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s former President Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House in January, advocates for trans communities have expressed their deep concerns about trans rights over the coming years.

The final weeks of Trump’s presidential campaign were especially marked by repeated attacks on transgender people, not least at his Madison Square Garden rally where Trump railed at “transgender insanity” and trans athletes. Calls to LBGTQ+ support hotlines have now reportedly surged in the wake of the election.

After the election, “the fear was really, really real,” said Chase Overholt, director of development at Positive Images, a LGBTQIA+ community center in Santa Rosa serving the North Bay. “For my community, for the protection of my rights, my friends’ rights, my friends, access to gender-affirming care across state lines, we knew that Trump was the wrong choice.”

Trump has promised to remove Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender transition treatment to minors. Project 2025 — a detailed, 900-page policy agenda for the next Republican presidency authored and supported by Trump allies, former and current Trump staffers and Vice President-elect JD Vance – also calls for rolling back regulations that ban discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and trans status.

On Nov. 12, KQED Forum hosted a conversation focused on the future of trans rights in California under Trump. The guest panelists – including Honey Mahogany, director of San Francisco’s Office of Transgender Initiatives – acknowledged that it’s difficult to offer concrete recommendations right now to trans folks and their families, given the uncertainty of what’s to come. But amid these attacks, said Overholt, the election “also brought a sense of ‘OK, it’s time to roll up our sleeves even further and get to work, to make sure that folks in this area have the access to the things that they need.”

And there are still a few things you can do, even at this early stage.  Keep reading for what advocates say trans Californians can do at this moment to find support – and to make themselves feel safer.

Find – and nurture – community

“Our advice is to first check in with your loved ones,” said Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director at Equality California, the largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States. “Check in with yourself.”

“This is a very difficult time where a lot of emotional distress is present, and needs to be acknowledged in the LGBTQ community,” said Reyes Salinas. Turning to others can also help a person feel the weight – and power – of their community in the wake of the election, he said, and help you “understand that we’re not alone, and that there are people fighting and fighting for all of our rights.”

Overholt also stresses the intersectionality of community, and how organizations like Positive Images will also be seeking to collaborate and build strength through partnerships during this time – in a way that acknowledges that “the queer community is not a monolith,” they said. “We have trans folks with differing documentation statuses. We have Black trans folks. We have a lot of friends that need support, that our organization as a queer organization can only do so much [for].”

At this time, “our strength is really going to be in coalition-building and leaning on other organizations like NAACP, like Latino service providers, like our local legal aid to make sure that when things arise, we have the resources at our fingertips,” Overholt said. “So that our friends can take swift action to do what they need to do, to either repair some of that trauma or harm that’s been done, or protect against it.”

In short: know you’re not alone right now, even if it feels like it.

Get your documentation in order

“One of the most important things that you can do right now is make sure that your legal documents are in order,” said Overholt.

If you’re trans and you’re interested in a legal name change or gender indicator change, “you should file that paperwork tomorrow,” he said. (Read more about making name or gender indicator changes from the Transgender Law Center.)

The reason this is pressing, said Overholt, is “because that’s probably going to be one of the tools [that Californians will have] to protect ourselves and our access to different resources, in terms of gender-affirming care.”

If the bureaucracy of name or gender indicator changes feels daunting to embark on right now, Honey Mahogany advised that you seek out support and advice from local LGBTQ+ organizations – who may well have special teams on hand to help you with these processes.

She specifically recommended the SF LGBT Center, the SF Transgender District and Lyon-Martin Community Health Services for the support they can provide for folks looking to change their name or gender indicator and “getting your ducks, legally, in order.”

“I just want people to feel safe,” said Mahogany. “And so at this point, I’m just encouraging all trans people to do what they think will make them feel safest.”

What about equal marriage? While Project 2025 does not explicitly call for overturning same-sex marriages, the ACLU has said the document makes many indirect arguments for treating them as second-class partnerships.  Tom Temprano, managing director of external affairs at Equality California, said that it’s “not a coincidence” that California voters overwhelmingly voted to pass Proposition 3 last week, safeguarding the right to same-sex marriage within the state Constitution – a measure put on the ballot by California Democratic lawmakers to protect against possible federal changes to marriage protections. “The Supreme Court and these extremist judges that Donald Trump appointed have made clear that after overturning 40 years of precedent on abortion care, same-sex marriage is next.”

In her own life, Mahogany said that she and her partner are now discussing whether they should get married: “Who knows what’s going to happen if they overturn the right to marry federally?”

It must be stressed, however: A huge amount just isn’t known right now.

Seek support – and action – from local resources

Unlike in many parts of the country, the Bay Area has a strong network of community centers, resources and advocacy groups serving the LGBTQ+ community. These organizations often offer everything from community building and assistance with access to health care service to referrals for housing and legal resources.

If you haven’t been in touch with your nearest organization yet, now is the time, said Reyes Salinas. “See what resources are available, in addition to checking in with any transgender organizations that you’ve been following and seeing what their advice is” in terms of how to be ready for a second Trump presidency.

Here are just a few of the local and state resources available to trans folks and their families, in person and online:

• SF LGBT Center
• Positive Images Santa Rosa
• San Francisco’s Office of Transgender Initiatives
• San Francisco Transgender District
• Lyon-Martin Community Health Services
• Oakland LGBTQ Center
• Transgender Law Center
• Lyric Center for LGBTQQ+ Youth
• UCSF’s Center of Excellence for Transgender Health

If you don’t live near a center or aren’t able to travel to one, Reyes Salinas recommends that you visit the TransFamily Support Services website, which has a list of resources around mental health support and legal and medical support agencies.

Speak to your health care provider

If you have a regular health care provider, reach out to them as soon as you can to get their take. For example, you could ask specific questions about what longer-term access to any medications or services you use looks like.

“Gender-affirming care looks so different to every trans individual,” stressed Overholt – from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to “things that you can access in a salon or a medical esthetics office.”

For this reason, Overholt recommends that you reach out ASAP to “gender [and] queer-affirming individuals that work in those fields where you receive your gender-affirming care and ask them: ‘What’s the most that I can do to prepare myself, to have access to these resources for the most amount of time I possibly can?”

Follow California’s plans for a second Trump presidency

Something the experts that KQED spoke to stressed: California’s leaders have been clear about their intention to challenge the actions and policies of a second Trump presidency.

What’s more, these plans have been in the works for a long time, said Mahogany – noting that “there are many of us” in local government “who have been thinking about things and preparing for … the possibility that we would face another anti-LGBTQ administration.”

During Trump’s first presidency, California sued his administration on average about every 12 days on issues ranging from immigration to the environment. Now, ahead of a second term, the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta said California has “thought through all of the possibilities of the attacks on our values, our people, our state, and we expect certain litigation to come or certain actions to come from the federal government and certain litigation that we will take in response.”

“There’s a lot of different scenarios on a lot of different topics, from immigration to the environment to civil rights to gun safety,” said Bonta. “The list goes on, but we are ready.”

Temprano of Equality California said that “fortunately over the past several years, California has already enacted some of the strongest protections, legal protections and supports for LGBTQ people – and specifically trans people – in the entire nation.”

“So if you’re going to be anywhere in this country in a Trump administration as a queer and specifically trans person, California is the safest and most affirming place in the nation to be.”

Mahogany emphasized that this planning is taking place on the local level as well as statewide.

“Know here in San Francisco, the Office of Transgender Initiatives is hosting conversations with other trans-serving orgs throughout the city, figuring out what the needs are, what people are saying, what people are feeling, and how we get through the next four years,” she said.

“Let’s be clear that California is the fifth-largest economy in the world,” said Mahogany. “We have a lot of power here, and we shouldn’t be afraid to use it.”

Finally, don’t despair – even if that feels like a tall order right now

The advocates KQED spoke to all acknowledged the deep sorrow and grief that many people in the community are feeling right now – and it’s important not to artificially force yourself into coming to terms with anything if you’re just not there yet.  But Overholt said that as an organization, Positive Images want to convey that “all hope is not lost.”

“We are staring into some dark times,” he said. “But there will be light, and we’re going to keep working and we’re going to stay here. We’ve been here for 34 years. We’re going to be here for at least another 34 more.”

“It’s not to say that it’s not going to be difficult, but persistence is going to be key here,” Overholt said. “We know that the emotional effects of trauma, a shared collective trauma like this are difficult. But there are resources – and we hope that folks are able to lean on those resources, to make sure that they can find some peace.”

“Our community has been resilient and has shown that in many times when we’ve been standing alone, we succeeded because of the community power that is behind this movement,” said Reyes Salinas. He noted that the history of LGBTQ+ resistance to oppression may especially bring comfort to younger trans folks who weren’t adults during the first Trump presidency.

“This is a fight that we’re all in together, and we’ve got this because we’ve got us,” he said.

This story includes reporting by KQED’s Brian Krans.