in the face of disinformation can act as a basis for successful resistance efforts for trans equality. “The integrity of data and the power of research as a center of truth and a catalyst for change are critically important. Measuring is the first step in moving the needle on acceptance,” Marra said.
More about the GLAAD Media Institute:
The GLAAD Media Institute provides training, consultation, and actionable research to develop an army of social justice ambassadors for all marginalized communities to champion acceptance and amplify media impact. Using the best practices, tools, and techniques we’ve perfected over the past 30 years, the GLAAD Media Institute turns education into armor for today’s culture war—transforming individuals into compelling storytellers, media-savvy navigators, and mighty ambassadors whose voices break through the noise and incite real change. Activate with the GLAAD Media Institute now at glaad.org/institute.
