Who’s Afraid of Donald Trump? Equality Australia issues travel advisory for the United States amidst increasingly turbulent administrative motions

Author: Amelie Mcintosh

On the first day of his second term, President Trump signed a sweeping number of executive orders, including the institution of a new, narrow federal government definition of the sexes. The ‘X’ marker that has been available since 2021 is no longer available; requests to change gender marks from ‘F’ to ‘M’ and vice versa were also no longer accessible. 

Following this, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Hunger Games’ star Hunter Schafer posted a video to her TikTok story sharing with her audience that upon renewing her passport, her gender was listed as male without consultation or prior informing. No regard for the fact that her passport gender marker was first marked as female when she received her driver’s license in her teenage years; no care that she had filled her documents out and indicated female as she normally would.

Yet amidst the shock of this sudden reversal, Schafer notes that ‘I’m not making this post to fearmonger (...) I think it’s worth posting to note the reality of the situation, and that it is actually happening’. As anti-trans legislation is rolled out with an increasingly alarming rapidity in the United States following the reinstatement of Trump’s presidency, attention is drawn to the effect that this will hold for LGBTQ+ individuals globally seeking to travel, study, or work in the United States amidst the ongoing hostility toward foreign visitors.

Although there has been a growing general consensus amongst LGBTQ+ Australians regarding travelling to the United States to take precautionary measures since Trump’s first term of presidency, this has transformed entirely since his second time being sworn in. As recently as 2023, the Smart Traveller website has warned caution that ‘there is no federal law that explicitly protects LGBTI+ people from discrimination.’

Equality Australia has now made a sweeping travel advisory for transgender and nonbinary individuals who plan to travel to the U.S., particularly those whose gender markers do not match that of what they were assigned at birth. Cautioning all citizens who plan to live, travel, or work abroad, the advisory reads that “travel to the U.S. carries serious risks that should be considered before planning any travel, particularly if you fall under one of the above categories.” As the criteria for who is and is not being allowed to pass through customs continues to harden under Trump’s leadership, those with a history of LGBTQ+ activism or other political activity are being warned not to travel altogether.

In his first term in office from 2016 to 2020, shock was expressed at the alarming rapidity with which President Trump enacted anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. This placed LGBTQ+ individuals in the United States at a far more vulnerable position to discrimination in health care and social services, as well as employment and access to government facilities. Leading to a repeal of all healthcare regulations that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTQ+ activists expressed a looming fear of the long-term effect of not only the policy that Trump was enacting, but the precedent it would set for the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community across the United States, but particularly those in conservative cities and states, without the protection afforded by cities deemed safe for living in for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour already suffering under Trump’s rhetoric.

Charlie Hoskins is a current student at Columbia University working and living in Manhattan, New York City raised in Melbourne, Australia. He stressed that his decision to continue studying in the United States had transformed entirely with the broad and sweeping legislation brought in, directly affecting transgender rights and individuals. The recent change in government has shifted his decision entirely to continue further studies in the United States. Although he acknowledged that transgender individuals continue to exist all over the United States, and expresses that he experiences a caveat of privilege by being based in New York, alongside other queer and transgender individuals that see the left-leaning city as a safe haven, it remains transparent that the country is no longer safe, nor viable, for him to continue living in long-term. Physical manifestations of his concern that he identified included stockpiling his testosterone vials, for fear of a looming shortage of access to gender-affirming healthcare.

In our conversation, Hoskins stated ‘I recognise that living in New York provides some form of shelter for me from super heinous acts of homophobia or transphobia… [but] I am currently living in a state of perpetual anxiety regarding what could happen if I decide to go into certain places’. Hoskins, who moved to New York at the age of 19 during Biden’s presidency, has made the decision to move his postgraduate studies outside of the United States. His fear echoes that of other Australians, who have canceled upcoming trips due to escalating hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community. 

Echoing a similar sentiment to Hoskins, 22 year old Stella Panozzo who currently lives and studies in Melbourne, planned their upcoming trip to the United States shortly following the election in November 2024. However, the recent shift in policy has both shocked and scared them as a gender-diverse individual, admitting “I didn’t really think it would be as crazy as it’s panning out to be in real time”. Panozzo, who sees their transgender and queer identity as woven into every aspect of their life, now fears what this could mean for them entering through airport customs.

Alongside the fear that they have expressed, Panozzo admits that sadness compounds their emotional state in preparation for their departure in the coming days. The trip that they have planned is centred around meeting their American friends and family, and a dream they’ve worked towards for numerous years. For them, booking this trip was recognition and acknowledgement of their ongoing hard work, having saved thousands of dollars for what they perceive as an experience of a lifetime. They are now monitoring aspects of themselves and their daily life they never expected to in preparation for questioning at the border, asserting “my sexuality and my gender should not be in the equation to dictate if I am allowed entry”.

In their different experience engaging with US policy and customs, Panozzo and Hoskins both echo a wider sentiment shared not only by Australians, but worldwide, that the United States is becoming increasingly unsafe for queer and minority groups at an alarmingly rapid pace totally unprecedented in its volatility and acceleration. Looking toward the upcoming 2028 Olympics, the Trump administration has made sweeping instructions to deny the visa application of transgender athletes looking to compete. The executive order “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports”, signed by President Trump on February 5th is expected to put increasing pressure on transgender athletes looking to compete amidst the rapid shift in inclusivity and access.

With the upcoming WorldPride scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17th to June 8th, all focus is placed on the next movements of the United States government. Yet already for many queer individuals outside of the United States the decision to travel into the country, even areas considered safe havens for the LGBTQ community, is entirely out of the question. Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organisations, has already pulled all members from attending WorldPride due to the political risk under the Trump-Vance administration’s politics. Those already here are preparing themselves for the developing situation to only become worse, planning their journey out of the nation. Only a number of months into the rapid change of the Trump administration, all focus remains on how the increasingly turbulent political climate will continue to develop, amidst increasing fear for the LGBTQ+ community within the United States, both citizen and non-citizen.

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