The Trump Administration: What To Expect for Our Rights

If you don’t identify as a straight white male, you’ve probably had the thought at least once since the election; ‘What does this mean for me?’ Throughout his campaign, Trump made many promises and statements regarding his last time in office and what he plans to do this time around, but had very little genuine policy elaboration. Let’s unpack what his statements so far, and that of those around him, could possibly mean for members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and BIPoC people nationwide.

Project 2025 is an elusive, yet well-documented agenda created by the Heritage Foundation, an extreme right wing organization, that Trump denied having involvement with throughout his campaign. However, members of the GOP and conservative influencers alike have all rallied behind the blueprint, and six of his former cabinet members have contributed to the document in some way. It is 920 pages long, and much of the plan aligns directly with statements that Trump has made throughout his campaign. Below are some of the details listed in the agenda and backed up by Trump’s fearmongering, and how the implementation of them could affect Americans.

Abortion

Trump has credited himself with the fall of Roe v. Wade (1973) since its occurrence in summer of 2022, due to his appointment of three of the sitting Supreme Court Justices that voted to overturn the amendment. The man toggles back and forth with his stance on abortion; he’s rejected a national ban before, and has called laws like Florida’s extremely restrictive ban a mistake. But, at the same time, we all saw his claims that abortion is being allowed post-birth at the last debate (which is infanticide, not abortion, and is illegal in every state). The most clarified summary we can give on his position is that he feels no need to approve a ban, because every state has what they want, as he also said in the last debate. Unfortunately for those of us who desperately crave certainty on this topic, his decision on a ban will ultimately whittle down to whoever he appoints as his cabinet — his VP-Elect, JD Vance, has said that he does support a national abortion ban, for example. There has been very little talk of limiting abortive pills such as mifepristone (which can be ordered by mail, regardless of your pregnancy status, from AidAccess) or various forms of birth control.

In addition to Gov. Polis’ semi-recent codifying of abortion rights into the state’s legislature, Coloradans also voted YES on Amendment 79, which enshrines a right to abortion within the state. It also repealed a previous stipulation that said taxpayer funds could only be used for an abortion if a woman’s life is in danger. Colorado is one of ten states that has absolutely no restriction on abortion.

LGBTQ+ Rights

Trump’s first term was extraordinarily endangering to the LGBTQ+ community, and his second term is expected to be much worse. Along with abortion rights, queer rights were a major concern for many voters going into this election, specifically targeting trans Americans. Throughout his campaign, Trump and those around him decried gender-affirming care, such as hormone therapy and surgeries, and made it clear that there is an intent to pass policy that will no longer allow Medicaid and Medicare to cover or assist with these procedures. Famously, he went on record recently saying that people are sending their children to school, where the schools supposedly are performing medical procedures that would be considered gender-affirming on non-consenting children (objectively untrue, and very illegal on many levels). At a rally on October 28, he said of the GOP, “We’re the party of common sense. That means no open borders, and no transgender operations.” He spent around forty percent of his advertising budget for October on anti-trans messaging. So naturally, queer folks, especially trans people, across the country are downright terrified.

In Colorado, we passed Amendment J, which removes the ban on same-sex marriage from our state constitution. Therefore, if the federal protection provided in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) is overturned and states are forced to return to their constitutional language with regards to same-sex marriage, Coloradans will be protected.

Immigration

Another one of Trump’s big talking points during his campaign, as it was during his first presidency, was immigrants and their effect on the state of the country. Recently, it’s been drug trafficking, rape, murder, job loss and affordable housing areas — and, apparently, eating peoples’ pets out of their front yards, as was meme-d from the last debate. Statements of Trump’s regarding immigrants include “the enemy from within”, “poisoning the blood of this country”, and planning the “largest deportation in the history of our country” upon his election to office. He also hosted right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at his last rally, who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” along with many other defamatory jokes. Aside from this rhetoric being mostly straight-up red-hot racism and xenophobia, it’s dangerous — his followers, who may not have subscribed to such ideals about immigrants before are now not only emboldened, but encouraged in their blatant racism/xenophobia, and it’s unfortunately projected to become much worse. Statements in the Project 2025 document have provisions for not only, as Trump said, a mass deportation, but also removing aid for undocumented students.

Disability

Trump said during the last debate that he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act, which protects disabled, chronically ill, and aging Americans from being excluded on health insurance coverage. He had a similar plan during his first campaign, when he attempted to repeal and replace the ACA, as well as various Medicaid spending measures. Various conservative members of Congress, such as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, have said that they’re willing to back Trump on repealing the ACA, and there’s been insinuation that Trump is planning to make cuts to Medicaid (healthcare for low income households) while outwardly saying he won’t touch Medicare (health insurance for people aged 65 and older). He’s also promised a tax credit for family caregivers of older and disabled people, between $5,000 and $6,000 per year.

Colorado has voted to expand property tax exemptions for disabled veterans to allow disabilities not caused by combat/military operations.

This post has been informed by Them.us’ story on the same topic — for information on Trump’s perceived economic, educational, and aging policies, visit their article.