On Jan. 27, U.S President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on $3 trillion worth of federal funding and grants, particularly focusing on NGOs, foreign aid, and sustainable development.
A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget reads that “the use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
This executive order epitomizes the shift in LGBTQ politics that the new presidency brings. These increasingly targeted campaigns against LGBTQ individuals create a frightening ripple effect — not only is it an already-vulnerable minority group punched down even further, but these budget cuts simultaneously serve to harm the greater America.
Trump has ignored the fact that federal funding has actually improved the day-to-day lives of members of the LGBTQ community. Previously, the Biden administration, through the CARES Act, provided financial relief to LGBTQ workers, who were overrepresented in industries most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as warehousing, entertainment, and arts. Also, compared to the general population, LGBTQ citizens have also been surveyed to have lower incomes, higher rates of poverty and unemployment, increased food insecurity, and greater risk of homelessness.
It is clear that in his pursuit of so-called “government efficiency,” Trump has abandoned the rights of a portion of the most vulnerable members of society. It is not “Marxist” to help out those in need. More worrying about this funding freeze is the fact that rhetoric against trans people is being weaponized to cut benefits for all.
According to the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, the funding freeze paused research projects at the National Institutes of Health; defunded many community health centers; disrupted public health programs addressing mental health and substance use disorder; and threatened essential workforce programs like the National Health Service Corps. Essentially, this funding freeze scapegoating “transgenderism” threatens everyone’s healthcare.
Similarly, framing LGBTQ as an ideology rather than a trait has been used as a talking point to target the education system. Trump has said multiple times that “your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation.” This claim is demonstrably false: what this alleged “crusader against fake news” described has never happened before, and many public schools are already in budget crises, unable to adequately pay their staff, meaning they cannot feasibly open up full-scale medical clinics.
Using this misinformation campaign, Trump is trying to disband the Department of Education, claiming that it has been overtaken by “radicals, zealots, and Marxists.” On Jan. 29, 2025, Trump issued an executive order that includes a plan to defund K-12 schools that engage in “anti-American ideology,” which includes education based on “gender ideology.” And on Mar. 20, Trump signed an executive order to “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education.”
Public education is a cornerstone of democracy, ensuring that all children, regardless of background, receive the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in civic life. And for someone who has previously claimed to love the poorly educated, Trump seems to have no qualms about attacking the education system. Decades of bipartisan efforts working towards improving education effectiveness and equity are to be erased, with animus toward the LGBTQ community being used as part of the enabling rhetoric among Trump supporters.
It’s easy for Bay Area students to watch from our ivory towers. However, California has not always been the bastion of progressive values we hope it is.
In Los Angeles, a protest against Pride Day turned violent. In Glendale, pro- and anti-LGBTQ protestors broke out in a fight at a school board meeting discussing Pride Month. And most worryingly, senior officials in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration advised Democratic lawmakers against proposing transgender rights legislation, according to Politico.
Even in a state as blue as California, the rights of LGBTQ individuals remain a contentious issue. As such, it is time for Bay Area students to stand up for the LGBTQ community.
Every time an LGBTQ person is cast as the source of societal dysfunction, trace the rhetorical thread back to its actual origins. Protest to raise awareness. Reveal how institutional failures are the true architects of social strain — not the communities being systematically blamed.
To help accomplish this, we must amplify queer voices by creating platforms where they can articulate their own narratives, where the complexity of lived experience shatters the crude caricatures of political rhetoric. Scapegoating thrives on polarization, on reducing complex human experiences to simplistic oppositional frames.
It’s time to realize that social progress can benefit the entirety of America without the need to put down marginalized communities.