ABSTRACT
As the nation focused its attention on issues of concern to members of the transgender community, their claims began to occupy a prominent place on the nation’s public policymaking agenda. In comparing the Obama and Trump administrations, this study showed that the goals of the two administrations in transgender rights policymaking were diametrically opposed.
The Obama administration committed itself to advancing transgender rights. Obama administration officials advocated for transgender rights, devoting much effort to extending federal civil rights guarantees in employment, education, access to public facilities, and military service. The advances made by the transgender community during the Obama years ended with Trump’s victory in November 2016. In contrast to the Obama White House, Trump’s cabinet and subcabinet appointees endeavored to withdraw the rights established during the Obama years, especially in those areas—employment, education, and military service—to which the Obama administration had devoted most of its efforts and in which the transgender community had made the most gains.
