Every day, LGBTQ+ students are fighting for their lives and futures amid the onslaught of censorship and discrimination that is intended to silence and punish them for being their authentic selves. Extremist lawmakers are showing no signs of relenting in their legislative attacks with the looming threat of Project 2025 on the horizon. Project 2025 is a roadmap for how to replace the rule of law with right-wing ideals — opposing abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant’s rights, and racial equity. This is a direct threat to our democracy and to the well-being and social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) of students — especially LGBTQ+ students.

In 2024 alone, over 200 bills have been introduced that adversely impact the rights of LGBTQ+ students and faculty —  there are currently 13 states that have implemented some form of  a “bathroom ban” that directly puts transgender students and adults at risk. In fact, after Oklahoma issued a bathroom ban earlier this year, our community witnessed the tragic loss of Nex Benedict, a non-binary high school student who was attacked in a school bathroom that they were forced to be in.

While much of this proposed legislation will not see the light of day, the rhetoric and attacks on LGBTQ+ students still take a toll on their well-being and sense of safety in the classroom. According to a recent report from the CDC, an estimated 40% of transgender and questioning students were bullied at school, and 69% of questioning students and 72% of transgender students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, a marker for experiencing depressive symptoms — this is not okay.

Despite the prevalence of the rhetoric and discriminatory laws purporting that schools, books, and LGBTQ+ teachers are “turning people queer,” only 7.6% percent of the US population identifies as LGBTQ+. So, these legislative pushes are not based on any factual foundation, but rather, they are baseless homophobic and transphobic attacks that are intentionally crafted rhetoric to invoke outrage and panic. But how exactly will Project 2025 impact LGBTQ+ students?

Project 2025: LGBTQ+ Students & Faculty

The Project 2025 presidential transition plan is a 1,000-page handbook deriding a wide variety of topics from education, immigration, and women’s rights, and the attacks on LGBTQ+ people begin on p.3 — making it clear that this is a cruel agenda specifically targeting anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+, not a byproduct. One of Project 2025’s central themes is to censor students and faculty through things like discouraging or forcibly outing LGBTQ+ students, requiring faculty to misgender transgender students, banning transgender students from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity, and more. If implemented, these policies would create a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ youth, who are already experiencing discrimination. Creating more obstacles for queer students would be detrimental to their mental health and their ability to learn. The policy plan will also require states and private institutions to target transgender individuals and erase any protections through threatening to sue schools that uphold the rights and identities of LGBTQ+ students and faculty.

Through targeting LGBTQ+ individuals and rolling back civil rights, LGBTQ+ teachers and faculty will be removed from the classroom and the loss of LGBTQ+ educators would have a detrimental effect on all students — especially LGBTQ+ students. Research has shown that when students see themselves within school faculty they thrive. Having queer staff and faculty representation can add to a student’s sense of belonging. Being publicly out shows students the authenticity and freedom of embracing your true self that further reaffirms the classroom as a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth Having LGBTQ+ educators and leaders in our classrooms breaks down barriers and challenges stereotypes — creating a more inclusive environment where everyone (students and faculty) feels heard and respected.

Project 2025 also focuses on the dismantling of the Department of Education, which in recent years, has launched investigations into schools that have sex-stereotyped dress codes, banned LGBTQ+ books, and failed to address persistent and intentional misgendering of students. Without the Department of Education’ Office of Civil Rights, LGBTQ+ students lose an integral safety net that holds their school districts accountable in their treatment of LGBTQ+ students under Title IX.

Project 2025: LGBTQ+ Curriculum

Part of this anti-LGBTQ+ agenda focuses on censoring important topics in classrooms such as race, gender, and systemic oppression. Educators and districts have been battling extremist pushes for censorship for years now, and states across the country have issued book bans; however, Project 2025 would mean these censorships would be federally mandated. Banning these topics would create classroom environments where educators are afraid to discuss LGBTQ+ content and would enforce curriculum that is not representative of every student and their families. In an EdTrust report, we found that students’ sense of belonging improved significantly when a students’ identity was appropriately represented within course materials — whether that be in English, math, or science class.

If implemented, censorship of this degree would not only have an impact on a student’s well-being, but would also take a toll on their social, emotional, and academic development. For queer students, representation in their curriculum and literature validates their existence and lived experiences. When books are banned for having LGBTQ+ representation and themes, it tells queer students that they don’t deserve to exist in the classroom. This type of censorship promotes an ideology that LGBTQ+ students are different and someone to be feared — a notion that could not be further from the truth.

The Stakes Could Not Be Higher

Project 2025 is a dangerous and terrifying policy plan that would have devastating effects on our nation’s students, particularly LGBTQ+ students. Given the current state of mental health for LGBTQ+ students, we should be uplifting and celebrating queer young people, not dehumanizing and policing their bodies in the classroom.

With the election just days away, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without a doubt, Project 2025 is a serious threat to our students and faculty — they deserve better. We all deserve better. Amid these threats, many states and districts are fighting to ensure LGBTQ+ rights, note erase them, which is why GLSEN developed a legislative tracker that highlights proactive state bills that support the LGBTQ+ community.  In addition, more stories about LGBTQ+ people and characters need to be in our classrooms, not fewer, so queer students feel seen and cis students can feel empathy — something sorely missing in our society right now. Regardless of the election outcome, activists, education leaders, and districts must commit to inclusive policies that uplift and protect LGBTQ+ students to ensure that all students feel safe, included, and supported in the classroom. Our future depends on it.