South Asian Coalition

Understanding the Effects of Policy Changes on the South Asian LGBTQ+ Community

Developed by Desi Rainbow and the South Asian American Policy Working Group

July 2025

Over the last six months, the Trump Administration has implemented various policies that target the LGBTQ+ community, and in particular, the transgender community, from criminalizing gender identity to withdrawing critical funding for lifesaving care to blocking basic protections. State legislation and SCOTUS decisions have compounded these harms. This Community Explainer, developed by the South Asian American Policy Working Group and Desi Rainbow, offers information about the impact on South Asian American LGBTQ+ community members and resources for support and solidarity. Please note that as these policy issues are changing constantly, this document is evolving and is not comprehensive. We will update it periodically at www.southasiancoalition.org and www.desirainbow.org. 

What are the ways in which federal and local policies are harming LGBTQ+ communities? 

Executive orders and policies affecting LGBTQ+ communities generally fall into six broad categories of attacks:

  1. Attempting to structurally redefine gender by erasing gender identity and criminalizing gender expression through dehumanizing language and spread of disinformation about the LGBTQ+ community
  2. Blocking and otherwise restricting basic protections and access to benefits for the LGBTQ+ community, including healthcare, gender-affirming care, and mental health programs 
  3. Manipulating the idea of parental rights as a smokescreen to police gender identity and suppress gender expression among youth 
  4. Weaponizing other areas of policy, such as immigration, race, class, and gender, to create a whole-of-government stance that targets LGBTQ+ people in overlapping and intersectional ways 
  5. Withdrawing funding from organizations that serve LGBTQ+ community members through programs such as suicide prevention hotlines and mental health support
  6. Attempting to cut funding and eliminate research projects from federal institutions to improve health outcomes for LGBTQ+ communities

Many efforts are also happening on the state and local levels. As of this writing, the ACLU has tracked 597 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures, many directly targeting the dignity and freedom of young people. Framed as efforts to protect parental rights or religious freedom, these measures seek to force students to reveal their gender identity before they are ready, restrict educational materials in schools, limit or restrict access to gender-affirming healthcare, penalize educators who recognize gender pronouns of students, and prohibit transgender youth from participating in sports. 

Finally, SCOTUS has released two decisions in particular during the summer of 2025 that affect LGBTQ+ communities. In U.S. v. Skremetti, SCOTUS upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which could affect similar laws in 25 other states. In Mahmoud v. Taylor, SCOTUS held that allowing children to be in classes with LGBTQ+ content could violate the First Amendment rights of parents who have religious objections to such content. 

How are South Asian LGBTQ+ community members being impacted?

The Administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies have already had devastating impacts on the South Asian LGBTQ+ community. Given that the South Asian LGBTQ+ community spans race, faith, ethnicity, class, and immigration status, people are being affected at multiple and overlapping intersections by the Administration’s policies targeting immigrants and refugees, constitutional rights, and reproductive and economic freedom. 

For many South Asian LGBTQ+ community members, managing the various attacks from the federal government, state and local bodies, schools, and society creates constant demands to prove one’s authenticity, even though there is no single way to be queer, South Asian, or American. The current environment is also increasing the stigma towards members of the South Asian LGBTQ+ community who routinely face discrimination, cultural stereotyping, and social isolation. The loss of health-related benefits, such as access to gender-affirming care or specialized suicide prevention support for LGBTQ+ people, is also resulting in dangerous mental health consequences. Members of the South Asian LGBTQ+ community, particularly those with minor children, report fear and anxiety about both domestic and international travel, with the uncertainty created by the Administration around passports and IDs with “X” or non-binary gender markers as well as requests to change gender markers to male or female and reflect legal name changes. And, as a result of the attacks on healthcare providers and nonprofits that serve LGBTQ+ people, impacted individuals are losing access to safe spaces and programs that offer crisis support. 

A real-life example of the impact on South Asian community members happened in 2021 in New Jersey. Shiv Kulkarni, a 14-year-old Indian American boy who identified as gay, died by suicide in 2021. The reality is that Shiv was and is not alone. 39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in 2024, including 46% of transgender and nonbinary young people, and LGBTQ+ youth of color reported higher rates than their white peers. 39% of Indian American LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide, and more broadly, AAPI transgender and nonbinary youth reported significantly higher rates of suicide risk compared to cisgender AAPI LGBTQ+ youth. 

What are the factors that impact mental health for some young LGBTQ+ people in the South Asian community?  

Family acceptance plays a significant role in mental health consequences. The Trevor Project’s Mental Health and Well-Being of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ Youth report showed that, in 2020, 55% of Indian American LGBTQ+ youth were not out to at least one parent about their sexual orientation because of the social and cultural stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ identity. Only 15% of Indian American LGBTQ+ youth have access to affirming spaces in their homes. 

In addition to finding acceptance within a family, communities must create safe and affirming public spaces for LGTBQ+ people to connect and thrive. In 2021, at least 685,000 people living in the United States self-identified as members of both the LGBTQ+ and AANHPI communities, and nearly one in five AAPI LGBTQ+ adults in the country said they felt unsafe in their communities. 14% of Indian American LGBTQ youth reported having been physically threatened or harmed due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Only 10% of Indian American LGBTQ youth have access to affirming spaces in community events, spaces where they feel safe.

In addition to the mental health impact and the social stigma, South Asian LGBTQ+ people, and especially our transgender community, are dealing with closed pathways to healthcare, systematic misgendering, and a failure of community institutions to provide safety, and community members must rise to protect our transgender children and siblings.  

Many South Asian LGBTQ+ community members are immigrants. How are they being affected? 

The Administration is weaponizing other areas of policy, such as immigration and gender-based violence, to create a whole-of-government block against support for LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ immigrants and refugees live at the intersection of homophobic and anti-immigrant state violence. It is estimated that, as of June 2025, over 1.25 million LGBTQ+ immigrants live in the United States. For this community, the Administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ+ community collide with the climate of mass deportation and government surveillance of non-citizens. One study of the treatment of LGBTQ+ communities in California reflected that transgender, non-binary, and intersex immigrants must “navigate an immigration and asylum system without information about how federal agents will respond to their gender identity and with the risk of greater violence if placed in detention centers.” And, once detained, LGBTQ+ immigrants are forced to live in substandard conditions with severe mistreatment. 

This is a mere snapshot of the many challenges facing the South Asian LGBTQ+ community as a result of policy changes at both the federal and state level. We invite you to review the resources below to deepen your learning and to stand up for our LGBTQ+ community. 

How can South Asian allies of LGBTQ communities respond right now? 

  • Let legislators know you support LGBTQ+ affirming policies at state and federal levels.
  • Engage with local school boards to see what policies are in place to protect transgender children and track to ensure that policies are being followed. 
  • Support LGBTQ+ orgs in the community (see below for a list).
  • Educate yourself and your family on LGBTQ+ issues (see below for resources).
  • Speak up when cultural stereotypes and stigmas diminish the rights and existence of LGBTQ+ South Asians.
  • Ask your religious and cultural institutions to create welcoming spaces for LGBTQ+ people. 

How is the Trump Administration shifting policies and narratives around gender and gender identity? 

The Administration is attempting to structurally redefine gender by erasing gender identity and criminalizing gender expression. For example, Executive Order 14168 attacks gender identity by reestablishing antiquated definitions of sex, gender ideology, and gender identity from a transphobic lens. In EO 14168, the Administration seeks to criminalize “gender identity” by claiming that it  “reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.” In addition to rejecting gender identity as a concept, EO 14168 prohibits “gender ideology,” because it “replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa, and requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim as true.” 

EO 14168 further directs a whole-of-government strategy to erase existing protections for gender non-conforming, non-binary, and transgender people, including guidance to schools aimed at addressing anti-LGBTQ+ bullying, and protections for transgender youth. Previously relied upon methods for redress of workplace discrimination have disappeared as the agency has stated that it will treat gender-identity discrimination claims as meritless.  

EO 14168 opens the door to bathroom bans, exclusion of transgender women from Title IX protections, and restrictions on expression of one’s gender identity in travel documents. In fact, within 48 hours after issuance of EO 14168, the State Department paused the processing of some passport applications based on the Order’s requirement that “government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards,” reflect a person’s sex “at conception.” This policy has been temporarily blocked by a federal court after a group of people impacted by the policy sued, meaning that the State Department is obligated to provide applicants with new, updated, renewed, or replaced passports that align with the applicant’s gender identity or with an “X” sex designation.

By redefining key terms, like gender identity and sex, the Administration aims to end federal recognition of transgender people broadly, while entirely ignoring the existence of transgender men and spinning false narratives about transgender women. By framing transgender and non-conforming identities as fundamentally wrong, EO 14168 fuels the debunked and dangerous falsehood that transgender women somehow pose a risk to the “dignity, safety, and well-being” of cisgender women. This framing and the definitions set by the Administration on Day 1 of its term provided a launchpad for the issuance of other degrading policies to severely restrict the fullness of life for the LGBTQ+ community. 

How is the Administration restricting healthcare and the basic needs of LGBTQ+ communities? 

The Administration is blocking and otherwise restricting basic protections and access to benefits for the LGBTQ+ community, including healthcare. Executive Order 14187 (“EO 14187”), announced on January 28, 2025, includes the following provisions: 

  • Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to cease all government efforts that support gender-affirming care for people under age 19, including a directive to withhold Medicaid funding from providers or hospital systems that offer such care and to distort regulations around “clinical abuse” and “inappropriate use” to criminalize treatment for transgender people; 
  • Rolls back all federal policies that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) for the delivery of trans-inclusive healthcare, such as best practices for determining time away from work after gender-affirming treatments; 
  • Withholds research and education grants for major medical schools, research hospitals, and teaching hospitals, to coerce a stoppage on gender-affirming care; 
  • Instructs federal agencies to investigate and take action against doctors and pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medications used in gender-affirming care; 
  • Targets transgender youth in LGBTQ+ sanctuary states by directing the Department of Justice to prioritize action against those states, signaling a federal crackdown on legal protections initially designed to shield transgender youth from hostile policies in their home states; and, 
  • Bans gender affirming care for children of service members. 

To further the false narrative that transgender people and the sheer concept of gender identity pose a threat to cisgender people, EO 14187 intentionally uses degrading rhetoric, such as describing gender-affirming care as “maiming” and as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” A report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) furthers the myths and falsehoods around gender-affirming care by claiming that gender dysphoria is a condition to be addressed by gender exploratory therapy (conversion therapy) and describes gender-affirming surgery as “mutilation.” 

The Administration’s ban on gender-affirming care – on those who need it, those who support it, and those who provide it – has wrought a significant and dangerous impact in the few months of its implementation. In early June 2025, Children’s Hospital LA closed its youth gender-affirming care clinic, leaving families in limbo and without the care they deserve. South Asian parents of transgender children report exploring options to obtain gender-affirming care from commercial services as local clinics are increasingly unable to provide adequate care for minors.  

Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has exacerbated this crisis through its ruling in U.S. v. Skremetti by upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and effectively approving all similar laws in 25 other states. In practice, state laws prohibiting gender-affirming care effectively mean that transgender youth cannot access essential treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy from in-state providers.  

Beyond the ban on gender-affirming care, the restrictions on providers add significant difficulty for members of the LGBTQ+ community to get basic healthcare services. Medicaid benefits at both the state and federal levels are under threat for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Under the proposed spending bill referred to by the Administration as the “Big, Beautiful Bill”, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans would be banned from covering transgender health care, like surgery and hormone replacement therapies, when, as of June 2025, at least 185,000 transgender adults are on Medicaid. State benefit programs are also narrowing access to providers of basic healthcare for LGBTQ+ people. A June 2025 Supreme Court decision allowed South Carolina to proceed with a policy excluding Planned Parenthood (PP) from state Medicaid coverage, meaning that people with South Carolina Medicaid who relied on PP clinics to obtain birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, reproductive care, and mental health support must now find new healthcare providers covered under Medicaid. 

In addition to its relentless effort to block healthcare benefits for LGBTQ+ people, the Administration is eliminating other vital services that support the LGBTQ+ community. For example, the Administration recently announced an end to the National LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Lifeline, which was developed in partnership with The Trevor Project to support youth in crisis moments. It helped over 231,000 people in 2024 alone. Over $800 million in funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also impacted critical research initiatives to improve outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community. These cuts are currently blocked by court order. 

How are LGBTQ+ youth being impacted at the state level? 

Some states are policing gender identity and suppressing gender expression among youth in schools.   Fifteen states have enacted laws and policies that authorize school officials to disclose a child’s gender identity to their parents without the child’s consent in varying circumstances.  Two states – North Dakota and Alabama – have passed laws requiring the forced outing of transgender youth when parents ask school staff for that information. Six states – Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina – have passed legislation to force the outing of transgender youth to their family if the child makes a request of school staff relating to their gender identity, such as naming their preferred pronouns. Forcing a child to come out to their parents before they are ready creates a broad risk of harm for children, especially those with families that are not accepting. 

Additionally, LGBTQ+ students are fighting against the erasure of their identities in school, for the right to see themselves in books, to participate in sports, to enjoy school facilities, and to live free of restrictions designed to erase the fullness of youth. In late June 2025, SCOTUS upheld the right of parents in a school district in Maryland to withdraw their children from classes when stories with LGBTQ themes are being addressed. In Mahmoud v. Taylor (the Taylor decision), the Court held that allowing children to be in such classes could violate the First Amendment rights of parents who have religious objections to such content. Justice Sotomayor, in her dissenting opinion, reflected that the Taylor decision “guts our free exercise precedent and strikes at the core premise of public schools: that children may come together to learn not the teachings of a particular faith, but a range of concepts and views that reflect our entire society.”  

It is important to note how faith communities mobilized to protect the right of children to learn in queer-inclusive classrooms. Specifically, around Taylor, Muslim parents and LGBTQIA+ Muslims meaningfully intervened in the narrative by showing support and solidarity for LGBTQ+ community members. For example, Advocates for Trans Equality Education Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief (amicus curiae) with SCOTUS on behalf of eight organizations including Queer Crescent, Al-Wāsi’ Collective, Atlanta Unity Mosque, Queer Muslims of Boston, Desi Rainbow and other groups with LGBTQ+ Muslims among their members in support of the school district’s decision to create queer-inclusive classrooms. Following issuance of the Taylor decision, the A4TE Coalition issued a statement condemning the opinion. Aruna Rao, Executive Director of Desi Rainbow offered reflections: “This ruling may embolden those seeking to isolate LGBTQI+ children…But we know our communities are resilient. Our faith calls on us to approach differences with humility and a firm commitment to justice – not exclusion. We will keep showing up for queer and trans youth – in the courts, in classrooms, and beyond.” 

Resource List for the South Asian LGBTQ+ Community + Allies

South Asian LGBTQ+ Organizations

Resources Specific to South Asian LGBTQ+ Community Members 

Broader LGBTQ+ Community Resources

National LGBTQ+ Groups 

Resource Hubs

Immigration-Related Resources

Hotlines

Resources for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community Members

Policy Explainers

Maps 

Resources for Allies + Parents