As President Donald Trump begins the second year of his second term, LGBTQ advocacy organizations say they are shifting into a more aggressive posture — armed with new data that shows how quickly hard-won progress is eroding under the Trump-Vance administration.

The Human Rights Campaign hosted its 2026 Election Strategy Kick-Off meeting last week at the National Press Club in Washington, where leaders shared fresh polling data detailing how Trump’s first year back in office has affected LGBTQ Americans — and how pro-equality candidates can respond heading into the midterms.

HRC President Kelley Robinson hosted the event, joined by MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Reproductive Freedom For All President Mini Timmaraju, and Joey Teitelbaum of Global Strategy Group. Together, they laid out what they described as a dire political and cultural moment for LGBTQ people — and the concrete steps campaigns must take to counter a surge of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy coming from the GOP.

“The emergency that we warned about is no longer a warning — it is the reality that we are living inside,” Robinson said. “Donald Trump may not have started this fire, but he surely poured gasoline on it.”

New data collected by HRC and Democratic pollsters at Global Strategy Group (GSG) paints a grim picture of life for LGBTQ Americans in Trump-era America — particularly when it comes to visibility, safety, and economic security.

Acceptance and visibility declining

One of the clearest trends from the survey is a decline in perceived acceptance. The data found that 21.6% of all U.S. adults say acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has declined in the past year. Among LGBTQ+ adults themselves, that number jumps to 29.7%.

That erosion of acceptance is translating into tangible changes in behavior. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ adults surveyed — 47.5% — reported being less out in at least one area of their lives over the past 12 months, at least in part due to cultural shifts or executive actions taken by the Trump-Vance administration.

The survey found that 26.5% of LGBTQ+ people are less out at work than they used to be, 25.4% are less out in healthcare settings, and 28.3% feel less out in public spaces. While the choice to be out varies by person and circumstance, researchers note that higher levels of being openly LGBTQ — particularly when safety is assured — have historically been linked to greater societal acceptance.

Visibility is slipping even more broadly. More than half of LGBTQ+ adults — 51.1% — say they are less visible than they were a year ago. Among LGBTQ+ parents with school-aged children, 40.1% reported being less visible at their children’s schools — the highest rate of retreat in any measured environment.

“Nearly half of LGBTQ+ people say they are less out than they were just a year ago,” Robinson said. “Visibility — something we fought generations to build — is slipping before our very eyes.”

Capehart emphasized that these numbers have real-world consequences beyond personal identity.

“Half the community retreating back into the closet is distressing, but understandable in these times,” Capehart said. “The danger is when people disappear from public life, because it becomes easier to ignore their suffering.”

Decades of research from organizations such as Gallup and PRRI have consistently shown that increased visibility correlates with greater public support for LGBTQ+ rights. When people personally know someone who is LGBTQ+, they are significantly more likely to support equality — creating what advocates describe as a positive feedback loop. The new data suggests that loop is now reversing.

Voters are ahead of politicians

Despite the cultural retrenchment reflected in the data, GSG’s findings also offer a clear political opening for candidates who run unapologetically on equality — particularly in competitive districts.

According to the polling, voters in battleground and purple districts “overwhelmingly support” nondiscrimination protections and LGBTQ equality. These voters, the data show, are deeply wary of politicians inserting themselves into people’s personal lives while failing to address urgent issues like the cost of living, healthcare, and public safety — especially when those intrusions target transgender people.

Teitelbaum, GSG’s senior vice president for research, said the polling makes clear that Republican messaging on transgender issues is far out of step with the electorate.

“In no state have we ever seen more than 18% of voters say being transgender should be illegal,” Teitelbaum said. “That means more than 80% of Americans are not where Republicans are — and that gives us room to go on offense.”

HRC leaders pointed to the recent Virginia gubernatorial race as a case study in how candidates can successfully navigate anti-trans attacks. Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger faced a barrage of anti-trans messaging from her opponent, yet refused to cede ground on equality — instead redirecting her campaign toward economic concerns and quality-of-life issues.

“Look at Virginia and the good governor that’s about to be inaugurated, Abigail Spanberger,” Robinson said. “She faced a flood of anti-trans attacks. More than half of her opponent’s ad budget was spent trying to divide and mislead voters, but she didn’t flinch. She stood her ground, and voters rewarded her by a win of over 15 points in Virginia.”

Economic, healthcare impacts deepen

Beyond cultural shifts, the survey shows that the administration’s policies are having measurable economic and health impacts on LGBTQ Americans.

LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely as non-LGBTQ+ adults to say their financial situation has worsened over the past year. Advocates pointed specifically to the administration’s hardline rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as a key driver of workplace hostility. Among LGBTQ+ workers whose employers ended or scaled back DEI programs, 57.4% reported experiencing stigma or bias at work.

Healthcare access is also deteriorating — not only due to Trump’s aggressive push against gender-affirming care, but across other critical areas as well. Access to HIV prevention and treatment has become significantly more difficult. LGBTQ+ adults on Medicare or Medicaid are more than twice as likely to report barriers to HIV care compared to those with other forms of insurance. Among LGBTQ+ adults earning less than $75,000 per year, 41.5% reported difficulty accessing HIV prevention or treatment.

“Since Donald Trump returned to office, LGBTQ+ Americans are worse off in every area this survey measures than we were one year ago,” Robinson said. “We are less visible, less safe, and less economically secure.”

A playbook for going on offense

In response, HRC is urging more pro-equality candidates to run — and to do so strategically. The organization outlined a campaign playbook designed to help candidates define themselves early, counter anti-trans attacks, and proactively promote their values rather than playing defense.

The framework centers on five core pillars:

1. Share your story before attacks come
2. Lead with your values
3. Address concerns directly
4. Turn the tables and gain voters
5. Go big

U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson of Texas joined the meeting virtually, echoing the call for more openly pro-LGBTQ leadership in Congress.

“They’re banking that the politics of hate and division can distract voters from their failure to address soaring health care costs, high grocery bills, and the scourge of gun violence — and we cannot let them win,” Johnson said. “The answer is not to hide or stay silent. The answer is to be prepared.”

Johnson, the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from the South, said real change in Washington begins with elections.

“We need to flip the House to a pro-equality majority that will focus on the needs of all Americans, without exception,” she said. “With HRC’s help, candidates like me can go on offense and lean into our values, because the American people want real leadership, full equality, and a commitment to freedom.”

Robinson closed the event with a blunt assessment of the moment ahead.

“This is a different United States of America than it was just months ago,” she said. “Preserving democracy and protecting LGBTQ lives both require the same thing: winning power and refusing to back down.”

Uncloseted Media published this story on Jan. 20.

By NICO DiALESANDRO | One year ago today, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States for the second time. Since then, he and his administration have waged an all-out attack on the LGBTQ community by slashing crucial health and support programs, pressuring states to exclude transgender people from most aspects of life and erasing information about the community’s history. Here are all the biggest moves Trump has made against LGBTQ rights over the last 365 days.

Jan. 20, 2025 – Trump’s second first day

During his inaugural address, Trump says, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.” Later that day, Trump signs “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” an executive order that defines “sex” in federal law to mean biological sex at conception. It also eliminates federal recognition of trans identities, blocks gender self-identification on federal documents, ceases federal funding for gender-affirming care and restricts trans people’s access to bathrooms, prisons, shelters, and other government facilities that match their gender identity.

Trump also signs “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” an executive order that orders federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion mandates, policies and programs. This order repeals a policy put in place by the Biden administration that created initiatives for the federal government to combat systemic barriers related to hiring on the basis of race, religion, income, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability.

“We’re the party of common sense, you know, we don’t want to have men playing in women’s sports. We don’t want to have transgender operations for everyone,” Trump says at the Liberty Ball party that evening. Trump would go on to repeat the sentiment countless times throughout the year, including at press conferences with world leaders, in an interview with “60 Minutes” and even while deploying the National Guard in Washington.

Jan. 21, 2025 – The flurry of executive orders continues

Trump signs “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” another executive order that revokes a 1965 order which mandated affirmative action for federal contractors and required that they take steps to comply with nondiscrimination laws. The order violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended Title VII sex-based protections to trans people.

Nearly all LGBTQ- and HIV-focused content and resources are deleted from the White House’s website including the White House’s equity report, information about LGBTQ Pride Month and a fact sheet on expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment. In addition, the State Department removes its LGBTQ rights page, and the Department of Labor removes its LGBTQ workers page.

Jan. 28, 2025 – funding cuts

Trump signs “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” an executive order that bars federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to restrict insurance coverage for such treatments under Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Hours after Trump signs the order, Uncloseted Media speaks with six LGBTQ kids to get their thoughts.

“For me, it’s definitely very frightening. Especially because right now I’m 16, and so, I’m going to become an adult over the course of his presidency. … And it’s really difficult, especially to plan for the future and have that lack of surety that I thought that I would,” Crow, who lives in Virginia, told Uncloseted Media.

Feb. 3, 2025

Mentions of LGBTQ people are erased or minimized across federal government websites, with a particular focus on trans and intersex people. The State Department first removes trans people in its travel safety guidelines, only mentioning the “LGB” community. As of publication, the web page has no mention of bisexual travelers either.

Feb. 5, 2025

Trump signs “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” an executive order that prohibits trans women and girls from competing on collegiate female sports teams.

Feb. 13, 2025

Under the direction of Trump’s executive order, the National Park Service removes references to trans and queer rights and history, including from the Stonewall National Monument pages. The “TQ” from “LGBTQ” is dropped in instances where the acronym is present. Protesters gather at the Stonewall National Monument in New York the next day to voice their outrage.

In an interview with Uncloseted Media, Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, calls the removal a blatant attempt to rewrite history and exclude the very people who led the fight for equality.

Feb. 14, 2025

The U.S. withdraws from the United Nations LGBTI Core Group, which formed in 2008 and pledges to support LGBTQ and intersex rights by “work[ing] within the United Nations framework on ensuring universal respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, specifically lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons, with a particular focus on protection from violence and discrimination.”

March 15, 2025 – illegal deportations

The Trump-Vance administration deports 238 Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. The administration claims these individuals are affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum, is one of the migrants with no criminal record. Hernández vanished from U.S. custody before his asylum hearing, and his lawyer asserts he was deported without due process.

On July 18, Hernández is returned to Venezuela along with 249 other migrants. The Department of Homeland Security dismisses abuse allegations of torture, sexual assault and other inhumane treatment.

April 2, 2025

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updates its policy to recognize only two biological sexes, male and female, for immigration benefit requests and official documentation. This policy shift reverses previous efforts to accommodate nonbinary and trans individuals, as it removes the “X” gender marker option from immigration forms.

“By denying trans people the right to self-select their gender, the government is making it harder for them to exist safely and with dignity. This is not about ‘common sense’ — it is about erasing an entire community from the legal landscape,” says Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality.

April 3, 2025

In his first few months in office, Trump and his administration cancel over 270 National Institutes of Health grants focused on LGBTQ health, totaling at least $125 million in unspent funds. The cancellations disrupt research on HIV testing and prevention, AIDS, cancer, mental health and more.

The cuts scrap more than $800 million worth of research into the health of LGBTQ people. The cuts abandon studies of cancers and viruses and set back efforts to defeat a resurgence of sexually transmitted infections. They also eliminate swaths of medical research on diseases that disproportionately afflict LGBTQ people, including HIV/AIDs, various sexually transmitted infections and cancers.

June 2, 2025

Stanford begins suspending gender-affirming care for people younger than 19 in response to Trump’s executive order. Other major health networks and many regional centers across the country begin following suit.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announces they will be cutting off care for patients as old as 25 beginning in July, stating that they were left with “no viable alternative” because they could not risk any cuts to their federal funding.

June 6, 2025

Trump’s military ban begins, disallowing trans people from serving in all branches of the armed forces and removing those currently in the service. Those who do not identify themselves will have their medical records surveyed and be involuntarily separated if it is discovered that they are trans.

July 1, 2025

Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is passed by Congress. The sweeping package of tax breaks that largely benefit the wealthy include major funding cuts to LGBTQ health care as well as a number of support programs that disproportionately serve queer people.

July 17, 2025

The Trump-Vance administration officially shuts down the LGBTQ-specific option on the 988 youth suicide hotline. This comes a year after data finds that 41 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide. Notably, there are no plans to shut down the other targeted hotline options. Arden, who called when they were 16, told Uncloseted Media, “If it weren’t for the hotline, I would have killed myself.”

Aug. 4, 2025

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests 40-year-old asylum seeker Rickardo Anthony Kelly during a routine immigration appointment. Kelly, who survived being shot 10 times in Jamaica by attackers who targeted him for being gay, is released two weeks later and describes the conditions of the ICE facility as “unconscionable,” “inhumane,” and “horrific.”

Aug. 12, 2025

The State Department releases a revised 2024 human rights report that omits references to LGBTQ people and erases mentions of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The report also removes critiques of governments for mistreating LGBTQ communities.

It excludes information about Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ laws that encourage citizens to report their LGBTQ neighbors and that ban depictions of homosexuality or gender transition in schools or the media.

Aug. 15, 2025

The Trump-Vance administration announces plans to eliminate gender-affirming care from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program starting in 2026. The policy would also block access to hormones and surgeries for federal workers and their families.

Aug. 20, 2025

The media reports on court filings that reveal that the Justice Department issued subpoenas to hospitals for private medical records of LGBTQ patients 18 and younger. The DOJ requests billing data, communication with drug manufacturers, Social Security numbers and recordings from providers who treat gender nonconforming minors. Doctors across the country report threats and fear government retaliation.

“The subpoena is a breathtakingly invasive government overreach. … It’s specifically and strategically designed to intimidate health care providers and health care institutions into abandoning their patients,” says Jennifer L. Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD law, an LGBTQ legal group and civil rights organization.

Sept. 4, 2025

In response to a mass shooting in Minneapolis that was carried out by a trans woman, CNN reports that the DOJ is considering restricting trans Americans’ Second Amendment rights. The department aims to justify a firearm ban by declaring trans people mentally “defective,” building off of Trump’s trans military ban. The proposal sparks backlash from the National Rifle Association, who says in a statement that they will not “support … gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights.”

Sept. 12, 2025

The DOJ removes a study from its website showing that far-right extremists have killed more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group. The archived report disappears two days after anti-LGBTQ conservative activist Charlie Kirk is assassinated.

Sept. 22, 2025

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claims the administration is investigating why trans people are turning to “domestic terrorism,” despite no evidence of this. She calls anyone denying the false link “willfully ignorant,” despite the most recent data available from 2018 showing that trans people are four times more likely to be victims of violent crime when compared to cisgender people.

Sept. 23, 2025

Trump cancels a budget meeting and blames a potential government shutdown on Democrats’ support for trans-inclusive policies.

Oct. 1, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel fires a trainee for displaying a Pride flag on his desk, labeling it an improper “political” message. The dismissal follows reports that pro-Trump appointees are combing internal FBI files to identify LGBTQ employees.

Oct. 3, 2025

Education Secretary Linda McMahon sends a nine-page proposal to nine universities that asks for a commitment to ban trans-inclusive facilities, define sex by “reproductive function” and limit race, gender or identity factors in admissions. The proposal calls for schools to revise their governance structures by “abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

Oct. 10, 2025

The White House lays off more than 1,100 HHS employees. The Office of Population Affairs, which administered Title X family-planning networks, teen pregnancy prevention and LGBTQ health initiatives, is eliminated.

Nov. 6, 2025

The Supreme Court grants the Trump-Vance administration’s request to put a hold on federal rulings in Massachusetts, affecting trans and nonbinary people by preventing them from self-identifying correctly on their IDs, claiming to be in line with Trump’s “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes, “This court has once again paved the way for the immediate infliction of injury without adequate (or, really, any) justification. Because I cannot acquiesce to this pointless but painful perversion of our equitable discretion, I respectfully dissent.”

Dec. 4, 2025

According to a memo obtained by NPR, the DOJ instructs inspectors to stop evaluating prisons and jails using standards designed to protect trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming people from sexual violence. This is in direct violation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Dec. 18, 2025

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, who leads Medicaid and Medicare, announce that HHS is heavily restricting trans health care; prohibiting Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care for people under 18; and blocking all Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide the care to minors.

Jan. 1, 2026

The Office of Personnel Management institutes policy changes that exclude coverage for “chemical and surgical” gender-affirming care in the FEHB and Postal Service Health Benefits plans for 2026, with narrow exceptions.

Jan. 7, 2026

Renee Good is shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. Good leaves behind a wife, Becca, and three children. In a statement, Becca remembers her wife:

“Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”

Days later, Trump tells reporters, “At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement. … It was highly disrespectful of law enforcement. The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement.”

Additional reporting by Hope Pisoni. Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers.

The mainstream media are agog over “Heated Rivalry,” the surprise hit HBO Max limited series about two professional hockey players who fall in love. 

The show’s stars, Connor Storrie (Ilya) and Hudson Williams (Shane), are everywhere — red carpets, award shows, morning news and late night shows. Female fans lined up for hours to catch a glimpse of Storrie, who appeared on the “Today” show last week. 

The interviews and coverage predictably involve lots of innuendo and snickering about the graphic sex scenes in the show. Storrie and Williams have played coy about their real-life sexual orientation, a subject of debate among some gay fans who would prefer they own their sexuality if, in fact, they are gay. 

But the big issue ignored by the media that the show tackles is the crippling effect of homophobia and the closet — not just on professional athletes but on anyone who isn’t comfortable being out at work. And it’s a growing problem given the hostile Trump administration. Attacks on LGBTQ people and the roll back of DEI and related protections are driving many Americans back into the closet, especially in D.C.’s large federal workforce. 

And the mainstream media seem totally unaware that there has never been an openly gay NHL player. Hell, there’s never even been a retired NHL player who came out. 

It’s a sad fact that I would not have predicted 13 years ago when Jason Collins bravely came out publicly while playing in the NBA, the first male athlete in the big four U.S. sports to do so. His announcement was widely covered in the mainstream media and Collins was even named to Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list in 2014.

Then in February 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. He was released before the season began and did not play. But still, Sam’s decision to come out was celebrated. It felt like professional male sports was changing and finally shaking off its ingrained homophobia. Many of us awaited a flood of young professional athletes coming out publicly. And we waited. And waited. Then, seven years later, in June 2021, Carl Nassib came out, becoming the first active NFL player to do so. He was with the Las Vegas Raiders at the time and also became the first out player to play in the playoffs. He was released in the offseason and picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 and retired the following year. 

And that is the short history of out professional male athletes in the big four U.S. sports. (Women’s sports is a different story with many examples of out lesbian and bi players.) 

Sure, some pro athletes have come out after retiring, most notably Billy Bean, who went on to a long and successful career advocating from within for gay representation in Major League Baseball as the league’s vice president and ambassador for inclusion and later as senior vice president and special assistant to the commissioner.

But that’s a sorry record and professional sports leagues should redouble their efforts at making gay players (and fans) feel welcome. From fully embracing Pride nights again to adopting zero tolerance policies for hate speech, there’s much more work to be done to make it easier for pro male athletes to come out.  

“Heated Rivalry” star Williams recently told an interviewer that he has received private messages from closeted active pro athletes in multiple sports who don’t feel they can come out. How sad that in 2026, even the most successful (and wealthy) among us still feel compelled to hide in the closet. 

Let’s hope that “Heated Rivalry,” which has been renewed for a second season, sparks a more enlightened conversation about the closet and the need to foster affirming workplaces in professional sports and beyond.

Kevin Naff is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at [email protected].