What does a Donald Trump Presidency look like for LGBTQ+ Kentuckians?

Former President Donald Trump is now President-elect Donald Trump after he won Kentucky’s, along with the majority of the country’s, votes on Election Day. 

It is no secret Donald Trump’s campaign was full of hateful rhetoric aimed at basically every marginalized population, but what exactly could his presidency look like for the LGBTQ+ community?

For LGBTQ+ Kentuckians, the list of could-be federal changes and policies won’t be very surprising: They’re basically the same stuff Kentucky’s GOP-dominated legislature has tried to (and sometimes actually done) over the last few years. 

Many of the potential changes stem from Project 2025, a conservative roadmap for the country devised by several tied to Trump. 

Trump has tried to distance himself from the proposal, but several conservatives were quick to point out post-election that they now expect its ideas to be implemented now that Republicans will control the Presidency, House, Senate and the U.S. Supreme Court. But it is important to note many of the proposals are designed to be quickly implemented without the help of Congress. 

Here’s a quick synopsis of what could be coming. 

 

Bye, anti-discrimination protections: Project 2025 directly calls for a federal statement of policy saying it won’t “enforce any prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.” 

So, broadly speaking, any situation where sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status is seen as a protected status — so, discrimination is not allowed — could go away at a federal level. 

And protections against sex discrimination could be based solely on how one was identified at birth. 

It doesn’t appear, at least right now, that individual states or cities would be banned from passing fairness ordinances. Kentucky does not have a statewide fairness ordinance, but several cities in the state do.

 

Man and woman only?: Project 2025 doesn’t explicitly call for an end to gay marriage (although the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn rulings that legalized gay marriage, and, yes, interracial marriage).

But it does propose several changes that roll back the rights LGBTQ+ couples have. Generally, anything “family” could now be considered basically the “traditional” nuclear family. So, man, woman, children. 

One big possibility: Adoption and foster care groups could be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ couples and families hoping to adopt or foster a child. 

 

Gender-affirming care: The proposal recommends cutting federal funding for gender-affirming care for both transgender kids and adults, plus funding studies focused on the “negative” impacts of such care.

LGBTQ+ Kentuckians know this topic well: In 2023, the state banned gender-affirming care for minors despite widespread protests. The bill, Senate Bill 150, also made several other anti-LGBTQ+ changes, including allowing teachers to misgender their students and blocking conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity from K-12 classrooms.

That fight is still in the court system, with oral arguments to potential reverse parts of SB 150 in front of the U.S. Supreme Court expected for early December. 

 

Attack on transgender people: On top of the gender-affirming care proposals, Project 2025 also seeks to reverse a rule allowing transgender people from serving in the military. 

 

A ban on porn/“porn”: Pornography could be banned and those who make or distribute it could be punished. Now, porn isn’t just an LGBTQ+ issue, but this is important to note because several conservatives view books dealing with LGBTQ+ topics as “pornographic” in nature. The same line of logic has also been used to try and heavily restrict drag performances, as well as punish performers and businesses. 

Kentucky has seen several bills filed in the last two years aimed at restricting access to actual pornography, LGBTQ+ books in schools and drag performances. The more far-reaching ones that align more closely to what Project 2025 is suggesting haven’t passed, but Kentucky now has a statewide process for people to get books they don’t like banned from schools. Oh, and Kentuckians can’t access PornHub.