On Nov. 6, the Trevor Project, a national organization that offers suicide prevention and crisis support to the LGBTQ+ community, reported a 700 percent increase in crisis calls compared to the weeks prior. Earlier that day, Donald Trump had been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Groups gathered nationwide from all ages, genders and ethnicities to protest and rally. Marin County in particular experienced a rise in youth activism as hundreds of students, predominantly female, reposted quotes by Kamala Harris on social media, showing their solidarity during a time of uncertainty for women.
Trump’s re-election has generated activism not only in the community of Marin but in other parts of the country as well. On Nov. 9, a group called, “The Time to Resist,” gathered in Washington, D.C. to rally outside of The Heritage Foundation Headquarters. The Heritage Foundation, along with 140 former Trump employees, constructed the Project 2025 think-tank in 2022. Other writers included Trump’s former Cabinet secretaries, top White House officials and senior aides — including former Trump appointees to EPA, the Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The over 900 page manifesto lays out a conservative, right-winged roadmap of ideals to replace the rule of law.
Project 2025, as well as Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, puts multiple groups at risk, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community. This was especially visible at Trump’s Oct. 27 Madison Square Garden rally.
“We will get… transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump said.
Transgender students at Redwood feel especially scared by the threats that have come with Trump’s reelection. Junior and transgender male Kage Watson reiterates this fear.
“I’m worried,” Watson said. “I’m going to college soon and I have started looking at international colleges.”
According to National Public Radio (NPR), Trump has previously stated that public schools will no longer receive federal funding if they promote ideologies related to transgender people. He has also repeatedly voiced his opinion on gender transitions overall.
“On day one, I will sign an executive order instructing every federal agency to cease the promotion of sex or gender transition at any age. They’re not going to do it anymore,” Trump said at a “Moms for Liberty” event in August of this year.
Watson spoke to how Trump’s presidency could affect him.
“I know that I want to get surgery and probably testosterone and that’s going to be way more difficult for me now,” Watson said.
Some areas in California, such as Marin, have more protection rights with anti-discrimination laws, which Watson recognizes. However, this is not the case in many other states. Across the country, states have created a strong stigma around certain groups of people. Watson explained that when people don’t understand a group — such as trans individuals — they will often fear them.
“Fear is the start of hate. When people don’t know about people that aren’t like them, they hate them,” Watson said.
The LGBTQ+ community has not been the only group feeling this way. Women have felt similar uncertainty and fear. According to The 19th News, since the 1970s, president re-elect Trump has been publicly accused by at least 26 women of sexual assault, kissing and groping without consent. Many women are unsettled that someone who has committed such actions would be voted into office again. Elle Hock, senior and president of the Democrat club, is fearful of what Trump’s presidency could bring for women in America.
“[Trump] was convicted of sex crimes and now we have him as our president. That is setting a whole new precedent for who can do what and where,” Hock said. “Especially from the way that he speaks about women, I am very nervous for the future and the future for women leaders.”
Trump has publicly stated his views on women’s rights regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Three Supreme Court justices who voted to take away the federal protection of abortion bans were appointed by Trump.
“I know that long term, and for the majority of women, Trump’s [current] policies and expected policies will be detrimental to the way that we live in the rights that we have, especially to our own bodies,” Hock said.
He plans to defund the Planned Parenthood organization, which offers services such as birth control, cancer screening, STI testing and abortions.
“It’s so enraging to think [Donald Trump] is controlling my future — for example, access to birth control and abortions, [which] is necessary and basic health care. Taking that away is an infringement on our rights as citizens,” Hock said. “It only begs the question, what more will come from that?”
Black Americans are another community threatened by Trump’s reelection, which is especially visible in Project 2025. The Legal Defense Fund and the Thurgood Marshall Institute’s article, “What Project 2025 Means for Black Communities,” highlights specific aspects of the manifesto that directly affect Black Americans. The article states that Project 2025’s proposal to expand presidential authority will reverse civil rights protections. This could damage Black Americans’ basic rights such as limiting access to higher education and weakening anti-discrimination.
Black communities rely on these protections for the full exertion of their American citizenship and prevention for a return to a repressive government authority.
Trump has made multiple remarks degrading Black people, causing discomfort amongst citizens.
According to the Associated Press, “Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unleashed a series of personal attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris, calling her ‘lazy’ — a word long used to demean Black people in racist terms — and repeatedly questioning her intelligence and stamina.”
Black Americans in the Redwood community have voiced their feelings about Trump’s remarks and the uncertainty that comes with them. Student-Led Anti-Racist Movement (SLAM) class member and co-president of the SLAM club, Izzy Kletz, explains the conversations that were held following the outcome of the 2024 election.
“Our president-elect is someone who has a lot of racial biases and could learn a lot from mindful inquiry and the techniques that we practice in SLAM,” Kletz said.
Kletz made sure to differentiate the conversations held in her SLAM class from those held in the club, which is held once every two weeks during lunch.
“It was hard in class because teachers are supposed to stay neutral. It really catered to our opinion talking about [the election outcome] in our club, because members had a free, open space to speak their mind,” Kletz said. “A lot of people had concerns about his racial biases and what he plans to do with our border, especially looking at his past [remarks on minorities].”
Kletz refers to the Central Park Five, sometimes referred to as the “Exonerated Five,” a 1989 case in which five innocent Black and Hispanic young men were wrongly convicted for attacking and raping 28-year-old jogger Trisha Meili. The men served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years. In 2002, the men were found not guilty. The five men filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on Oct. 21 of this year, suing Trump for “false and defamatory” statements. These “false and defamatory” comments were made during the presidential debate in September with Vice President Kamala Harris. Kletz reiterates the fear of what Trump’s election will mean overall for minority groups in America.
“I don’t think [the election will] affect our community directly just because the demographics of Marin are mostly white. However, just thinking about the effect that his words had on Haitian people living in Ohio, I worry for other minority groups being targeted by his jokes or stereotypes and his hatred,” Kletz said.
Trump’s derogatory comments toward any group of people can cause discomfort among all, not just those who identify with that group. Kletz emphasizes the importance of separating identity from the opinions of others.
“I hope that throughout this presidency, he controls himself and doesn’t mix racial prejudices with politics and running the country, because that is where things get scary,” Kletz said.
The United States is a country in which people seek freedom and a safe environment for diversity to flourish. Sustaining this principle is something that students have highlighted, along with the impact the 2024 presidential election will have on their basic rights.
