The first two months of Donald Trump’s second term have revealed a dramatic misalignment between the goal of the President to relentlessly attack transgender people, and the needs and wishes of American people, including addressing the overwhelming prices of groceries and the dramatic decline in financial markets and overall health of the economy.
For his first major speech to the American people on March 6, 2025, GLAAD tracked Trump’s references to transgender people compared to the economy. Trump’s Address to Congress included 1,500 words targeting LGBTQ people (for a duration of eight minutes), and the remarks appeared near the top of his historically long speech, at the 15-minute mark. By contrast, Trump’s focus on jobs and affordability came in at 975 words. A mere nine seconds comprised the subject of jobs, specifically forcing federal workers back to the office.
Trump’s discrimination and disinformation comes at the expense of attention on the issues voters care most about. Gallup polling shows 90% of 2024 voters identified the economy as extremely or very important.
Markets have lost $4 trillion since Trump took office, yet he has signed five executive orders specifically targeting transgender people’s identities, health care, education, and transgender people serving in the military, as well as three more orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion, with threats to defund educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. Ten percent of all Trump executive orders signed so far have targeted LGBTQ Americans and all others from marginalized backgrounds, at every American’s expense.
GLAAD’s Trump Tracker has tracked 17 anti-LGBTQ moves by the President and his administration since inauguration on January 20, 2025. GLAAD Trump Tracker has noted every anti-LGBTQ action Trump has taken, including during his first term and prior.
Tariffs and anti-trans application of federal resources have doubly affected Maine. Tariff concerns have already affected local industries with deep ties to Canada. A 25% tariff imposed on Canadian goods by Trump will cost ratepayers between $8–10 million a year, including a 5% jump in electricity bills on average. At the same time, after a high profile confrontation between President Trump and Gov. Janet Mills, six federal agencies swarmed the state to investigate transgender students in school sports. Only two transgender girls are competing this school year, according to the Maine Principals’ Association. The response was an excessive and inordinate expenditure of resources. In early March the federal government illegally halted research funding allocated to the University of Maine.
In Georgia, where some of the worst anti-LGBTQ legislation in the country was introduced this session—including an extreme bill to ban transgender participation in sports and impose other restrictions including health care restrictions on trans youth—the Atlanta Journal Constitution recently released numbers estimating that discrimination lawsuits and other complaints involving transgender people have cost Georgia taxpayers at least $4.1 million since 2015. That figure includes $2.1 million to settle claims, plus another $2 million in legal costs. It doesn’t include payments from private insurers or others to settle complaints against the state.”
Trump’s executive orders are being blocked in court as unconstitutional and illegal. The price of eggs, housing, and health care remains uncomfortably high. Focusing time and attention on targeting a small population is costly to the community being harmed and comes at every American’s expense.
Additional information:
- Williams Institute of UCLA estimates that 0.5% of U.S. adults (about 1.3 million) identify as transgender. Among youth ages 13–17 in the U.S., 1.4% (about 300,000 youth) identify as transgender.
- NCAA President Charlie Baker testified in December that he knew of “less than 10” transgender collegiate athletes out of 510,000 total.
- Research shows states that allow transgender participation have more girls overall participating in sports than states with bans.