“It’s even more fuel…to really be more visible and vocal today and really every day of the year,” said Tori Cooper, director of Community Engagement at Human Rights Campaign.
Trans Day of Visibility is taking on new meaning for Black trans and gender-expansive Americans as they navigate the political resurgence of President Donald Trump, who has made anti-trans and anti-DEI policies major features of his administration’s agenda.
Black trans and gender-expansive individuals find themselves at the intersection of communities that are being impacted after a slew of actions taken by the Trump administration, including moving to ban the existence of trans-Americans from sports, government websites, the U.S. military and even passports. Trump similarly eliminated diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs and policies throughout the federal government and has sought to pressure private companies to do the same.
The actions taken by Trump, advocates argue, have systematically sought to block transgender and people of color from access to everyday parts of life, including employment, health care, housing, and even access to clean water and air.
Despite the actions by the Trump administration, Black trans women leaders who spoke with theGrio say they remain “inspired” and even more determined to fight for visibility.
“It’s even more fuel for those of us who are part of the trans and gender-expansive community to really be more visible and vocal today and really every day of the year,” said Tori Cooper, director of Community Engagement at Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.
“Our lives shouldn’t be political points,” she told theGrio. “The fact that we have a president and administration that is prioritizing our existence over the price of eggs or the price of gas or a living wage or even employment, I think, really says a lot about the power that our community holds.”
Jay Jones, who was elected Howard University’s first transgender student body president, told theGrio that looking to the past, trans and gender-expansive people have always “found ways to remain and stay visible in a world that has deemed us invisible.” Jones added, “We found new ways, innovative ways, creative ways, to educate our own people, to let people know how we identify, to tell people how we should be addressed.”
Cooper, who is the first trans woman hired in HRC’s national office, said that trans and Black Americans have been “easy targets” for the Republican Party.
“The majority of the people in this country are not Black. The majority of the people in this country are not trans. There are still places where Black people don’t live, and there are still places where trans people don’t live yet,” Cooper explained. “Anti-DEI is anti-everything that is not white, cisgender…and male.”
As Democrats navigate the “flood the zone” dominance of the Trump administration and the Republican Party, LGBTQ advocates are calling for more action to combat what they say are policy assaults on the transgender community.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 05: U.S. President Donald Trump joined by women athletes signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement that the “coordinated attacks” demand “immediate and decisive action.” Robinson added, “We will not falter in our fight against anti-equality policies, nor will we falter in seeking justice and uplifting the extraordinary spirit of the transgender and gender expansive community.”
Cooper and Jones would like to see Democratic Party leaders do more to reclaim the narrative from the political right.
Jones told theGrio that the messaging from Democrats has not been “sufficient” in terms of protecting the equal rights of transgender and gender expansive communities.
“If they start infringing on transgender and gender expansive communities … they’re going to start infringing on your rights too,” she said of other communities and groups. “There are some issues that aren’t a left or right issue. They’re just a human issue. That has to be recognized in the Democratic Party to ensure people aren’t just moving to one side of the aisle.”
Contrary to what some have argued, Cooper said Democrats did not lose the 2024 election because of trans issues, telling theGrio, “I don’t want us to be a scapegoat.” Instead, she believes Republicans won the day on the messaging because they were “unified.”
“Even when the messages were stupid, even when the messages were divisive, even when the messages were outright lies,” Cooper noted. “If you say things loud enough, and then you say things often enough, some people will start to believe it.”
But there are at least some glimmers of hope in Washington, D.C., for trans and gender expansive communities as U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender member of Congress.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 25: U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) speaks with the media while walking into the House Chambers to vote on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Jones said she is particularly inspired by McBride as a student campus leader as McBride, like Jones, served as a student body president at American University. “It’s good to know that there are people in places that have made it accessible for us to be able to enter into this political space and to do the work that’s necessary, even in a world that doesn’t deem us necessary,” Jones told theGrio.
However, McBride has been met with hostility from Republican colleagues who have prohibited her from entering public women’s restrooms and have refused to acknowledge her as a woman.
Cooper, who worked with McBride in the past and is “incredibly proud” of the freshman congresswoman, said Republicans have done a “great job of minimizing” McBride’s existence as a trans woman. However, she said, they have ignored her history of advocacy and the support she has from her constituents in Delaware. “She represents what so many people in this country want to see; that’s young, bright talent who just wants to do the work,” said Cooper. “I think she also is representative of what the future holds for our country.”
Despite the political climate, trans communities are more so focused on cultivating the joy in their lives.
Jones says she has found joy in community and sisterhood, particularly from other Black trans leaders like Cooper and advocate Hope Giselle. When the Howard University senior became worried that she would encounter problems with accessing her hormone treatments as a result of actions taken by the Trump administration, Cooper was one of the first people she reached out to for support and guidance.
“It’s really good, especially now during this time that we have each other to lean on,” said Jones.
Cooper said she has particularly turned to her faith. “I am very proudly a Christian, and I know many other trans and gender expansive people who are Christians as well, or who have some type of spiritual or religious affiliation,” she told theGrio. “I am incredibly inspired by the fact that the same tool, the same Bible, the same religion, the same God that the conservatives use to beat people up with is the same one that empowers me.”
Cooper said she is also inspired by one simple belief: “Good always has to win over evil…it is the natural order of things.”
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