In the first five days of 2024, 125 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were filed in state legislatures. By year's end: 586. As of April 2025: over 850. This isn't culture war rhetoric. It's a coordinated legislative campaign targeting a specific population, and it's accelerating.
More than half of all transgender youth in America—382,800 kids aged 13-17—now live in states that have banned their access to healthcare, sports, bathrooms, or the use of their pronouns. In 16 states, all four restrictions are in place.
The campaign has a command structure. Chaya Raichik's Libs of TikTok account has been linked to at least 33 bomb threats against institutions she posted about. NBC News identified 33 instances where people or institutions she singled out reported bomb threats or violent intimidation—typically arriving days after her posts, targeting schools, libraries, hospitals, and small businesses across 16 states.
The pipeline works like this: Raichik posts a location. Proud Boys chapters—functioning as devoted followers—show up within hours. In April 2022, Oklahoma teacher Tyler Wrynn resigned amid death threats the same day Libs of TikTok reposted his video. In February 2024, trans student Nex Benedict, who had admired Wrynn, died after being beaten at the same school district.
The Southern Poverty Law Center added Raichik to their hate watchlist in 2024, describing her as having engaged in an "anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation campaign" that "mobilizes right-wing extremist groups in violent attacks."
The network extends beyond one account. Moms for Liberty pivoted from COVID mask protests to coordinating book bans and accusing LGBTQ-inclusive teachers of "grooming" children. Members of the Proud Boys worked alongside Moms for Liberty chapters at school board meetings nationwide. Since 2022, GLAAD has recorded over 1,850 incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ violence.
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism." Within a week, he banned transgender individuals from military service and eliminated the White House Gender Policy Council. In December 2025, the House passed H.R. 3492—sponsored by Marjorie Taylor Greene—which would criminalize parents, children, and doctors for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth.
Republicans spent $215 million on anti-trans ads during the 2024 election cycle, including Trump's advertisement stating Kamala Harris is for "they/them—not you." The campaign targeted young men through male-dominated podcasts while declining to appear on female-focused platforms. The GOP convention featured Hulk Hogan and UFC president Dana White to emphasize Trump's "tough guy" persona.
GLAAD counted 225 defined attacks on the LGBTQ community by Trump during his first term and 2024 campaign—policy decisions and rhetoric combined.
The Trevor Project saw a 700% spike in crisis calls the day after the 2024 election. Research found anti-trans state legislation drove up suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth by as much as 72%.
Communities are fighting back. In 2023, "RuPaul's Drag Race" partnered with the ACLU to form the Drag Defense Fund, raising $2 million in 14 months. The fund successfully defended Pride events in Massachusetts and Tennessee, and blocked drag ban laws in Texas, Florida, and Montana.
In 2025, Qommittee—a group of drag performers who've experienced threats—released the Drag Defense Handbook, covering documentation strategies, doxxing protection, legal rights, and handling bomb threats.
Armed community defense groups have emerged. In Princeton, Texas, masked members of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club staked out positions around a community center before far-right protesters arrived. Veterans for Equality defended "A Drag Queen Christmas" in San Antonio. The Parasol Patrol uses rainbow umbrellas to physically block entrances from far-right disruptors.
LGBTQ voters prefer Democrats by 53 percentage points nationwide. 94% of LGBTQ voters, 76% of registered voters, and 82% of swing voters agree: "Republicans should stop focusing on restricting women's rights and banning medical care for transgender youth and instead focus on inflation, job creation, and healthcare costs."
The GOP's gender war isn't about bathrooms or sports. It's a political strategy that treats a vulnerable population as electoral fodder. The targeting is coordinated—from social media to state legislatures to federal executive orders. The consequences are measured in crisis calls, suicide attempts, and families fleeing their home states.
But the resistance is organizing too. Legal defense funds are winning in court. Communities are protecting their own. And the polling suggests this strategy may be alienating more voters than it mobilizes.
"Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts" – Harry Bosch, famous detective
Anti-trans messaging works for Republicans for two reasons: many otherwise sympathetic people are uncomfortable with gender issues, and Democrats don't know how to respond effectively. The standard Democratic response—defending specific policies on medical care, sports eligibility, bathroom access—plays directly into the wedge by keeping the debate on uncomfortable terrain.
Every specific debate is a trap because it implicitly accepts the premise that some people's rights are up for discussion.
The effective counter isn't policy defense. It's principle: Everybody counts or nobody counts.
The Republican strategy isn't really about trans people—it's about establishing that government gets to decide which categories of citizens deserve full participation. Once you accept that framework for any group, you've conceded the tool that can be turned on anyone.
The Harry Bosch principle that "Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts" is also just better politics. Universal principles poll better than specific identity defenses, and they don't require voters to first overcome their discomfort with a particular group before they can agree with you. But up until now, Democrats are arguing policy when they should be arguing principle.
Go deeper: Explore the full history in Pride and Politics: The Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality on Quarex—from Stonewall to today's backlash.