After Election, LGBTQ Youth Show Mix of Anxiety and Desire for Progressive Action in Trump’s America

‘I Get Worried the World Will Leave Us Behind’

It’s not news that our world has fundamentally changed since the election of Donald Trump on November 8 of this year. Many of us have had to re-tool our expectations for what the next four years will look like. We here at The New Civil Rights Movement have certainly covered much of the fallout from the election, including the severe downturn in feelings of safety and security across the LGBTQ community. 

At the end of November, the Southern Poverty Law Center released the results of a study titled “The Trump Effect: The Impact of the 2016 Presidential Election on Our Nation’s Schools.” The study collected responses from over 10,000 “teachers, counselors, administrators and others who work in schools.” Shockingly, 90% of respondents said their school culture had been negatively impacted by election rhetoric, including a dramatic uptick in harassment using Confederate flags, Nazi salutes, and swastikas. 

Eight in ten educators said they’ve seen higher anxiety in marginalized students stuch as immigrants, Muslim students, and LGBTQ students, but because tensions have been running so high, many teachers are afraid to talk through the election and its aftermath in class, which could give students a chance to process their thoughts and work through their emotions in a safe environment.

NCRM spoke to a few students about what they’re thinking, feeling, and seeing in the weeks since the election.

Alyx, a bisexual, trans high school student in New York who’s active in LGBTQ Jewish teen programs, tells us, “After the election, I’ve found myself much more detached from politics and the news. I don’t read The New York Times or the Guardian much anymore – two websites I was on all the time before the election. It’s just hard to read. It’s hard to watch while a man who preaches hate takes over the country.”  

She, like many other students we’ve spoken to, have turned the election into a call for action. “I’ve thrown myself more into the work I do, and that dominates more of my time than it used to. I try to be an advocate and an ally as best I can. One thing that I’ve tried to do is through my work planning events for LGBTQ Jewish teens is make sure people are informed about their rights and, for trans people, how to legally and medically transition.”

Sarah, a cis, lesbian student at Wellesley College says, “Even from my point of privilege as a white, middle class person in a safe environment, I’m scared. I’ve seen racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and everything else our PEOTUS lends his name to before and since the election. I’ve seen it on my own campus, and it scares me.”

In the absence of safe adults to speak to and confide in, many LGBTQ youth are turning to crisis hotlines such as The Trevor Project or Trans Lifeline. Both agencies have reported a sharp increase in election-related calls over the past month.

Not everyone thinks the next four years will be as taxing as others have predicted. Gregory Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, told VOA that Trump’s statement that he’ll “be a real friend to the LGBT community” shows that the anxiety shared by many is a result of “myths that were perpetuated by Democrats during the campaign” rather than from empirical evidence. 

However, in the weeks since his election, President Elect Trump has yet to nominate a single candidate for his cabinet who fully supports LGBTQ rights and equality. But he has placed high in his transition team at least one member of an anti-gay hate group.

Much like the greater population, not every young person is feeling anxious about a Trump presidency, but many are certainly affected by the emotions of those around them and the assumption that they’re supposed to think the same things their friends think. 

Sterling, a bisexual, trans high school student from Connecticut tells us, “I, personally, don’t feel scared for President Elect Trump to enter office. The reactions of Republicans and Democrats alike scare me.” Because he didn’t identify with either side’s reaction to the election, he was fearful he would be characterized as “a self-hating, ignorant LGBT person.”

But Sterling wasn’t immune to the anxiety many others are feeling, either. He continues, “The night it was announced that President Elect Trump won, a friend of mine who is a Democrat and transgender sent me a series of texts about how we’re all doomed and that my friend wants to kill themself.”

Through all of the rhetoric, one message has stayed true and clear: LGBT youth are looking to their teachers, their families, and their communities to support them, protect them, and celebrate them for who they are now and the adults they will soon become. And they see the possible opportunity in the fallout.

Sarah adds, “The one thing I’m grateful for in the aftermath of the election is that finally non-marginalized communities are seeing it too. The reason marginalized groups are targeted is because we are assumed to be powerless, but we are not. Queers, people of color, Jews, Muslims – we are everywhere and we are fighting. We’re using this to bring attention to the hate and discrimination that we’ve always faced, and although we’re scared, this is a time to band together to work toward equality.”

Chris, a recent Pennsylvania high school graduate who identifies as non-binary and pansexual sums up the current attitudes of many succinctly: “Since the election, I’ve been afraid. When I look at everything that’s been lined up to be destroyed I get worried that the world will just leave us behind, and sometimes I fear they may do worse. But I know that humanity’s real successes have been a direct result of opposition; change never is/was/will be easy, and that’s why despite whatever fears and doubts I have, I know we can make it through and be better for it.”

 

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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license