Trump orders spur fear, anxiety among Michigan LGBTQ+ students

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Sebastian Eaton-Ellison doesn’t feel safe in his school.

The gender-fluid 12th grader at West Senior High School said other students relentlessly bully him. They call him homophobic slurs on a regular basis. They have thrown rocks at him. Two pushed him up against a wall in a bathroom and choked him.

Last month, he chose to speak out publicly for the first time about the harassment he’s experienced since middle school, doing so at the Traverse City Area Public Schools board meeting. Moments before he got up to the podium, another speaker denied Sebastian’s identity and declared President Donald Trump “was right” when he said there were “only two genders: male and female.”

“A lot of people say I’m confused or unnatural,” Sebastian said to the board. “This has been happening to me since 10 or 11. And the whole time, I knew many of those in power either supported it or did not care.”

Groups and individuals have voiced homophobic and transphobic rhetoric in northern Michigan communities like Sebastian’s for years. But many students say they see more people emboldened in expressing those views since Trump won his second term as president, much as they did after the election in 2016. They fear the direct impact of Trump’s policies — which include a flurry of executive orders aimed at curtailing the rights of transgender students — as well as the ripple effects of his dehumanizing language.

The recent attacks on LGBTQ+ student protections come at a time when the same kids are already disproportionately impacted by the ongoing youth mental health crisis because of the stigma, discrimination, harassment, and violence they face.

“Students thought they were raised in an environment where they get to have more freedoms than their parents,” said Carrie Fiocchi, rural community outreach coordinator for the advocacy group Equality Michigan. “Instead, their rights are being squashed and they feel powerless.”

Skyler Eisele, a nonbinary 16-year-old in the Marquette Area Public Schools district, said they “feel scared people will be more confident deadnaming me or misgendering me.”

Advocates say the executive orders could harm LGBTQ+ youth

Trump made his opposition to transgender rights a centerpiece of his campaign. In the days since he took office again, he’s signed several executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ students and their families.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 28 that attempts to ban gender-affirming health care for all transgender youth under age 19. Another signed that day threatens to stop federal funding for local schools that promote “gender ideology,” which could include allowing transgender students to use bathrooms or participate in sports teams consistent with their gender identities. On Jan. 30, he signed another order that said the U.S. government will only recognize two genders, male and female.

The executive orders are not law, and some already face legal challenges. The directives are, however, causing confusion and creating real effects in some cases, such as one Michigan hospital temporarily pausing gender-affirming hormone therapy for new minor patients.

Trump’s administration has already threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine for its statewide protections for transgender athletes. The U.S. Department of Education said it will investigate a Denver public school and several school districts in northern Virginia over restroom access for transgender students.

“These executive orders really are aiming at doing harm to these young people,” said Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Project.

Kaplan said Michigan schools must still comply with the state’s existing laws, including the Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act.

“We have comprehensive civil rights protections for transgender students in our state,” he said. “We believe taking those actions in the executive order violates those laws.”

Additionally, Kaplan said the executive orders don’t allow the federal government to take away funding already committed to public schools by Congress.

A coalition of state attorneys general on Wednesday issued new guidance noting schools have a legal responsibility to develop and execute plans to protect students vulnerable to harassment on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, a nonprofit advocacy group, worries local districts might still “preemptively censor” their existing policies, even though there is no law requiring them to do so.

Before Trump was inaugurated, a federal judge axed Title IX protections for transgender students, which were added by the Biden administration in 2024. Trump was expected to rescind the rules when he took office.

Conservative activists recently filed Title IX complaints against four Michigan school districts — Rochester Community Schools, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Hartland Consolidated Schools, and Mt. Pleasant Public Schools — because they claim their policies on gender identity violate the federal law.

Since Trump took office, health data, guidance, and resources for schools on how to best support LGBTQ+ students have been removed from federal websites.

Creating affirming and safe spaces for youth is potentially life-saving, data from surveys by the nonprofit advocacy group the Trevor Project suggest. The opposite is also true, with more youth reporting suicidality in environments where they don’t feel safe.

“It makes people feel like they can’t be themselves,” said Skyler, the Marquette student. “It’s like people get more closed off from their community.”

Gal said politics can have the same effect.

“We know that 89% of LGBTQ+ students in Michigan reported that recent politics negatively impacted their sense of well-being,” she said.

Michigan Republican lawmakers introduced anti-transgender bathroom and high school sports bills in past sessions. There are several such bills up for consideration now, though they will likely not move forward in the Democratically controlled state government.

Xye Fiocchi, a gender-nonconforming 10th grader in Ishpeming Public Schools, said though Trump’s executive order on gender may seem “ridiculous,” it can’t be ignored.

“It sets a path for people to be more confident when repeating this,” they said.

LGBTQ+ students could be afraid to go to school, state officials say

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice sent a memo last month to local school leaders reminding them of their legal and moral responsibility to educate and welcome LGBTQ+ youth, which include around 1 in 4 students.

Rice said in an interview with Chalkbeat he is concerned schools could become less safe for LGBTQ+ students because of the new federal policies — and that students could feel apprehensive about going to school at a time when the state already has a problem with chronic absenteeism.

“We wanted to remind our educators we care deeply about our children — all of our children — that they all have rights,” Rice said of the memo.

The state has a number of existing legal protections in place for LGBTQ+ students, as well as recommendations like the State Board of Education’s anti-bullying policy model for local districts and its guidance on safe and supportive learning environments.

Gal said some Michigan school systems and intermediate school districts have sent out statements of support for LGBTQ+ students in recent days.

Sebastian, the Traverse City teen, said he experiences both support and discrimination in his community, where liberal and conservative values tend to clash.

He sees the contrast play out at school everyday: There are safe spaces, such as the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, but he often finds an anti-gay slur written in the dust on the window of his car in the school parking lot.

Sebastian feels most of his teachers are affirming, but he said some school administrators ignore his complaints about bullying.

John VanWagoner, superintendent of Traverse City Area Public Schools, said in an email after this story originally published on Friday that the district “takes all reports of bullying seriously.” He added students can report incidents online or in-person.

“Every report is investigated thoroughly and in alignment with our board policies,” he said.

Xye said schools should offer more training for teachers on how to address the issues LGBTQ+ youth face.

“A lot of teachers have no idea what to do when a student comes to them and says, ‘Hey, I’m being bullied for being queer, and I’m depressed,’” they said. “That tends to feel very invalidating.”

Wiley Steeland, a bisexual student in Marquette, said more teachers should intervene to stop bullying.

“It’s a small thing they can do,” she said. “Knowing you can go to a teacher to deal with homophobia in the student body is really helpful.”

LGBTQ+ students are speaking up

LGBTQ+ youth say the increase in hate speech from adults and peers since the election will have a lasting impact on them.

Skyler, the Marquette student, said there’s been more kids in their school saying “your body, my choice.” Wiley said more students in her school are using the word “gay” as an insult.

Xye said a car full of students recently screamed a homophobic slur at one of their friends walking home from school.

“I’m really fearful how this is going to affect the future,” said Wiley.

But just as students report escalating hostility, some say they’ve also seen more people willing to speak out against hate. The painful political rhetoric is fueling a desire among some youth to seek justice and an end to the trauma they endure.

Sebastian, for example, said the tension in his community made him want to bring awareness to the violence he’s survived for years. He wants adults to stop turning a blind eye to it.

“I wanted to stir up more of a movement,” he said. “I want people thinking and talking about this more.”

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.