They expected rollback in trans rights, will keep communities informed
Many in the LGBTQIA+ community feared the change in presidential administrations.
President Donald Trump campaigned with attacks on transgender rights and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda threatens to roll back the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.
On the local level, grassroots organization Equality Cape May prepared for the implications of a new Trump administration with its anti-transgender rhetoric.
“With the change in administrations and the concerning rise in anti-trans rhetoric and policies, we see the year ahead as presenting us both with challenges and opportunities for the LGBTQIA+ community,” Equality Cape May founder Ann McCabe said.
Equality Cape May is an all-volunteer group whose mission is to build and strengthen the local community and ally with other LGBTQIA+ organizations.
“We want to acknowledge that the threat is real and the anti-trans focus evolving is not just political posturing because it definitely represents a threat to the rights and well-being of the transgender and non-binary communities and the broader LGBTQIA+ community,” she said.
McCabe explained that being prepared and avoiding acting out of fear are pivotal during uncertain times.
“We want to be prepared for those times when policies and legislation are introduced that are fearful and may jeopardize our way of life that we currently enjoy,” she said early this year, before Trump was sworn into office.
“We believe that the road ahead is going to be extremely challenging, but our community has gone through things historically before that create unsafe environments and our community is resilient, and we will stand together. We’re going to continue to advocate for a future of equality, dignity and justice for all.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “following the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017, we witnessed a sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people across the entire federal government.”
The ACLU expects the new administration’s response to be trifold. It would aim to “reinstate and significantly escalate the removal of anti-discrimination policies, roll back existing protections and proactively require discrimination by the federal government, and weaponize federal law against transgender people across the country.”
Some of the group’s fears were quickly realized.
Immediately upon taking office, Trump signed executive orders banning transgender people from enlisting in the military and barred those in the military from transitioning.
The president also issued an executive order that the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and suspended passport applications requesting sex-marker changes. He is dismantling all DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – programs in the government.
Local community
In the northern part of the county, We Belong Cape May County is a non-profit organization that supports LGBTQIA+ students and the greater community.
“The change in administrations is likely to be a challenging time, especially for the transgender community,” We Belong CMC President Christine Stanford said before Trump’s inauguration. “There are fears of safety due to hate and aggression, worries over access to health care, concerns over impacts to mental health and the anxiety of widespread discrimination.”
We Belong aims to involve the community by hosting programming and events like the Ocean City Pride Fest, participating in holiday parades and offering local scholarship opportunities.
“We Belong CMC is happy and proud to be a partner of the Atlantic County Queer Alliance (ACQA), which will support us in the navigation of these unprecedented times,” Stanford said.
McCabe said it is essential for Equality Cape May to collaborate with other allies and partner organizations, such as ACQA, to strengthen the community as challenges arise.
LGBTQIA+
in schools
Getting involved locally is one way the community can stay in touch with what is happening in schools.
“[The community can] attend school board meetings and monitoring your board’s actions on policy 5756, which is a policy offering protection for transgender students in schools,” Stanford said.
During the November 2024 election, Equality Cape May reminded the community to vote for candidates supporting inclusivity, fairness and equality.
Monitoring politics at a local level is another critical juncture for Equality Cape May.
“We know that there is a lot of focus on the school board level, and we want to be prepared to support youths by being actively engaged and attending local school board meetings,” she said. “[Especially] when issues related to equality for LGBTQ students is on the agenda.”
In 2019, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a new LGBTQIA+ curriculum for students in grades five to 12. New Jersey was the second state in the country to require schools to teach LGBTQIA+ and disability-inclusive material.
“What we see is proposed rollbacks on the protections these policies target, [which] would be affecting our health care, education, family rights and marriages,” she said. “We understand that it’s extremely clear that vigilance and actions are essential.”
This year, Equality Cape May will focus on communication with the community, which McCabe said will help keep members informed about policy changes, legislation and any threats that target the community.
“[We also want to] offer and make suggestions for clear, actionable steps for individuals to advocate for justice and equality,” McCabe said. “We already use social media, but we [hope to have] an email blast to make sure everyone in our community is updated on what’s going on.”
When it comes to being involved in the local community, Equality Cape May has hosted its Pride March every June since 2021. The organization also hosts social meetups throughout the year and has a float in the West Cape May Community Christmas Parade.
“We have felt welcome in the Cape May County community,” McCabe said. “During our Pride Marches down the Promenade, people have been waving and [giving us a] thumbs up.”
McCabe said the response from the local community has been pleasantly surprising.
“When we’ve had fundraisers, the business community has been extremely generous toward us as far as offering gift cards or baskets for our auctions,” she said. “We want to continue to be [involved] in the local community and look for every opportunity for openness and to be in conversation with all areas of the ally community.”
A hope McCabe holds for 2025 is to continue to have relationships with local businesses and service providers.
“We want to capitalize on those relationships as well as partnering with educators to support LGBTQIA+ students and encourage businesses to adopt more visible, welcoming practices during these unsafe times,” she said. “We also want to work with health care providers, law enforcement and others to be allies, not barriers to our community.”
McCabe said some of the goals may be a stretch for the all-volunteer organization’s bandwidth.
“They are pretty lofty goals, but that’s why we need to look toward our ally-ships and partnerships,” she said. “Going forward, we need to stand in solidarity with the trans and non-binary community.”
Equality Cape May has applied for non-profit status, which McCabe said would mean political restrictions for the organization.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t educate our community about what is happening and what candidates stand for,” she said. “[While] we can’t support any one candidate, we can encourage people to join other political groups that will be canvassing. Equality Cape May is not the only game in town to become politically active.”
Email equalitycapemay@gmail.com for more information about Equality Cape May and find the organization on Facebook and Instagram @equalitycapemay.
We Belong Cape May County can be found at webelongcmc.com or on Facebook and Instagram @webelong.cmc. Atlantic County Queer Alliance can be found at acqanj.com.
– By RACHEL SHUBIN/For the Sentinel
