Chandler Mohammed is a 23-year-old trans, nonbinary person living in Charlotte. They were in high school when Trump was elected for the first time — a time during which Chandler discovered both their identity and what it felt like to be targeted.
“Most of us were people of color or queer,” Mohammed said, recalling the reactions of peers. “People either came there very sympathetic like, ‘Oh my god, I’m scared for y’all,’ or, ‘Oh my god, I’m so scared for me.’”
In his first term, Trump opposed the Equality Act, a bill that would guarantee nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. He also banned transgender people from serving in the military, appointed conservative judges and narrowed Title IX gender protections.
When Trump took office again last month, Mohammed felt a spike of fear.
“It hasn’t even been a month yet, and he’s doing so much,” Mohammed said. “We’re such a small part of the population that targeting us when there are all these issues happening, it doesn’t make logical sense to target us right now.”
Since then, Chandler has found community at Time Out Youth, an LGBTQ youth community center in east Charlotte. Mohammed frequently speaks to a queer therapist at the center.
“Our therapy referrals have gone through the roof,” Time Out Youth CEO Sarah Mikhail said. “We’ve seen on average five young people a week since November. They’re seeking out safe spaces.”
In a little over two weeks, Trump has signed an executive order recognizing only two biological sexes, called for transgender women to be moved to men’s prisons and pushed to once again ban transgender people from serving in the military. Trump’s allies and supporters say they’re protecting women and girls from predators and unfair sports competition. They also say medical treatments for transgender youth shouldn’t be allowed, and point to restrictions imposed in some European countries. The U.K. banned puberty-blocking treatments for people under 18 last year, for example.
Wednesday, he signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
“I think it’s important to remember that executive orders don’t create or change law,” Charlotte Pride Managing Director Meredith Thompson said. “These things have to be played out and we’re going to stand up and fight it.”
Like Thompson, Mikhail says her organization will work against these executive actions.
“We have existed, we will exist,” Mikhail said. “Time Out Youth has been around for almost 34 years, under six presidential administrations. Thirty-four years of social and emotional support, drop-in space, and coming in here for groups. We have groups for trans, nonbinary youth, youth of color and asexual youth.”
Less than 1% of North Carolina’s population is transgender, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute. There are around 100,000 people who identify as LGBTQ in the Charlotte region. Charlotte Trans Health is working with the transgender community in Charlotte.
“We’ve been speaking up and continue to plan to use our privilege as health care professionals to stand up and speak out and do what we can to advocate for trans rights and especially for access to healthcare,” Charlotte Trans Health Executive Director Holly Savoy said.
Other LGBTQ community leaders in Charlotte say they’re not backing down.
“What my message is to our trans family, our nonbinary family is to surround themselves with folks that support them and lift them up,” Charlotte Pride Board Director Darren Smith said. “And if they don’t have those folks in their lives, they can come to us and find those folks.”
As for Mohammed, they have been taking this time to take care of their mental health.
“I feel like we're all just in a stage of coping right now,” Mohammed said. “We just need to be taking care of ourselves and we just need to be taking care of our community right now.”
During Trump’s first term, Mohammed was still discovering their identity. This time around, they’re ready to stand their ground.
