Transgender Americans say they’re traveling less out of fear since the election, research shows

Michelle Rosenblum of Ventura is planning a family vacation to Hawaii. She is excited — but worried.

Rosenblum is transgender. After President Trump’s election in November to a second term, she said, she rushed to get her identity documents in order as a matter of safety.

Rosenblum updated her California birth certificate to show she had transitioned. And she renewed her passport. She applied as a female but was stunned to receive a letter from the U.S. Department of State saying her application had to be changed “to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.”

As she prepares to fly, Rosenblum fears the discrepancy between her California Real ID — which says female — and her passport will create problems with the Transportation Security Administration.

In an email to The Times, Lorie Dankers, a TSA spokesperson, said the agency “accepts documents for identity verification with an ‘X’ marker. There is no change to this policy.”

In California, residents have had the option to choose “X” for nonbinary since 2019. But not all states allow this. And for transgender people who have transitioned from one gender to the other and do not fall under the “X” category, discrepancies can remain.

Rosenblum is debating bringing a stack of documents to the airport that she would rather keep safe at home, such as her birth certificate, Social Security card, and a court order showing her change in gender.

“In the 10 years that I’ve been transitioned, I have never felt like, ‘Whoa, I need to get all my papers together,’” said Rosenblum, who works in marketing. “I was never concerned about traveling.”

New survey shows transgender Americans are traveling less

In a newly released survey of transgender Americans by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, nearly a third of respondents said they were traveling less frequently as a result of the 2024 election.

Nearly 70% said they were less likely to go on vacation to states they viewed as more hostile to transgender people, particularly politically conservative states in the South and Midwest.

The survey, published this month, also showed that 48% of respondents were considering moving or had already moved to places in the U.S. they viewed as safer— notably, blue states such as California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Washington.

Forty-five percent of respondents said they wanted to move out of the country because of the current political climate.

“When you feel that you need to consider moving, you’ve been pushed to a certain point,” said Abbie Goldberg, the lead author of the survey and an affiliated scholar at the Williams Institute, which researches public policy surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity.

“If you’re a trans person living in the U.S., particularly in a state with not a lot of protections and some explicitly anti-trans legislation, you’re thinking about your physical safety, your children’s safety at school, the possibility you could be fired from your job and no way to push back.”

However, most respondents who wanted to move said they face barriers, including the high cost of living, in places such as California.

Trump has targeted transgender rights over and over again

The survey of 302 transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse adults was conducted in December, before Trump’s inauguration. Goldberg said the percentages of trans people wanting to move and declining to travel are probably higher now.

In his first 100 days, Trump issued executive orders banning trans women from women’s sports and barring the federal government from recognizing genders other than male or female.

Trump also is pushing to ban transgender Americans from the U.S. military, writing in an executive order that transgender identity is a “falsehood” inconsistent with the “humility and selflessness required of a service member.” The Supreme Court cleared the way this month for that ban to take effect.

In California, Democrats are divided on some LGBTQ+ issues, such as trans athletes competing in women’s sports. But progressive leaders have cast the state as a bulwark against Trump’s opposition to transgender rights, which will probably be a big issue in the state’s 2026 campaign for governor.

Rosenblum said she is grateful to live in California, where she feels protected by the state’s antidiscrimination laws. But as she gets ready for vacation, she said, “it feels like people are trying to shove me back into the closet.”

Today’s top stories

Officials investigate the Twentynine Palms home of the man linked to the Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

What we know about the Palm Springs bombing

• Authorities are investigating what appear to be radical views that Guy Edward Bartkus expressed online in the months before Saturday’s attack at a fertility clinic.
• The FBI described the Palm Springs blast as “probably the largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California,” eclipsing the 2018 bombing of a day spa in Aliso Viejo.
• Law enforcement sources and blast experts told The Times the suspect was a rocket hobbyist with radical views and an extraordinary amount of high-range explosives that appear to have been used with precision in his attack.

California’s nearest active undersea volcano is about to erupt

• Nearly a mile deep and about 700 miles northwest of San Francisco, the volcano known as Axial Seamount is drawing increasing scrutiny from scientists who discovered its existence only in the 1980s.
• Fortunately for residents of California, Oregon and Washington, the volcano doesn’t erupt explosively, so it poses zero risk of any tsunami.
• Data show, however, that these California coastal cities will face heightened flood danger from a tsunami.

In a state with a dire affordable housing shortage, Coachella Valley offers hope

• A decade ago, this desert region known for its winter resorts, lush golf courses and annual music festivals produced just 38 units of affordable housing a year, while the low-wage workers powering the valley’s lavish service industry faced soaring housing costs and food insecurity.
• Fast-forward to this year, and affordable housing units are planned or under construction in all nine Coachella Valley cities, including the most exclusive, and in many unincorporated areas.

What else is going on

• A heat wave is hitting Southern California starting Tuesday. Here’s where temperatures will soar.
• Trump may end temporary protected status for 350,000 Venezuelans, the Supreme Court rules.
• Country star Alan Jackson has retired from touring after more than three decades on the road.
• A fan allegedly made racist comments toward Angel Reese during a Fever-Sky game in Indiana.
• Trump, stuck on Beyoncé-Springsteen hype for Harris, wants ‘major investigation’ on celebrity endorsements.
• Scott Adams reveals he has metastatic prostate cancer, the same as Biden: ‘100% not curable.’
• A missing UC Santa Barbara student has been found dead in Big Bear Lake.

Commentary and opinions

• Who’s responsible for the aviation mess? Transportation Secretary Duffy says it’s everyone but him, writes columnist Michael Hiltzik.
• No matter where, when, to whom and how you ask the question, Golden State voters support giving immigrants without authorization a chance to become citizens, guest columnists and UC Berkeley professors G. Cristina Mora and Nicholas Vargas argue.

This morning’s must reads

Food

On the Curtis Stone farm at the heart of his growing lifestyle empire

Curtis Stone’s L.A. restaurants Gwen and the Pie Room are just part of the Australian chef’s expanding businesses. At his Agoura Hills farm he’s established a production studio to demo his cookware on HSN, plus a vineyard and an event space.

May 19, 2025

Other must reads

• ‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 50 is complete. Now, we’re ranking all 20 hosts.
• A courtside lounge? Dynamic ticket pricing? UCLA hopes new sports ventures will pay off.
• Call centers replaced many doctors’ receptionists. Now, AI is coming for call centers.

For your downtime

(Photo illustration by Jim Cooke / Photos by Getty Images)

Going out

• Exercises: Just 5 minutes a day of these exercises can sharpen your brain as you age.
• Restaurants: Nineteen must-try diners and restaurants for your next California road trip.

Staying in

• Books: The 4 biggest revelations from media mogul Barry Diller’s new memoir.
• Television: Elmo, Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street gang are moving into the Netflix neighborhood.
• Recipes: Here’s a recipe for cherry-almond upside down cake.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

A question for you: What’s your favorite city to visit in California?

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

(Gioncarlo Valentine / For The Times)

Today’s great photo is from contributor Gioncarlo Valentine in the studio of artist Diego Cardoso, who is painting L.A. as it really moves, one street at a time.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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