Then & Now: How the Nazis & Trump’s Administration Targeted Queer Communities First
History Repeats Itself
Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have used marginalized communities as testing grounds for oppression. Before the Nazis expanded their genocidal policies to Jewish people, Romani communities, and political dissidents, they first targeted LGBTQIA+ individuals. They framed queer people as a societal threat, criminalized their existence, and marked them with the now-infamous pink triangle, a symbol meant to shame and erase them.
Today, a chilling parallel is unfolding. The Trump administration has turned LGBTQIA+ rights—especially trans rights—into a political battleground, signing executive orders that limit access to gender-affirming healthcare, erase queer representation in government resources, and criminalize care. These policies are not standalone attacks—they follow the same authoritarian blueprint used by Hitler and the Nazi party to transform Germany’s democracy into a dictatorship.
The Devastating Human Cost of Nazi Oppression
The total number of people murdered by the Nazis during World War II is estimated to be around 17 million.
Between 5,000 and 15,000 LGBTQIA+ individuals were imprisoned in concentration camps under Paragraph 175, which criminalized male homosexuality. At least 50% of them died due to brutal conditions, executions, forced labor, and medical experiments.
The exact number of trans people imprisoned and killed is unknown, largely because trans identities were not widely recognized or recorded at the time. Many people who today might identify as trans or non-binary were instead classified under different categories—some under the label of homosexuality, others as "asocials" or political prisoners. Additionally, many hid their gender identity to avoid further persecution, much like how many queer people today are still forced to remain closeted for safety.
For context, a 2021 Gallup poll found that 7.1% of Americans identify as LGBTQIA+, with that number rising to over 20% among Gen Z. The number of LGBTQIA+ victims could be far higher than recorded, but, many were likely erased from history due to forced conformity or the dangers of being openly queer.
Step One: Scapegoating & Moral Panic
Nazi Germany: Blaming LGBTQIA+ People for Society’s “Decay”
In the 1930s, the Nazis capitalized on existing homophobia to consolidate power. They portrayed LGBTQIA+ people—especially gay men—as threats to traditional German values and “enemies of the state.” This rhetoric led to increased enforcement of Paragraph 175, a German law that criminalized homosexuality, resulting in mass arrests.
One of their first acts of oppression was the destruction of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin in 1933. The Institute, founded by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, housed groundbreaking research on gender and sexuality, including studies on transgender identity. The Nazis raided it, burning thousands of documents in one of the regime’s first major book burnings—a direct attempt to erase LGBTQIA+ knowledge from history.
Queer people were systematically rounded up, imprisoned, and forced to wear pink triangles—a classification used in concentration camps to mark them as "deviants." Many faced brutal torture, forced labor, medical experimentation, and execution. Even after World War II, many of those imprisoned under Paragraph 175 were not liberated; instead, they were forced back into prison as homosexuality remained illegal in much of Europe. Their suffering was largely erased from Holocaust narratives, leaving their stories untold for decades.
Today: The Trump Administration’s Manufactured Crisis
The Trump administration has used LGBTQIA+ issues—particularly trans rights—as a rallying point for moral panic. They attempt to justify sweeping policy changes that restrict access to healthcare, and legal protections by positioning queer and trans people as threats to “traditional values”.
① Censorship & book bans
Just as the Nazis destroyed LGBTQIA+ research, compliance with the Trump administration’s federal directives has introduced book bans that erase LGBTQIA+ identities from school curricula.
② Attacks on gender-affirming care
Trump’s January 28th executive order “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” attempting to ban federal funding for institutions offering gender-affirming care directly mirrors the Nazis’ early crackdowns on queer healthcare.
③ Legal erasure of trans people
The Trump administration’s EO “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” issued January 20, 2025, attempts to redefine gender as strictly binary, eliminating legal recognition for trans and non-binary individuals.
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By fueling fear-based rhetoric, these policies manufacture a moral crisis—just as the Nazis did—positioning LGBTQIA+ people as the first targets of broader authoritarian control.
Step Two: Criminalization & Erasure
Nazi Germany: The Pink Triangle & Systematic Persecution
Once the Nazis secured power, they moved beyond rhetoric and began criminalizing LGBTQIA+ existence outright. Queer individuals were among the first groups arrested and sent to concentration camps, where they were forced to wear pink triangle badges as a form of public marking and humiliation.
Those wearing the pink triangle were subjected to extreme violence within the concentration camp system. LGBTQIA+ prisoners faced torture, forced sterilization, medical experimentation, and mass executions. Their suffering was compounded by the lack of solidarity from other prisoner groups, as Nazi ideology had successfully framed them as "lesser" victims.
Today: The U.S. Government’s Weaponization of Policy
The Trump administration is not sending LGBTQIA+ people to camps, but its policies are designed to make queer existence legally and socially untenable.
① Banning healthcare access
Court rulings and executive orders have created uncertainty around gender-affirming care, with judges temporarily blocking some bans while others take effect. This legal limbo has left trans youth without consistent access to life-saving healthcare, contributing to increased mental health crises and higher rates of suicide.
② Preemptive compliance
Some hospitals fearing legal backlash have halted gender-affirming care, mirroring how institutions under Nazi rule cut ties with LGBTQIA+ patients.
③ Erasing LGBTQIA+ data
Federal databases have been purged of LGBTQIA+ health statistics, making it harder to track disparities in HIV rates, suicide prevention, and access to care—just as the Nazis erased queer medical research in the 1930s.
④ Targeting LGBTQIA+ Service Members
The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to restrict trans people from serving in the military. Trump's 2017 ban on transgender troops, which prohibited openly trans individuals from enlisting and restricted those already serving from accessing necessary medical care, was a direct attack on the rights and dignity of trans service members. Now, new executive orders signal a return to these discriminatory policies, reinforcing the message that trans people do not belong in public life—including in institutions they have historically fought and died for.
Step Three: Expansion of Oppression
Nazi Germany: LGBTQIA+ Oppression as a Test Run for Fascism
The Nazis did not stop with LGBTQIA+ people. Their persecution of queer individuals was an early test to see how much resistance they would face. When the world remained silent, they escalated their violence—moving next to Jewish people, Romani people, and disabled individuals.
Similarly, Trump’s attacks on LGBTQIA+ people are only the beginning. Authoritarian playbooks show that once one group is successfully dehumanized, others follow.
① Reproductive rights rollbacks
The same administration attacking trans people has also gutted abortion access and birth control protections.
② Educational censorship
Banning LGBTQIA+ books has expanded into wider bans on race, history, and science education.
③ Erasure of transgender history
The National Park Service, complying with Executive Order 14168, removed all references to transgender individuals from the Stonewall National Monument's website. This act erases the pivotal role that transgender activists, such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, played in the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.
④ Silencing opposition
Trump’s latest executive orders claim to “protect students from antisemitism,” but in practice, they are being used to crack down on campus protests—particularly those in support of Palestinian rights. In a tweet on March 4, Trump threatened to deport international students who participate in protests and cut federal funding for universities that allow what he deems "illegal protests".
Mahmoud Khalil, a 29-year old Palestinian student at Columbia University was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who plan to revoke Khalil’s green card (permanent residency) following his participation in pro-Palestine protests on campus last year. Trump posted on his Truth Social account, promising “This is the first arrest of many to come”.
This use of doublespeak—framing political suppression as "protection"—mirrors tactics seen in Nazi Germany, where propaganda was used to justify restricting civil liberties. By leveraging fear and confusion, these policies lay the groundwork for broader crackdowns on protests, echoing authoritarian regimes of the past.
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This Is the Warning Sign—And We Cannot Ignore It
History has made one thing clear: authoritarian regimes do not begin their oppression with the most powerful groups. They start with those already marginalized by society—whom they believe they can target without facing widespread resistance. In Nazi Germany, that meant LGBTQIA+ individuals, particularly gay men and transgender people, were among the first to be arrested, imprisoned, and sent to concentration camps. Their identities were criminalized, their research was destroyed, and their existence was painted as a moral and societal threat. When there was little global outcry, the Nazis escalated their persecution, expanding their violence to Jewish people, Romani communities, disabled individuals, and political dissidents. The pattern was set: start with those the public is least likely to defend, then build upon that foundation of hate.
We are watching history repeat in real time. The Trump administration has followed a disturbingly similar path, beginning with relentless attacks on transgender and nonbinary people, stripping them of healthcare, legal recognition, and public safety protections. Executive orders have redefined gender in a way that legally erases trans people, while federal agencies have been ordered to scrub LGBTQIA+ language and data from their resources. Hospitals, afraid of losing funding, have preemptively halted gender-affirming care, just as institutions in Nazi Germany cut ties with LGBTQIA+ patients to avoid state persecution.
It is not a coincidence that alongside these attacks, we have seen an expansion of policies that strip away reproductive rights. These policies ban books that discuss race and LGBTQIA+ history and criminalize protests that challenge these injustices. The blueprint remains the same: isolate the most vulnerable, normalize their persecution, and use that momentum to justify broader crackdowns on bodily autonomy, civil liberties, and democratic freedoms.
History has shown us both the power of resistance—and the devastating consequences of inaction. While LGBTQIA+ people and their allies have fought back against oppression time and time again, history also reminds us that silence and complacency allow atrocities to escalate. The Nazis were able to carry out genocide against millions of people while the world watched because the Allied powers waited far too long to take action against Germany, leaning on diplomacy that was ineffective. While as individual citizens we can’t influence international relations or the decisions made by military powers, we have seen how powerful we can be when we come together. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 laid the groundwork for landmark protections and the removal of discriminatory laws against LGBTQIA+ people. In 1965, over 15M Americans protested the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War (at that time the largest protest in history), pressuring Nixon to withdraw troops, which he eventually did in 1969.
How to Fight Back
① Defend access to care
Support organizations providing gender-affirming healthcare, donate to mutual aid funds, and fight against hospital closures and legal restrictions.
② Protect education and historical truth
Challenge book bans, support educators, and ensure LGBTQIA+ history is not erased from public discourse.
③ Take political action
Call your representatives, show up to protests, and support legal battles that challenge these oppressive policies.
④ Counter disinformation
Speak up against fear-mongering narratives, amplify fact-based resources, and demand that truth—not political ideology—guides public policy.
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The pink triangle, once a Nazi tool of dehumanization, was reclaimed as a symbol of resistance during the AIDS crisis. It now serves as a reminder that queer communities have always fought back.
Now is also a time of education and information sharing. A critical factor in the resurgence of authoritarian tactics today is a shocking lack of Holocaust education. A 2020 survey found that 63% of young Americans did not know that six million Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust, and 10% believed Jewish people caused it.
Holocaust denial and misinformation have been growing for decades. While research shows "Never Again" starts with education, only 30% of U.S. public schools include Holocaust education in their curriculums. Today's dangerous mix of propaganda and ignorance creates the perfect conditions for antisemitism and authoritarianism to rise again.
Silence and complacency allow history to repeat itself. Now is the time to stand with LGBTQIA+ people, protect their rights, and ensure that this dangerous cycle ends with us.