There’s no doubt about it: there has been an uprising popularity about human rights debates over the years. Gays, lesbians, transgenders — you name it— have been highly accepted in the public eye. But what sparked such approval and popularity within the community? The Obama administration.

With policies that were dedicated to ensuring federal regulations and policies provided legal rights, transgender people have experienced “a sense of American freedom,” giving them the ability to freely express themselves. This can be seen under the Obama administration when the Education and Justice Departments allowed transgender students to use either bathroom, despite its gender identification. Amidst such rulings, transgender rights have exponentially expanded.

However, on Oct. 22, the Trump administration abruptly denounced the legal status of transgender rights. With statements to “consider” changing the treatment of transgender people under the law, protests arose only a couple hours after Trump’s announcement on Twitter.

Now, the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading one of the most ambitious efforts to establish a single definition of sex under Title IX, which bans sex discrimination, a contrast to the Obama administration loosening the concept of gender identification in federal programs. Defining gender under a biological perspective determined by genitalia at birth will lead to several setbacks for the LGBT community.

This issue leaves nearly 1.5 million transgender Americans at bay, forcing them to change their sexual preference.

This has not been the first attempt where Trump has blatantly objected to the transgender spectrum. On July 26, 2017, Trump announced the immediate exclusion of transgender people enlisting in the military, claiming it “confuses” them, then re-enforcing the action on Feb. 21, 2018. Furthering Trump’s exclusion of the general civil rights population, Trump is attempting to remove questions about gender identity from the 2020 census.

Trump is rolling back policies from the Obama administration, pushing not only history back, but also pushing the transgender community back into seclusion. It seems with each attack, despite the backlash and outrage, transgender identity and inclusion are seamlessly fading into existence.

Though things seem bleak for the transgender community, many advocates are speaking up about the issue to raise awareness to the public. Spreading the word on social media, the public can become more aware of the issues and fight back. LGBT rights are human rights, too!