A new study published in the journal APA PsycNet finds that legislation impacting or discriminating against transgender and gender-diverse individuals can cause more psychological distress than even personal experiences of discrimination.
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University used survey data from 346 transgender and gender diverse adults in the United States to examine their anxiety levels around anti-transgender legislation, discrimination based on their identities, and the level of support and community connection they experienced.
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The new analysis, parsed from data originally collected in 2024, revealed the outsized influence of anti-trans legislation on the respondents’ mental health. That effect has likely only grown worse in the intervening years with the second Trump administration’s crusade against transgender identity.
“We found that above and beyond everything else in the model, including active experiences of discrimination, that anti-trans legislation anxiety was driving psychological distress,” Catherine Wall, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the university and the study’s lead author, told VCU News.
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Over 2,000 laws have been proposed at both the state and federal level since 2020 that directly or indirectly discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, the study notes. Respondents characterized the legislation — targeting their access to healthcare and public facilities, legal recognition, and participation in sports, among other attacks on their identity — as an “existential threat.”
A qualitative analysis of the participants’ survey responses found that many participants had experienced, or feared that they would experience, difficulty accessing gender-affirming care, or difficulty living openly as a transgender person. Respondents noted increasing discrimination and violence associated with the rise in anti-transgender legislation, and an increase in fear for their safety and well-being.
“In a lot of ways, our participants who were talking about fear and expressing fear were viewing a lot of the anti-trans legislation as an existential threat,” Wall said. The legislation posed “a threat to their very existence, threats to their very lives, and threats to the lives of all trans people around them.”
That fear wasn’t confined to those living in states where the legislative attacks were most pronounced.
“You would think that if an individual lived in a state that had laws that were preventing discrimination, that they might have lower levels of psychological distress,” Wall said. But the perception of a national-level threat led to profound anxiety regardless of where participants lived.
Many respondents in red states reported that they had left or intended to leave for states with transgender-friendly laws, while others said they feared visiting relatives in states with anti-transgender laws. But participants expressed worry that wherever they lived, anti-transgender laws could be passed at any time.
There is “an environment of fear no matter where I go,” said one respondent.
One factor did make a difference in the levels of anxiety, however: family and community support. Participants with less community connectedness and familial support experienced greater psychological distress.
“Understanding the potential beneficial role of social support on resilience is something that is incredibly important,” Wall said. “The role that social support plays can be really beneficial as trans people are navigating this overarching sociopolitical environment.”
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