New Studies Show Harms to Children Under Trump

Nelson Mandela once said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Two new studies that look at the impact of Trump's second term on LGBTQ+ youth and children with transgender parents show just how soulless our government has become.

Glisten's (formerly GLSEN's) 13th National School Climate Survey (NSCS), released March 31, asked 2,800 LGBTQ+ students (including intersex, asexual, and two-spirit youth) in U.S. middle and high schools to reflect on the 2023-2024 school year. Glisten also organized focus groups in 2025 with 36 students who were underrepresented in that sample or in national LGBTQ+ research, including Asian, Black, Latine, transfemme, intersex, disabled, and rural students, and ones in Southern states.

Two-thirds of respondents and more than two-thirds of trans and gender-expansive ones felt unsafe at some point due to their LGBTQ+ identity. Just under two-thirds of respondents experienced verbal, physical, or online harassment/assault because of their sexual orientation; and just over two-thirds reported the same due to their gender identity or expression.

Those numbers are not surprising; schools have unfortunately long been hostile climates for LGBTQ+ youth. Under Trump, however, things are getting worse. The NSCS also found that students experienced increased hostility, bullying, and harassment after the 2024 election, and "felt schools were frozen into inaction out of fear of being targeted or losing funding." As one 15-year-old in a rural focus group in Oregon noted, "There are people in high positions of authority...[who] have a lot of say over how young people think. When you hear...them saying some pretty horrible things, it normalizes it."

Glisten emphasized, though, that the students' experiences are "multi-dimensional" and the youth shouldn't simply be categorized by the binary of "victims" or "leaders." It also indicated actions schools can take to support them, including staff training, taking reports of bullying seriously, enacting LGBTQ+-inclusive school curricula, supporting GSAs (gender and sexuality alliances) and other student organizations, and clarifying and implementing explicitly LGBTQ+-inclusive school policies and practices.

Another recent study, "Impact of the Trump Administration on Transgender Parents and their Children," was released April 9 by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Abbie Goldberg, professor of psychology at Clark University and Williams Institute affiliated scholar, and Brad Sears, distinguished senior scholar at the Williams Institute, surveyed 108 parents on the topic last year: 37% nonbinary, 32% transgender women, 22% transgender men, and 9% genderqueer, genderfluid, or genderflux. One-third were people of color.

Among the 55% of respondents who felt that their children were old enough to be aware of and impacted by the administration's policies, two-thirds (66%) said their children had increased anxieties and/or fears because of the Trump administration. Over half (56%) said these included new worries or concerns, including ones about their parents' safety and/or lack of access to gender-affirming care; discrimination, harassment, or violence towards their families; and questions about why people don't like their parents or families. One parent observed, "My eldest daughter even at a young age is beginning to ask often more into the subject of 'why people are mean to families like ours.' The changes in language and attitude in media and some public spheres seem to register emotionally with them, even though they may not grasp the politics behind it."

Another parent even shared, "My older child asked whether families like ours would still be allowed to stay together if laws keep changing. My younger one asked if people will always be mean to us for being different."

Goldberg explained in a statement that these fears "strike at the heart of their security and stability. For many, what is at stake is not simply a matter of hardship, but whether their family will survive the Trump presidency intact."

The parents used three key strategies, however, to address children's concerns: acknowledging, validating, and processing them; providing reassurance that their families were safe; and promising to advocate for them. They also provided information, worked to build their children's self-esteem, cultivated open communication, and shared historical perspectives on what was happening. As one parent explained, "I reassure them that our family is strong, that I will always protect them, and that there are many people and communities fighting for fairness and love—even when it feels like the world is uncertain."

Most of the parents (87%) also took specific steps to protect their children, including limiting their own or their family's visibility in public spaces and/or social media; avoiding one or more family-oriented spaces and events like playgrounds, school events, and birthday parties; moving or considering moving; homeschooling or changing schools; securing legal safeguards to protect their familial relationships; and taking self-defense classes or buying personal safety devices.

One-third of respondents also said that because of the Trump administration, they were planning to have fewer children, while others indicated that the timing or method that they had planned to use to grow or start their families had changed.

Despite the challenges, however, many respondents also expressed strength and resilience. As one said, "I am not stopping myself from living my life because of bigots in this country. My and my family's lives matter too."

Many other groups of children have been negatively impacted by this administration, too, including trans children kept from medically prescribed care and children, particularly those of color, in ICE detention centers. These two studies add to that bigger picture of the damage that is being done to the next generation and offer some important protective suggestions.

Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian (mombian.com), a two-time GLAAD Media Award-winning blog for LGBTQ+ parents, plus a searchable database of 1,900+ LGBTQ+ family books.