Sometimes I think that it must be really hard to be a trans person coming out for the first time while living in the United States under the Trump Administration. Then I remember that I did exactly that. I came out as a trans woman during the first Trump Administration.

I first started to tell select people in my life that I wanted to transition in 2016, and then in 2018 I finally came out to my work and family and started living my life full-time as a woman. But at the same time, I feel like I had it easier. That’s not to say that being trans in Trump’s America has ever been easy, but I think that Trump’s second term has proven to be more focused on removing the rights of transgender people than his first term was, and I can imagine it must be even scarier now to be a trans person who is figuring out who they are for the very first time.

For me, I’m sure enough in who I am as a trans woman after nearly a decade of living with it that I know there’s no scaring me back into the closet. Whatever Trump does, I’m not going back to hiding myself from the world. But it would be really daunting for me to admit to people who I am if I came out for the first time today, especially if I still worked for a non-profit, religious organization like I did in 2018 when I came out. And I shudder to think of how hard it would be to come out today for the first time if I lived in a state with a less tolerant attitude towards transgender people than Colorado.

As the Trump Administration focuses on removing transgender rights under the second administration, Colorado remains one of the safer places to live as a trans person. Still, there is a constant struggle between the federal and state governments. While Colorado seems to remain committed to protecting trans people, there are a lot of indications that nowhere in Trump’s America is truly safe. Trump started his second term by issuing an executive order basically saying that trans people don’t exist. Still, his primary tactics for abolishing trans rights have been to eliminate funding for LGBTQ+ programs and create an environment where private corporations are afraid to offer their funding to the LGBTQ+ community as well.

 

A Sanctuary State? Why Colorado is Safer for Trans People

In many ways, Colorado is one of the more supportive states to live in if you’re a transgender person. Colorado was the first state in the country to make gender-affirming care an essential health benefit (EHB), which means that Colorado-based insurance, individual insurance, or small business group plans have to cover certain key gender-affirming services like hair removal and facial and chest surgeries. Even before the Supreme Court ruled in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that it was illegal to fire someone from a job for being transgender, Colorado had The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), which protected transgender people from discrimination in public accommodation, employment, and housing.

Then, of course, there was the recent passage of a law, known as the Kelly Loving Act, which you may have seen talked about in memes on social media where people claimed that the law makes misgendering and deadnaming a crime in Colorado. That’s not exactly the way I would describe it from my understanding of the law. A better way to put it might be what ACLU of Colorado Director of Public Policy Anaya Robinson told me.

“That really helped clarify some of the protections that already existed in Colorado,” Robinson said to me in our conversation. “A lot of what that did was ensure clarity of the application of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, because there were a lot of portions that I think both the CCRD [Colorado Civil Rights Division] and the courts, to some degree, had trouble recognizing where those protections lie and where they don’t. I think a lot of that has to do with the [fact that] language within our [LGBTQ+] community is relatively newer in some instances, and is still really being built out socially, which is different than other protected classes within Colorado.”

Trans Continental Pipeline, a 501(c)3 officially incorporated by Keira Richards in April 2024 as an extension of a mutual aid organization that she had started in November 2023, understands that Colorado is one of the safer places to live as a trans person, as their organization helps transgender people who live in states with fewer rights and freedoms for trans people relocate themselves to Colorado. “It started with Colorado,” says Richards. “We’re working on [helping] folks move to states with adequate support in legislation.”

You may notice that, as you open up the webpage for Trans Continental Pipeline, a pop-up hits you with a notice saying, “We have seen a massive increase in new aid requests since the election. Our small volunteer team is working diligently to train new relocation managers, add more resources, and expand to other safe states. Please expect extended wait times for responses as we build capacity to help everyone we can.” So the project is still growing to meet the demand, but Richards says that she’s seen a significant need since Trump took office, especially in Texas.

“We get a lot of applications from Texas,” she said. “I’m sure that’ll come as no surprise, but they are working to reverse the gender markers for individuals. In Colorado, specifically, the biggest [challenge] that we’ve seen is when the executive order came out that there would be [a] ban for gender-affirming care under the age of 19, and three of the major hospitals in Colorado complied. A group of parents and One Colorado got on them, and the Attorney General, to get that lifted at the state level, because it was still against state law. But that highlights this weird dynamic that’s occurring where, at the state level, the legislation and regulations that we have are, hesitate to say safe, but certainly relatively better than most of the country. But that state versus federal rights dichotomy and struggle is ongoing.”

Still, while Richards speaks in qualified terms about the safety of Colorado, Robinson from the ACLU feels confident that Colorado is unlikely to reverse course on trans rights. “I don’t see any ability for Colorado to reverse course,” she said, “unless it comes to a point where the state can actually not afford to continue providing those protections and that access.”

Pulling the Purse Strings: Can Trump Cut Off Trans Rights Financially?

One of the first things I did when I realized I was ready to start exploring my gender identity was take the terrifying step of walking into a building for an organization called the Gender Identity Center. I had a drop-in session with a trans woman who was also a counselor who talked me through some of my early fears and made a very good point: she asked me, if I woke up tomorrow as a cis woman, would that be a bad thing? I said that no, that would be one of the greatest things in the world for me. She explained that it seemed I wasn’t scared of being a woman, I was scared of being trans. That was where it all changed for me, and I knew there was never any going back.

Places like the Gender Identity Center are essential in helping trans people who are struggling start to have real conversations about themselves. The Gender Identity Center no longer exists, as several years back it merged with some other organizations to become the Transgender Center of the Rockies. They continued to have regular drop-in hours and also provided the ever-important service called Marsha’s Closet — named after trans trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson — which allows trans people to get clothing that matches their gender identity for free in a stress- and judgement-free environment.

 

But, like many organizations that help trans or other queer people, the Transgender Center of the Rockies faces difficulties as the Trump Administration has tried to cut off trans programs by controlling the purse strings. Today, if you go to the website for the Transgender Center of the Rockies, you’re greeted with a disturbing message, saying:

“Due to recent federal executive orders and cuts to federal, state, and local funding streams, we have made changes to our operations. Our commitment to keeping ‘all’ of our programs operational remains steadfast. Each program will experience a reduction in staff. We’ll provide updates as we continue to evaluate our funding options. Thank you for your understanding and support as we navigate this challenging time we face.”

The Transgender Center for the Rockies declined to comment on this article, saying that they refuse to bring more negative attention to themselves by discussing the actions of the current administration. But more and more, organizations that protect the LGBTQ+ community, and particularly the trans community, find themselves facing major budgetary shortfalls.

Call 988

One of the more controversial moves the Trump administration made was removing the funding for LGBTQ+-specialized services at 988, a federally funded suicide and crisis line. What became known as the “Press 3 option” allowed callers to press 3 to be connected to a counselor with a focus on LGBTQ+ issues. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), by its own statistics, measured over 1.3 million calls from LGBTQ+ youth since the launching of the LGBTQ+-focused program in 2022.

The statement made by SAMHSA on June 17 to announce the end of their LGBTQ+ program was carefully crafted to make it sound like it was not about bigotry, but it’s not hard to read between the lines. “On July 17, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will no longer silo LGB+ youth services, also known as the ‘Press 3 option,’ to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option,” the statement reads, trying to frame the move as a simple streamlining of the service. “Everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse, or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress.”

But it doesn’t take much thought to realize that nothing about eliminating specialized services for an at-risk population is going to make that population safer. A 2023 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 81% of transgender adults in the United States have contemplated suicide, 42% have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-harm. The Trevor Project, another non-profit that works with preventing LGBTQ+ suicide, points out that LGBTQ+ people are four times more likely than their peers to have attempted suicide.

 

Non-Federally Funded Orgs

While organizations that receive federal funding have been obvious targets for the Trump Administration — in what it calls cost-cutting measures but which oddly seem to target the queer community — organizations that don’t get their funding from the federal government have faced new fundraising hurdles since the second Trump inauguration as well. One example is The Center on Colfax, one of the most important LGBTQ+ organizations in the state and the group that throws Denver PrideFest every year in June.

The Center hosts such a wide variety of programs that it’s hard to nail down their one biggest contribution to the LGBTQ+ community. Their Glass Lawler Mental Health Center provides free therapeutic services for LGBTQ+ adults. Their Rainbow Alley program provides services and activities to LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 10-17. They have a variety of support groups for transgender individuals, including separate groups for transfemmes, non-binary adults over 40, and other very specific groups for different transgender identities. And their legal program can connect LGBTQ+ people with much needed legal aid.

Back in early June, OUT FRONT Magazine reported that The Center saw themselves on the verge of a major funding shortfall, as much as $230,000, going into their preparations for Denver PrideFest which, aside from being one of the biggest queer celebrations in the state, is also one of the most important fundraisers for The Center’s fiscal year. Much of the shortfall was chalked up to a change in attitudes and major corporations fearing the wrath of the Trump Administration if they sided with the LGBTQ+ community. However, The Center refused to name names of who was pulling out when they spoke to OFM.

“A lot of organizations that were supporting us through transformational corporate sponsorships, some of them fell under pressure of having to roll back efforts of money where they would put it,” The Center’s new CEO, Kim Salvaggio, told me about the funding shortfall. “A lot of our partner organizations, if they were taking or receiving federal grants, obviously, they felt a push also with the executive order.” But, by the time that I got in touch with Salvaggio about this article, though, The Center had made up a good deal of that shortfall going into Denver PrideFest. “We did have some sponsors that were not able to come back, but we ended up gaining some sponsors,” said Salvaggio. “We were very lucky.”

Conclusion: Big, Beautiful Bulls**t

The passage of the Republican budget bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” has been a nail-biter for the trans community. Early on, a provision was added to the bill banning coverage of gender-affirming care for minors on Medicaid, but, when passing the House back in May, the words “for minors” were stricken from the bill, meaning that the bill would have banned gender-affirming care under Medicaid for people of any age. At the time of the writing of this article, the bill has passed congress and awaits Trump’s signature to be enacted, but, luckily, the final version of the bill struck any mention of gender-affirming care. Still, the Republicans showed that their ultimate endgame is to eliminate gender-affirming care, even for adults, and, while we dodged the issue on this bill, there’s a good chance it will come up again.

“House Bill 25-1309 helped codify that right in Colorado to access gender affirming care requires that health plans that are regulated within the state include gender-affirming care,” explained Anaya Robinson of the ACLU regarding Colorado state law. “Gender affirming care is also already, in statute, legally protected medical care in Colorado. In various statutes, the state has a pretty inherent obligation to continue providing gender-affirming care through Medicaid.”

However, were a law to pass that blocked gender-affirming care on Medicaid on a federal level, the state of Colorado would have to cover the lost match from the federal government, which becomes a budgetary problem for our state. “One of the really concerning things about losing that federal match that Colorado is in an extremely unfortunate budget situation as a state mostly due to TABOR there would be some question as to whether or not the state can actually afford to cover the full cost of gender-affirming care under Medicaid if that federal match is lost,” Robinson explained.

So, while Colorado state law would protect gender-affirming care under Medicaid, there’s no telling what would happen in the ensuing budget crisis that could come about from trying to cover gender-affirming care under Medicaid without federal support. It’s one of the examples of how, even with Colorado’s safety net for trans people, there’s potential for the federal government to destroy trans rights even in this safer state. So, while Colorado remains a sanctuary for trans people right now, there’s always a fear that the sanctuary may turn unsafe again.

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