Transgender Americans Voice New Anxiety About Trump Agenda

The steady flow of attack ads portraying Democrats as too liberal on transgender rights began appearing on television over the summer and continued through Election Day: “Kamala is for they/them,’’ went the tagline on one from Donald J. Trump’s campaign. “President Trump is for you.’’

The idea, Republican strategists told reporters, was not so much to connect with voters on specific policies as to suggest that Democratic priorities were out of step with the mainstream. It was a message adopted by dozens of Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

But for many transgender Americans, the experience of being invoked by political candidates as a symbol of absurdity or an object of disgust has taken a toll. And as Mr. Trump won the race for the White House and Republicans captured the Senate this week, L.G.B.T.Q. rights advocates said they were gripped by a new round of anxiety and fear.

“There’s a bit of shame, or embarrassment, like a loss of dignity, when I’m watching one of those ads, knowing my friends or my colleagues are also watching it,’’ said Austin Johnson, research director at the Campaign for Southern Equality and a professor of sociology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. “That this is happening in public, that people with authority are saying these disrespectful things.’’

Dr. Johnson, who is transgender, said the television ad that affected him most implied that allowing trans athletes to use the locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity would place others at risk of assault. “It’s bleak to think that they’re going to continue using trans people as a wedge issue to rile people up because it was effective.’’

During his campaign, Mr. Trump promised to impose restrictions on several aspects of life for transgender people, including issuing an executive order to cut funding for schools that he says teach “gender indoctrination.’’ He has said he would “keep men out of women’s sports” and withhold federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid from hospitals that provide gender transition treatment to minors. It is uncertain exactly how Mr. Trump intends to carry out his agenda, and advocates for trans rights say legal challenges are likely.