They came to Chicago for safety and community. Increased anti-trans attacks and policy from President Donald Trump’s administration are making it harder to put down roots as they look for good jobs and affordable housing.

by Mare Ralph

Cal Ning, a poet and artist from Mundelein, is pictured at Palmisano Park on May 15, 2025. (Abra Richardson/for City Bureau)

Cal Ning doesn’t tell new people they are trans.

Ning, 21, soft-spoken and polite, moved to Chicago from Lake County in January and is living with a friend in Pilsen. After finishing an associate degree, they were excited to be more independent, move to a big city and find a “more adult” job, they said.

It's been tough for Ning to get settled, and they struggled with the job search for months. In some instances, they feel it could be dangerous to reveal they are trans. Ning uses their chosen name to ensure people address and gender them correctly in interviews, but they worry this could have negative repercussions, they said. 

“I have Cal on my resume, but it's not my legal name, so I don't know what to do if they try to do a background search on me,” Ning said.“I was hoping that when I moved [in January], I'd be able to find a job very quickly. That has not been the case.”

Chicago and Illinois are among the most ardent protectors of transgender civil rights in the country. Surrounded by states that restrict transgender health care and protections, Illinois has become a haven for people seeking gender-affirming care, with laws that protect patients and doctors from out-of-state prosecution and civil liability.

Nevertheless, President Donald Trump’s administration is ramping up attacks on trans people, wielding federal funding as an ideological weapon and affecting life even in “safe” states.

People march up Dearborn Street during a rally led by the advocacy group Trans Up Front Illinois at Federal Plaza on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Chicago. The protest was held a day prior to Transgender Day of Visibility. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau)

Targeted executive orders affecting trans people began on Inauguration Day. Hospitals such as Lurie Children’s and Northwestern Memorial paused gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 years old in preemptive compliance, while some nonprofits cancelled programs for LGBTQ+ youth. A nationwide lawsuit alleges University of Illinois Health also stopped gender-affirming care after the executive order. 

In late May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican-led tax bill that cuts gender transition care under Medicaid for trans people of all ages, expanding the restrictions on care that previously targeted children. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, effectively protecting similar laws in 20 other states.

Ridley Holmes poses for a portrait in The Crib overnight shelter inside The Night Ministry in West Town on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau)

Meanwhile, some organizations that support trans people are trying to continue their work without drawing scrutiny that could affect operations, said Ridley Holmes, youth case manager at The Night Ministry in West Town.

“I know a lot of agencies want to come out and be like, ‘Hey, we support [diversity, equity and inclusion],’ but there's a very cautious line you have to take because you could lose your funding for that,” Holmes said. “If you shut down, you can't help anybody, right? 

“Maybe it's a very cynical view of mine, but I feel like ... we need to make sure that we are bringing folks in and letting them see the support that they can get, rather than screaming it to the heavens and then lose our funding [and have to] close down.”

The federal hostility has been destabilizing for young trans Chicagoans who are facing intensifying threats to their survival, while also navigating challenges typical of most young adults: getting a job, finding a place to live and learning their way around their community and city.

Signs supporting transgender rights are seen during a protest for trans rights at Federal Plaza in the Chicago Loop on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau).

‘It's difficult sometimes just to be who I am’

Trans people can struggle to apply for jobs or settle into a new workplace when they haven’t completed an expensive name change. They may also have “mismatched” IDs. 

In Illinois, one must live in the state for three months before undergoing a name change. It costs $388 to change a legal name in Cook County, though a fee waiver is available for those able to document financial hardship. 

Organizations such as the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Law’s Pro Bono Litigation Clinic and the Transformative Justice Law Project of IL offer free assistance, but there is usually a waiting period of a month or more.

The complex civil court process includes paperwork and filing requirements culminating in a virtual court hearing. Ultimately, the petitioner can buy certified copies of the court order for about $ 10 each. 

Petitioners use the court order to get an updated state ID, driver’s license, birth certificate, passport or Social Security card. Since each type of new ID requires a fee and sometimes a waiting period, it is common for trans Illinoisans to have identification with different names and gender markers.

Julian, a graduate student at a Chicago-area university, moved to the city in September. He asked that his last name and university not be identified.

“I knew I wanted to go to grad school, so I was looking at a whole bunch of programs and states that were blue or blue-leaning,” Julian said. “I knew I wanted to be in a place that had good protections in place [for transgender residents].”

Anti-trans executive orders from the Trump administration threw “a major wrench into my transition documentation,” he said.

Earlier this year, Julian was waiting to update his expired passport, which lists his incorrect legal sex, because the Trump administration was not allowing people to change their gender marker. The U.S. Department of State also stopped issuing passports with the “X” marker.

In some instances, the authorities also had been confiscating documents submitted for name and gender marker changes, blocking trans people from having a passport at all, regardless of which gender marker they would use, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Julian had planned to choose the "M" marker for his passport.

“When I went to [the] Social Security [office] last week, they were unable to update my sex on [my] Social Security [card], so now that's a mismatch between my state ID and my federal documentation,” Julian told City Bureau in April. “So who knows what's going to happen with that when it comes to filling out forms for jobs in the future and whatnot.” 

A federal judge in Massachusetts last week blocked the Trump administration from refusing to process and issue passport applications for transgender and nonbinary people in accordance with their gender identity. However, the ACLU is advising people not to apply for a new or corrected passports yet, citing reports that the State Department hasn't updated its guidance to comply with the court order.

Cal Ning works in their sketchbook at Palmisano Park on May 15, 2025.

Ning, who also has not legally changed their name and gender marker, faces a similar predicament. In addition to mismatched IDs, Ning also worries about anti-Asian discrimination amid growing attacks on DEI initiatives. They recalled Trump’s anti-Chinese hate speech when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

“In this climate, it's difficult sometimes just to be who I am authentically and not stir up something,” Ning said.

‘If I was gonna be homeless, I was at least gonna be happy’

Queer youth face significantly higher rates of homelessness and housing instability compared to non-LGBTQ+ youth, research has shown. Those numbers are even higher among trans youth versus their cisgender peers, according to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ young people.

Azazel Ramsey, 24, left Appalachia in 2021, seeking queer community and a life where they could safely be themselves. Though their grandfather and brother were supportive of their gender identity, most of their family were not, they said.

Azazel Ramsey, originally from Appalachia, poses for a photo at the Art Institute of Chicago in June 2025. (Abra Richardson/for City Bureau)

They left on an early morning Amtrak train after saving money and stayed with friends in Carbondale, Illinois, for a few years. In 2023, Ramsey was hospitalized in northwest suburban Streamwood after a mental health emergency. When Ramsey was discharged in September, hospital staff took them to The Crib, The Night Ministry’s youth shelter in Wicker Park. There, they learned about Howard Brown’s Broadway Youth Center and accessed gender-affirming hormone therapy.

“When it comes to having been homeless while on hormones, I was expecting it to be really [expletive] hard,” Ramsey said. “But I needed the hormones, too … If I was gonna be homeless, I was at least gonna be happy.”

As Ramsey and Ning have settled in Chicago, things have been looking up. Both started new jobs, and in January, Ramsey got an apartment in Englewood through Chicago’s Rapid Rehousing Program and the Flexible Housing Pool Youth Expansion Project, administered by Unity Parenting and Counseling, Inc. This is one of numerous city and state programs that would be devastated by proposed cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget. 

Ramsey regularly bikes and takes public transit to the Center on Halsted and Broadway Youth Center for trans-focused healthcare and social events. They are grateful for the support and stability they’ve found in Chicago and noted how the same social services are desperately needed in Appalachia.

“At BYC, that was the first time I'd been around queers, other LGBT people, who are in similar situations,” Ramsey said. “At first it scared me, so I backed away … As weird as that sounds, I wasn't comfortable around other queer people.”

People march down Adams Street during a rally led by Trans Up Front Illinois at Federal Plaza on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Chicago. The protest was held a day prior to Transgender Day of Visibility. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau)

‘There are people here to support you’

As Julian, Ramsey and Ning put down roots in Chicago, community organizations and nonprofits that serve trans people are banding together to raise awareness about the threats to their communities, shore up support and connect young people to services.

“We are seeing unprecedented moves to the state,” said Asher McMaher, executive director of Trans Up Front IL, which advocates for trans rights. “For us, it's all about education and knowing that they are seen and valid. 

“Wherever you are in your transition, there are people here to support you, and we are lifting up each other's organizations to make sure we continue to provide services.”

Broadway Youth Center provides gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth, as well as medical and behavioral health care for all youth ages 18-24. The organization has a drop-in center, workforce development, social services, and a variety of clubs and activities.

The community meetings the center hosts most weekdays provide LGBTQ+ clients an opportunity to express fears and frustration while receiving accurate and accessible information about news that may impact them, said Sheldon Echols, the center’s manager of resource advocacy.

“There's been a lot of concern from young people and from staff around the current regime, and just all the executive orders that went into place a few months ago,” Echols said.

The Night Ministry provides emergency shelter and case management to young people experiencing homelessness through their West Town emergency shelter, The Crib. Case managers assist young people in connecting with social services.

Center on Halsted provides TransSafe Drop-In hours, youth and adult support groups, and job training. In addition to their Lakeview location, the Center has expanded programs to their Center on Cottage Grove in Woodlawn.

Brave Space Alliance, a Black- and trans-led organization based in Hyde Park, provides a variety of mutual aid programs including a community food pantry, housing assistance, and gender-affirming clothing and personal items at The Dignity Suite. BSA also provides support groups, HIV testing and connection to services and partners with local groups on legal name change clinics.

“It is a privilege to be able to serve young people in this city, because we can serve all kinds of young people and thankfully help to support and protect trans and queer youth,” Echols said.

“I just want that to continue, to evolve and to expand, as well.”

Grace Emery, a 26-year-old transgender woman, cheers during a march for transgender rights at Federal Plaza in the Chicago Loop on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau)

Led by Trans Up Front IL, many of these organizations convened for a massive rally at Dirksen Federal Plaza in the Loop for Transgender Day of Visibility on  March 30. Thousands packed into the plaza to hear staff and representatives from a coalition of 50 organizations and elected officials speak up for transgender legal and civil rights. 

The Second City Sisters, the Chicago chapter of queer and trans activism organization the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, led an affirmation for the crowd: “We exist. We will not be erased. We have always been here and we always will be.” 

As the rally broke into a march, clouds gathered and soon buckets of rain and hail fell onto the group waving multi-colored protest signs, rainbows and Pride flags. In a stubborn show of strength and solidarity, streaming down the streets past government buildings and the immense sign on Trump Tower, people chanted:

 “When trans people are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!”

The sleeping area is seen inside The Crib overnight shelter at The Night Ministry in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Talia Sprague/for City Bureau)

If you or someone you know is looking for trans-affirming support in housing, health care, legal issues and more, here's how to contact the groups mentioned in this article: