Trans Women

Trans Activist Raquel Willis Offers Thoughts on Organizing, Strength and Hope in this Moment

Within the first three weeks of Donald Trump’s second term, he has signed a devastating and chaotic wave of executive orders that undo a wide variety of laws and protections impacting vulnerable Americans.

With so many rights and freedoms at stake, I reached out to trailblazing transgender activist Raquel Willis to get her perspective on what we are facing under this administration and how we can support the trans community.  

“We’re not starting from zero.” The fight for trans rights continues—and so does the resistance.

Trump’s Administration Seems Chaotic, But He’s Drawing Directly from Project 2025 Playbook

In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization to deploying military personnel and National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges. But none of them should come as a surprise—nearly all of them were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025.

Keeping Score: Trump’s Executive Orders Undo Progress; Meta Allows Hate Against Women and LGBTQ People; Abortion Ban States Are Losing Residents

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Trump enacts harmful executive actions on immigration, global abortion care, DEI and foreign assistance; Trump’s new treasury secretary said expanding tax cuts for the wealthy is “the single most important economic issue of the day”; Trump pardoned anti-abortion extremists; ICE raids spread fear; 1.4 percent of trans teens participate in sports, but 40 percent are bullied at school; Whole Woman’s Health has expanded its 24/7 abortion care services; states hostile to abortion rights see challenges attracting and retaining workers; female firefighters will now receive federal compensation for treatment for reproductive cancers; remembering Cecile Richards, and more.

Meet the New Feminists in Congress Who Are Fighting Back

The progressive women newly elected and sworn into office—including three non-incumbent senators and 16 representatives—offer a glimmer of “bright hope” as the country enters a second Trump administration.

All of these women know that they’re entering a complicated political landscape, one that’s heavily partisan and disheartening to many of their constituents. They’re also experienced and driven, ready to work across the aisle as necessary while remaining dedicated to important causes, from protecting abortion rights and supporting the LGBTQ+ community to advocating for gun control, judicial reform, affordable healthcare and public education. These women come from all walks of life, sectors of the workforce and backgrounds. Some worked retail or food service jobs to pay their way through school. Others have been lifelong public servants or dedicated themselves to volunteering. They’ve been working physicians, engineers, attorneys, climate change activists, CIA analysts, mayors, state representatives and senators, education advocates, executive directors of nonprofits and small-business owners. They are Black, white, Latina and Middle Eastern. Some are proud members of the LGBTQ+ community. Many are from working-class backgrounds. Some are mothers and even grandmothers. Several are first-generation college graduates or the children of immigrants.

Restoring ‘Truth’ or Restricting Freedom? The Real Impact of Enforcing Gender Binaries

and

In a flurry of executive orders this week, President Donald Trump signed one that calls for “accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” The order, called Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, seeks to restore the gender binary. 

Let’s be clear: Women do not need to be protected from an inclusive definition of gender or trans people. Nonbinary and trans people exist. Their identities are valid, their rights matter and their existence does not threaten cisgender women or anyone else. 

Enforcing binary language lays the foundation for broader discrimination and exclusion, emboldening harmful policies in communities, workplaces and state governments.

Ms. Magazine’s Top Feminists of 2024

From top athletes, to community activists, to badass lawmakers, here are our 25 picks for the top U.S. feminists of 2024, and two of the best things they did or said.

Featuring: Kamala Harris, the 27 women who sued the state of Texas for its abortion ban in Zurawski v. Texas, Sarah McBride, abortion providers and funders, Black women voters, Jasmine Crockett, South Carolina’s “Sister Senators” and more.

The Most-Read Stories of 2024

Every day of 2024, Ms. writers and editors set out to create content that empowered, informed and infuriated readers. We sought out the truth, sounded alarms, asked tough questions, mourned feminist losses (and feminists we lost), looked to gender justice advocates abroad, and handed the microphone over to experts. Dear reader: As we enter a new year and a new era of the movement, we promise you more of this.

Explore the 30 most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com—the articles feminists most clicked, shared, studied, bookmarked and passed out at marches.

Keeping Score: More Attacks on Trans Rights; Sexual Assault Should Disqualify Cabinet Nominees, Americans Say; Female Professors Win Lawsuit and Backpay for Pay Disparity

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: The Supreme Court considers a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for trans teens; data shows crimes in public restrooms and changing rooms are extremely rare, and are not decreased by laws preventing trans people from using public bathrooms; analyzing Trump’s cabinet nominees; midwives say climate change is harming their communities; Nevada maintains a majority woman legislature; criminal justice reform for probation, parole and bail is critical; Arizona moves to end 15-week abortion ban; Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have asked the Biden administration to limit the federal government from deploying troops domestically; and more.

We Heart: Trans Activists Stage Peaceful (and Joyful) Dance Party Protest in Capitol Hill Women’s Restroom

Anyone walking into the bathroom on Capitol Hill Thursday morning found a buoyant dance party in progress: A group of trans artists and activists staged a protest in a women’s restroom in the U.S. Capitol, dancing to the song “Meeting in the Ladies Room” by the all-women pop and R&B band Klymaxx.

“It always starts with things that people feel are insignificant, like public restrooms, but it never stops there,” said Hope Giselle-Godsey, one of the Capitol Hill dancers. “We’re here today to ensure they understand that we will not be erased—one bathroom at a time—or shoved back into the proverbial closet out of deference to the comfort of those who speak to eradicate us.”

Conservative Supreme Court to Rule on Right to Be Trans, Medical Care, Parents’ Rights, Constitutional Sex Discrimination—and the Right to Be Different

“I’m here to stand up for my kid,” Brian Williams told me outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4. Williams and his wife Samantha have been fighting for their daughter—known as L.W. in the legal papers the ACLU filed to challenge Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors—for years.

Though difficult to sit through, the two-plus hours of argument in United States v. Skrmetti—a challenge by trans youth, their families, the ACLU, Lambda Legal and the Biden administration to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors—was a nearly perfect distillation of this moment in our gender politics.