Official government websites removed any transgender references following President Trump’s executive orders upon entering office, but the trans community at Kent State is remaining hopeful for the future.

Recent legislation caused government organizations to change the acronym for the LGBTQ+ community on their websites to now read as the “LGB” community as of Jan. 31, rejecting the existence of transgender people.

“If you go to the text of the executive order, it basically says that it is the policy of the federal government to recognize sex as male or female only and that that is immutable or unchangeable and that gender is sex,” said Patrick Miller, a political science professor at Kent State. “It rejects the idea that your biological sex could be different from your gender identity, and that gender identity can be on a spectrum.”

Transgender students like Laika Shaw, a freshman psychology major, felt excessive depression following these changes, and highlighted what message this legislation sends to the trans community.

“To take that away is showing the entirety of the country, and not just our country but everybody else who’s looking at us, that trans people do not matter,” Shaw said.

Miller explained that having your identity be recognized is important for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, but especially for trans individuals. 

“Identity is much more ingrained in transgender identity than it is in any other minority group,” Miller said. “So having official government recognition legitimizes that, it legitimizes being transgender.”

The removal of transgender references from government websites was extensive, even reaching the Stonewall National Monument’s web page, referencing the famous Stonewall Riots, where a series of violent confrontations between police and gay rights activists occurred outside of the Stonewall Inn in 1969. 

Trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera played a large part in these riots, as they were considered some of the leaders of the resistance efforts. 

“Stonewall would not have happened, it would not have been at all the same without trans people,” Shaw said. “That is just absolutely disgusting, and an insult to history, an insult to where this community came from.”

Some trans students at Kent State remain optimistic and refuse to let go of hope in the face of adversity.

“I’m angry, but I’m not overwhelmed,” said Valerie Zemko, a transgender Kent State alumni. “I’m happy with myself and I want to use that as like kind of an object of resistance.”

Shaw said that he and many other trans students are also leaning into humor as a method of coping, as humor can be linked to joy and hope. 

Shaw also emphasized the importance of community among transgender people, and exemplified simple methods of protest transgender students are using at Kent State.

“A lot of individual trans people are protesting via being more visibly trans and more proud about being trans, that’s what I’m doing.” he said. “I know how much good has come out of being trans and ‘transness’ [or] generally queerness as a whole, and I want to be able to show that to the people that don’t believe that.”

Much like Shaw, Zemko said that embracing her “transness” and happiness not only helps as a method of resistance, but also remaining comfortable in her own skin.

“I want to make sure that I am comfortable, happy and safe within myself against a society, against a government that wants to jeopardize that,” she said.

Connor Nagy is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].