Transgender, nonbinary Georgians scramble to make changes before Trump presidency

The last time Milledgeville resident Ryleigh Palmer flaunted long hair down to their mid-back was four years ago.

It felt wrong.

When Palmer realized they were nonbinary, they cut it short in 2020, like Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting,” as they put it.

“I had a gender crisis because one of the kids I taught would ask me every single day, ‘Are you a girl or a boy?’” Palmer, a former teacher, recalled. “People have this very skewed vision of what trans people look like. They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s a guy in a wig,’ but no.”

The 23-year-old now feels pressured to revert back to their long hair out of fear their short cut and “visible queerness” could put them in danger as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, they said.

Trump has promoted transphobic misinformation, enacted a slew of anti-trans policies in his first term and picked several opponents of LGBTQ+ rights to fill his next cabinet.

To name a few, the president-elect has announced trans skeptics including Marco Rubio as secretary of state, Kristi Noem as the department of homeland security secretary, Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy, Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as heads of the Department of Government Efficiency – a new advisory commission.

Rubio proposed a bill, which did not pass, in 2023 that would have disqualified anyone from the military who identifies as trans and who seeks or has undertaken gender-affirming surgery. Noem signed a bill banning gender-affirming surgeries and medicine for trans minors in 2023 in South Dakota. Miller founded the law firm America First Legal, which sued President Joe Biden’s administration over its Title IX guidelines intended to protect students from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The law firm also funded many anti-trans campaign ads for Trump, NPR reported. Huckabee has perpetuated a false myth about voyeurism by trans people in bathrooms, and called trans people a “social experiment.” Stefanik has voted against the Equality Act in 2021; withdrew her sponsorship of the Fairness for All Act, which would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to civil rights law; and voted for H.R. 734, or the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which aims to prevent trans women from competing in women’s sports.

Musk has funded a slew of transphobic media content, and his social platform X, removed a policy that prevented hateful posts about trans people. Ramaswamy has spewed false rhetoric and said he supports a nationwide ban of gender-affirming care for minors.

Many transgender and nonbinary people in Middle Georgia are rushing to secure updated identification documents, stockpile medications and even alter their personal style before Trump takes office in January.

In a shifting political and social climate where transgender people fear their lives and rights are under attack, Palmer believes it will be safer to blend in, rather than possibly out themselves as queer based on their masculine or androgynous appearance.

Palmer’s state ID lists them as a female, but they feel most aligned with a neutral gender marker. However, they feel that updating their ID to reflect this could make them a target for discrimination in public spaces such as a bar, doctor’s office or workplace.

Most major municipalities in Middle Georgia, including Milledgeville, Macon and Warner Robins do not fully protect people from discrimination on the basis of gender, other than any outlined by state or federal law, which all counties must abide by. Similarly, the only non-discrimination policy on gender-related grounds in Warner Robins merely protects people when applying for a city permit.

Georgia also lacks comprehensive statewide anti-discrimination laws based on gender identity in sectors such as housing, employment and public accommodations. Most are vague and list sex, not gender identity, in their protections.

The state’s Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978 only protects state employees from discrimination based on race, sex, age, disability, national origin, color or relation, but not gender identity or sexual orientation. However, in a nationwide victory for LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace, the Supreme Court ruled the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to gender identity and sexual orientation in the 2020 case of Bostock v. Clayton County. It initially only prohibited discrimination of sex during employment.

“I’m not going to change my gender on my license or anything because X looks a hell of a lot different than M or F,” Palmer told The Telegraph.

While they’ve never experienced direct violence, they feel unsafe in Georgia’s rural or majority-Republican areas.

“With people who are very conservative, there’s a pause. In the South, I’ve gotten like ‘yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir, no sir,’” Palmer said.

At least 30 trans and gender-nonconforming people were killed in the United States in 2024, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Two were reportedly killed in Georgia, including Santonio “San” Coleman, 48, and Righteous TK “Chevy” Hill, 35.

The economy played a huge role in deciding November’s election — many voters who were focused on that issue supported Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris, even if they had concerns about his rhetoric towards marginalized communities. But Palmer said they would prefer to deal with expensive groceries or inflation rather than face violence for being trans.

“For people that are straight and cisgender, your struggle is not your gender identity; it’s not who you love. Your struggle is like groceries … but for us it’s our lives,” Palmer said. “I would rather be poor than dead.”

Urgency to change name

Warner Robins resident Nicole Elizabeth Hamilton’s state ID photo was last taken about nine years ago, before she medically transitioned.

The 25-year-old rushed to the Houston County courthouse to request a legal name change on Nov. 15, just 10 days after Trump won the election.

The process to change one’s legal name or gender marker usually takes weeks or months.

“With Trump’s election, it feels like I need to do it while I can at this moment because I don’t know in the future what he or anyone could do to prevent that,” Hamilton said.

During a Moms for Liberty event in August, Trump said he will sign an executive order on Day 1 of his presidency “instructing every federal agency to cease the promotion of sex or gender transition at any age.”

Hamilton said she quit her old job at Another Broken Egg Cafe partly because of discrimination from customers. She said it affected her income due to a lack of tips.

“The best way to describe it is whenever you’ve been holding in a secret and then it gets outed, and that experience is taken from you, it’s such a rush of embarrassment,” Hamilton said.

Even about two years into taking testosterone blockers and estrogen, Hamilton still feels her trans identity is publicized while working as a barista at 7 Brew. While the employees support her, some patrons have called her out for being trans.

“I had a customer as she was driving up say, ‘I almost thought you were a woman,’” Hamilton said. “It can become this whole snowball effect of it being awkward or them getting angry and not coming back.”

Stockpiling hormones

Similar situations have also interfered with work for Hamilton’s boyfriend, Cole Tyler Lee.

“One of my customers asked me about my voice and he said, ‘Why do you sound like that … like one of those trans folks?’ and I was like, scared,” Lee said.

The 29-year-old works as a tradesman and tattoo apprentice.

Lee stocked up on testosterone cypionate vials for himself over the past few months, prior to the election. His girlfriend fears the medicine will be inaccessible or more expensive once Trump takes office.

“I’m nervous for him,” Hamilton said of Lee. “I just don’t want hormone replacement therapy to become this thing where people are going to find ways to get it in an unsafe manner.”

Most endocrinologists require patients to be referred by a psychologist in order to be prescribed hormone replacement therapy. Though some people opt to retrieve the medicine illegally without a prescription, often due to economic barriers.

What is at risk

TransSocial, an Atlanta and Miami-based nonprofit for transgender legal and medical assistance, offered a free passport clinic to assist Georgians with filing updated name and gender markers on Nov. 20 at Atlanta City Hall.

Latoya Perkins, TransSocial employee and advocate, said every trans person is at risk, regardless of their age.

“These (passport) services will get done before this man (Trump) gets inside of here in office,” Perkins said.

More than half of states in the U.S. have passed a law or policy banning gender-affirming care for trans people up to 18 years old, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

The concern that access to that care will be lost is very real, she said.

“Enroll yourself into the care and services that you need before it all comes to an end,” Perkins said. “Stop, drop and roll … because it’s going to be taken away.”

She recommended trans people and allies to amplify the community’s needs ahead of inauguration day through support groups, legal paperwork and donations to nonprofits and LGBTQ+ businesses.

“If we show out in numbers, it’s something they can’t take away from us,” Perkins said. “Back in the days we’d say we’d do it as a peaceful protest. You know, my voice matters, my life matters, my sex matters, my hormones matter, my masculinity matters, my facial hair matters, my transness matters.”

And losing access can be dangerous for those who will still seek medicine for this treatment. Perkins fears increased restrictions on gender-affirming care could amplify bloodborne infections for those who revert to “buying off the street,” she said.

“That’s when the harm reduction falls with needle exchange,” Perkins said. “All of it is scary, baby, it’s a fight we got to fight.”