Allison Chapman, Gender Justice & Health Equity Fellow
Khadijah Silver, Director of Gender Justice & Health Equity
New reports from the Trevor Project and Williams Institute reveal the deep psychological harm caused by the Trump administration's policies targeting the transgender community. While experts are unsurprised by the results, these reports highlight the detrimental real life effects of anti-transgender policies, mistreatment and stigma.
In its seventh edition, the Trevor Project’s newest Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved study used survey data from 16,667 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 and 24 who lived in the United States. Their findings show the devastating results of discriminatory policies on the lives of LGBTQ+ young people in the U.S..
In its most crushing statistic, a full 40% of transgender and nonbinary people and 36% of LGBTQ+ youth overall seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, with one in ten LGBTQ+ young people overall attempting suicide. Lack of access to gender affirming hormones put transgender and nonbinary young people at nearly twice the risk of attempting suicide verse those who had access to gender affirming hormones.
Ninety percent of LGBTQ+ young people said recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies and debates caused them stress or anxiety. In parallel to an avalanche of negative legislation, LGBTQ+ young people faced negative mental health outcomes resulting from victimization including bullying, discrimination, threats of violence, and conversion therapy. Over half (59%) of LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-17 experienced bullying in the year before being surveyed, and those who did reported significantly higher rates of attempting suicide in the past year than their peers.
However, the report also found that social acceptance saves lives: LGBTQ+ young people living in very accepting communities were less than one third as likely to attempt suicide than those who live in very unaccepting communities. Transgender and nonbinary youth in particular were benefited by access to clothing that supported their gender, gender-neutral bathrooms, and respect for their pronouns, all of which were associated with lower rates of suicidality.
While the Trevor Project report focused on LGBTQ+ youth, the Williams Institute report focused on Transgender and Nonbinary Parents. Titled “Impact of the Trump Administration on Transgender Parents and their Children,” this April 2026 report used data collected in 2025 from 108 transgender and nonbinary parents, examining the impacts of the Trump administration on the lives of these families.
For example, 66% of transgender or nonbinary parents reported that their children had become more fearful under the Trump administration and 56% of them reported that their children had expressed new worries or concerns, such as fears about their parent’s ability to access gender affirming care, their family’s safety, and whether they would be taken away from their parents. A full 73% of transgender or nonbinary parents reported that they were pursuing or considering pursuing self-defense classes to better protect themselves and their families.
While these statistics are disturbing, they are far from surprising to our team. Sadly, we hear the real-life effects of anti-LGBTQ+ policies every day, and marshal our resources to combat the harms. Please consider donating to support our work drafting affirmative model laws and policies, coordinating comment campaigns on administrative attacks, and defending LGBTQ+ rights in court in partnership with our Pro Bono Litigation Corps.