Transgender-rights advocates say the election of Trump and his allies marks a major setback

Election victories for Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people reinforced a widespread backlash against trans rights. For America's LGBTQ-rights movement, it adds up to one of the most sustained setbacks in its history.

For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there is also a spirit of resilience – a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding.

“I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sports event on TV without seeing a commercial where trans people were portrayed as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who teaches at Barnard College in New York.

“This hurts more than any other moment I can remember. We’ve been knocked down before. We’ll be knocked down again. All we can do is fight.”

Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access.

Activists fear the movement will grow, with the Trump administration taking power as many Americans question the trans-rights agenda. Overall, 55% of voters — and 85% of Trump backers — said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who cast ballots nationwide.

“There is an urgent need to show the American people the reality of transgender lives — the ordinary people for whom being trans is not the center of their lives,” said Shannon Minter, a transgender civil rights lawyer with the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“This is a frightening moment for transgender people and their families. There is a very real possibility that the new administration may adopt policies that cause them devastating harm.”

Trump won the presidential contest over Vice President Kamala Harris after a campaign that included pervasive TV advertising mocking her support for trans rights. “Kamala is for they/them,” an ad that ran over 15,000 times asserted. “President Trump is for you.” Other Democratic candidates also were targeted with anti-trans ads.

On an array of issues, Trump — and other Republicans who now hold majorities in both the House and Senate — have threatened to roll back protections and civil liberties for trans people.

— Education: Trump has pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions on transgender students. His administration could swiftly move to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.

— Health care: At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is filing civil lawsuits against doctors he alleges were prescribing such treatments. Trump says any doctor or hospital providing gender-affirming care should be barred from Medicaid and Medicare.

— Sports: Trump and other Republicans embraced the anti-trans mantra opposing “boys in girls’ sports.” At least 24 states already have laws on the books barring trans women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions. In March, 16 college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the 2022 national championships, where she won the 500-yard freestyle.

— Military: Trans-rights activists worry that Trump may reimpose a ban on trans people serving openly in the military, or — as an alternative — bar any future recruiting of trans people and curtail the availability of gender-affirming medical care for service members and veterans.

Trans-rights organizations are calling for coalition-building and renewed efforts to increase public understanding. They celebrated some notable victories. Sarah McBride won Delaware’s lone seat in the House of Representatives to become the first openly trans person elected to Congress. In Montana, transgender state Rep. Zooey Zephyr won reelection and will be able to return to the House floor nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues.

But nationwide, anger and anxiety were dominant emotions among trans activists.

“This election season has been brutal,” the leaders of Advocates for Transgender Equality wrote to their supporters. "Trump targeted trans people since his campaign launch. He targeted our existence. He targeted our rights. He promised he would continue to target trans people if he won — and we know he will keep his promise.”

Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center said trans people “have become the pawn for political groups that don’t understand our communities.”

“It’s a very precarious time,” Chestnut said. “We will get through this, but we have to step up and support each other. ... How do we see the long game, not just the immediate narrow view, because it is very daunting right now. Where do we want to be in 15 years?”

Public opinion on trans rights issues isn’t uniform. According to AP VoteCast, slightly more than half of voters in the 2024 election strongly or somewhat opposed laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors. Slightly less than half of voters somewhat or strongly favored them

And according to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 69% of Americans say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that conform with their birth gender.

Over the past 25 years, arguably the most daunting previous phase of the LGBTQ-rights movement started in 2004, after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between 2004 and 2008, voters in 26 states approved ballot measures defining marriage as between one man and one woman – in effect outlawing same-sex marriage.

By 2012, however, public opinion was swinging in favor of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015, and it has had the support of most Americans ever since.

Boylan recalled how that long-bitter debate tilted in favor of legalization when supporters of same-sex marriage popularized the phrase “Love is Love.”

“That opened doors and opened hearts,” Boylan said. “The challenge for trans people is we don’t have a phrase like that ... the issues are more complex.”

Boylan noted that the anti-trans campaign seemed to make headway with issues that are not among the core concerns of most trans people: "The primary thing we’re fighting for is not the right to play with other women on a soccer team. We’re fighting for dignity, for respect, for the right to be left alone.”

Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man working as a film editor and writer in rural Ohio, said he was “worn out” by the relentless targeting of trans people, and blamed Trump for perpetuating it.

Looking ahead, he said life as a trans person “has forced me to learn a resiliency that I will lean on as I continue to speak out against prejudice and discrimination.”

Christine Zuba, a transgender woman from New Jersey, described a recent surge of Zoom meetings enabling trans people to express their concerns and determine next steps.

″One of the best recommendations I have heard throughout this discussion is to not isolate yourself, rather surround yourself with your support group -- the people you love, and who love you,” she said. “Do not despair. There are a lot of people who will work with you and for you.”

David Crary, currently news director of AP's global religion team, has been covering LGBTQ issues since 1999.

FILE - Jessie McGrath walks out of the women's bathroom at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. McGrath said when she was testifying against LB575, "I actually used it (the women's restroom) with a number of you senators today, and I don't think that the world has come to an end, has it?" (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - Jessie McGrath, center with hat, a transgender woman and a former Republican, cheers as she attends the Democratic National Convention as a delegate in Chicago, on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - This 2022 photo shows a self-portrait of Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man working as a film editor and writer living outside of Columbus in rural Ohio. (Maxwell Kuzma via AP, File)

FILE - Kansas high school students, family members and advocates rally for transgender rights at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., on Jan. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

FILE - Ashton Colby looks out the window of his meditation corner in his apartment in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced proposals in January that transgender advocates say could block access to gender-affirming care provided by independent clinics and general practitioners, leaving thousands of adults scrambling for treatment and facing health risks. Colby, 31, fears the clinic where he gets the testosterone he has taken since age 19 would no longer offer it. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Transgender state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, stands on the steps of the Montana State Capitol during a rally, in Helena, Mont., Monday, April 24, 2023. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

FILE - Sarah McBride, Democratic candidate for Delaware's at-large congressional district, greets people at the Immanuel Highlands Episcopal Church on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Del. She became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)

FILE - A protester outside the Kansas Statehouse holds a sign after a rally for transgender rights on the Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, 2023, in Topeka, Kan. Kansas will no longer change transgender people's birth certificates to reflect their gender identities, the state health department said Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, citing a new law that prevents the state from legally recognizing those identities. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

FILE - People attend a rally as part of a Transgender Day of Visibility, Friday, March 31, 2023, by the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Tree Crane, 17, stands for a portrait following a rally where hundreds gathered in support of transgender youth at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

FILE - Paxton Enstad, left, speaks during a news conference about a lawsuit filed over refusal by an insurance plan to cover his gender-reassignment surgery, accompanied by his parents, Cheryl and Mark Enstad, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - Students carrying pride and transgender flags leave Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif., Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, after walking out of the school in protest of the Temecula school district policy requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender. (Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

FILE - From third left, former collegiate swimmers Kaitlynn Wheeler, Riley Gaines, and Grace Countie prepare to testify in opposition to transgender athletes in women's sports in front of the state senate's Special Committee on Protecting Women's Sports at the Capitol in Atlanta, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

FILE - Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, waits for results after swimming the women's 200 freestyle final at the NCAA swimming and diving championships Friday, March 18, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - A referee raises the arm of Mack Beggs of Euless Trinity after he defeated Chelsea Sanchez of Morton Ranch to defend the Class 6A girls 110-pound title during the UIL State Wrestling Championships at the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. Texas limits transgender athletes to teams conforming with the gender on their birth certificate. That law came under criticism in 2017 and 2018, when transgender male Beggs won state titles in girls' wrestling competitions after he was told he could not compete as a boy. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

FILE - Protesters of Kentucky Senate Bill SB150, known as the Transgender Health Bill, cheer on speakers during a rally on the lawn of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

FILE - Libby Gonzales stands with her father, Frank Gonzales, as she joins other members of the transgender community during a rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol, Monday, March 6, 2017, in Austin, Texas. The group is opposing a "bathroom bill" that would require people to use public bathrooms and restrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE - Coy Mathis, left, plays with her sister Auri, at their home in Fountain, Colo., on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Coy has been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder. Biologically, Coy, 6, is a boy, but to her family members and the world, Coy is a transgender girl. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

FILE - Mac Gordon Frith, 6, left, who is here supporting his sibling, Caleta Frith, 9, right, who is non-binary, plays with a hula hoop during a rally on the Transgender Day of Visibility, Friday, March 31, 2023, by the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Christine Zuba, who came out as a transgender woman at age 58, stands for a portrait at her home in Blackwood, N.J., on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Friday toward their worst loss since Election Day as the big bump Wall Street got from last week's victory for Donald Trump and cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve keeps fading.

The S&P 500 sank 1.1% and was heading for a losing week and its worst day since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 250 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.9% lower.

Makers of vaccines helped drag the market down after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine activist, to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Moderna tumbled 7.4%, and Pfizer fell 3.6% amid concerns about a possible hit to profits.

Kennedy still needs confirmation from the Senate to get the job, and some analysts are skeptical about his chances because of his views on vaccines and criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.

“However, if Kennedy is confirmed, it is hard to bookend risks for investors as his views are so outside the traditional Republican health policy orthodoxy,” Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins wrote in a research note. Meekins is a former deputy assistant secretary at the department known as HHS.

“Investors may need to forget everything they thought they knew about Republicans and healthcare," he said. "Kennedy’s appointment may make it less likely traditional qualified experienced (Republican) staff will agree to join HHS, creating more uncertainty.”

The only stock in the S&P 500 to fall more than Moderna was Applied Materials, which dropped 8.5% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The provider of manufacturing equipment and services to the semiconductor industry gave a forecasted range for upcoming revenue whose midpoint was short of analysts’ expectations.

The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth, in part because their stock prices have been rising so much faster than their earnings. That’s made the broad stock market look more expensive by a range of measures, which has critics calling for at least a fade. The S&P 500 is still up more than 23% for the year and near its all-time high set a few days ago, despite this week’s weakness.

Stocks had been broadly roaring since Election Day, when Trump’s victory sent a jolt through financial markets worldwide. Investors immediately began sending up stocks of banks, smaller U.S. companies and cryptocurrencies as they laid bets on the winners coming out of Trump’s preference for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation.

But investors are also taking into account some of the potential downsides from Trump’s return to the White House.

Besides Friday’s hit to vaccine makers, Treasury yields have also been climbing in the bond market on both the economy’s surprising resilience and worries that Trump’s policies could spur bigger U.S. government deficits and faster inflation.

That's forced traders to recalibrate how much relief the Federal Reserve could provide for the economy next year through cuts to interest rates. The Fed earlier this month lowered its main interest rate for the second time this year, and past forecasts published by Fed officials indicated more cuts were likely to come through 2025.

Lower interest rates can act as fuel for the economy and stock market, particularly after the Fed had kept rates at a two-decade high, but they can also put upward pressure on inflation.

On Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested the U.S. central bank will be cautious about future decisions on interest rates. “The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” he said, though he declined to discuss how Trump’s policies could alter things.

Traders have since ratcheted back forecasts for whether the Fed will cut rates again at its meeting next month, but they still see better than a coin flip’s chance of it, according to data from CME Group.

On Friday, Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market following several reports on the economy.

One showed shoppers spent more at U.S. retailers last month than expected, another signal that the most influential force on the economy remains solid.

“Many consumers were reporting that they were putting off trips and big ticket item purchases until after the election,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Many businesses reported they were putting off capital investment due to the election. Now that the uncertainty of the outcome is behind us, we could see some decent ‘relief spending.’”

Friday’s data on retail sales, though, may not be quite as strong as it appeared. After taking away purchases of automobiles, sales at retailers were weaker last month than economists expected.

A separate report, meanwhile, showed manufacturing activity in New York state is growing strongly. That soundly beat expectations for zero growth, and it comes off October’s contraction. Some of the survey’s responses were collected after Election Day.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.46% from 4.44% late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, slipped to 4.32% from 4.36% late Thursday.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% after data from the Office for National Statistics showed economic growth slowed to 0.1% in the July-September quarter from the 0.5% in the previous quarter. It was weaker than expected.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% after data showed growth for Japan’s economy accelerated in the latest quarter, even as the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in July.

AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

Trader Robert Charmak works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange, right, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)