What LGBTQ+ Healthcare Might Look Like Under Trump

Many LGBTQ+ Americans are anxiously waiting to see how our rights, healthcare, and quality of life will change under a second Trump administration. In exactly six weeks, on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will be sworn into office  as the 47th president of the United States. Civil rights groups say they are already preparing for the fight ahead as Trump nominates a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ cabinet appointments.

Trump has announced his top picks for cabinet positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary and Stephen Miller for Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, to name a few. While it remains to be seen just how many of Trump’s nominees will be approved by the Senate, it’s important to understand what LGBTQ+ healthcare and rights might look like under the upcoming GOP administration.

Trump’s first administration cut funding for HIV/AIDS, repealed protections for trans patients seeking healthcare, and sought to repeal protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to allow healthcare providers to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people for religious reasons. It remains to be seen in 2025 just how many of the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community were a campaign strategy to get in office and how many of them were political threats.

One of the biggest concerns across the country come January will be how access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and adults might change. As of January 2024, nearly half the states in the U.S. have laws or policies that limit or ban affirming care for minors.

In a video released in January 2023 on his Truth Social platform on his Truth Social platform, Trump promised to end gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth on a federal level, pledging to strip Medicaid and Medicare funding from any hospital that provides care to trans patients under 18. This is obviously worrisome for many families of gender nonconforming youth as well as trans and nonbinary adults.

While Republicans do control both the House and Senate, GOP lawmakers would need to garner 60 votes to pass a federal law restricting healthcare for trans youth. Even if a federal ban were to be enacted, as of right now, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) still prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all federally funded health care programs.

“It’s similar to the concerns people have about (the Supreme Court) advancing a national abortion ban,” Buchert tells NPR’s Michel Martin. “It’s always something that we’re concerned about. But we stand ready to step into the breach.”

It’s undeniable that Trump’s immigration policies will also impact public health for many undocumented LGBTQ+ people and their families living in mixed-status families who need to access care. Given Trump’s vile rhetoric around immigrants and transgender people on the campaign trail, we can expect to see some backlash in the form of policy and safety for marginalized communities.

“Since 1969, we have adapted and persevered through every shift in the political landscape to ensure our communities receive the life-saving, affirming care they deserve,” Patrick McGovern, the CEO of Callen-Lorde, an LGBTQ+ community health center in New York, says in a statement. “Our mission does not change with the political winds.”