'I was afraid for my life': the transgender refugees fleeing Trump's America

[Coventina]

Ter Apel, a small, unassuming Dutch town near the German border, is a place tourists rarely have on their itinerary. There are no lovely old windmills, no cannabis-filled coffee shops and on a recent visit it was far too early for tulip season.

When foreigners end up there, it is for one reason: to claim asylum at the Netherlands’ biggest refugee camp, home to 2,000 desperate people from all around the world.

Some, like the Eritreans and Somalis, are fleeing war; the Syrians insist it remains unsafe for them to return home after the fall of Assad. But in the last year they have been joined by a curious new cohort: a bunch of Americans, who say they have feared for their lives ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

***snip***

Many of the American refugees, like Jane-Michelle Arc, a 47-year-old software engineer from San Francisco, are transgender. In April last year she flew into Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and, sobbing, asked a customs officer how to claim asylum. “And they laughed because: what’s this big dumb American doing here asking about asylum? And then they realised I was serious.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/19/i-was-afraid-for-my-life-the-transgender-refugees-fleeing-trumps-america

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We are a shithole country.

[Johnny2X2X]

1. This is an important article

I don't think the average person realizes how dangerous it is for trans people in America right now.

I have a close friend who is a trans woman and it's horrible for her. Not a day goes by where if she's out in public, she isn't afraid. She's been chased through stores, had to hide in clothes racks, had to run to her car and lock her doors. She's been refused service at stores. She's been pumping gas and had cars driving by do U-turns to come scream obscenities and threats at her. She's been chased by people with knives, and she's been assaulted a number of times. And it has all escalated 5 fold since Trump was elected. If she thought it might be better in another country, she might flee herself.

She feels like Trump has declared open season on people like her.

[Coventina]

2. Agree 100%. I am very concerned for my trans students and friends.

Has anyone heard from Vercetti, lately?

[maxsolomon]

5. What state or city is that happening in?

Crimony!

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Grand Rapids, MI

The thing that happens most frequently is some person yells in her face, "You're not a woman! You're a man!!!" As if they're doing some public service. What the hell would compel someone to approach a stranger minding their own business and scream at them?

The store who refused her service was D&W in Caledonia when she went to check out. The young girl at the register just told her, "I can't check you out, my religion won't allow me to..." Another teller stepped in and was really helpful and nice.

She's had people run up behind her and shove her to the ground. She was knocked out by someone a while back too, punched her in the back of the head and she woke up next to her car on the pavement. It's beyond appalling what she faces on a daily basis.

[maxsolomon]

10. Crimony.

There's a reason so many non-conforming people flee to large cities.

Not that such abuse can't happen in a large city, but there's greater tolerance, so it's less likely.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. 💧💔

[generalbetrayus]

4. I have a trans granddaughter. She has fared fairly well socially at her high school which is a STEM school

populated by above average intelligent students. But she is going to graduate in the spring and is only looking at colleges in states she considers trans-friendly, including her own. I don't blame her one bit.

[milestogo]

6. I think this is also the case for Minneapolis.

It is LGBTQ friendly and immigrant friendly. A natural enemy for MAGATs.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. ""

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R