Yes, What's Happening To Trans People Right Now Is Attempted Genocide.
In the first few weeks of Trump's presidency in 2025, one of the first things he did was "write" and sign a bunch of Executive Orders and make a bunch of demands with the intent to erase transgender people's existence. It is extremely evident that Donald Trump--along with Elon Musk, who is exercising a great deal of influence on him--hates transgender people, and is trying to make it so unbearably hard to live our lives that we "disappear," whether by hiding, experiencing violence, or taking our own lives. Things have been moving fast, and new attacks have been taking place at a rapid pace.
When I was in school, learning about historical genocides, we were encouraged to think about what we would do if we were members of the community while these events were happening. The consensus is usually that people are baffled that so many people around them did absolutely nothing while these atrocities unfolded around them. I am here to tell you, without judgment, that how you respond to what Trump is doing now is exactly how you would have acted back then. If thinking of yourself as somebody who would have just looked the other way during the genocides you learned about in school, you should feel uncomfortable about neglecting to act now. The good news is, it's absolutely not too late to be one of the people who didn't act. Here are just a few ideas of things you can do to help:
Commit to disobedience. This government wants you to just sit around and pretend that nothing bad is happening, and it is your responsibility not to comply with that demand. Here are some ideas for developing disobedience.
Contact your elected officials and other politicians. I've provided a handy list of ways to do that, with varying levels of difficulty.
Spread the word. Post online about it, sure, but make sure to reach the offline world through talking with people, or maybe making and distributing literature. Here is some literature I made that you can print off.
Directly help transgender people you know who are struggling, and donate to organizations that are either providing aid or legally challenging Trump in court. Advocate has a list of anti-Trump organizations to donate to, I also list some organizations below.
As one singular individual, I don't have the ability to keep up on absolutely everything the Trump administration is doing, so I have chosen to stick with talking about his attacks on transgender people on a basic level. There are many more populations under attack than just trans people, and much more that can be done than what I've identified here! The following are some resources I personally use and donate to in order to stay informed and find ways to act:
