New policies are making life harder for trans people — and prompting big financial decisions

toggle caption Stephanie Amador Blondet/for NPR

For Emma, what could have been a simple dollars-and-cents decision was far more complicated.

The choice before her: whether to accept a scholarship offering nearly free tuition to attend law school at Indiana University in her home state — or to pay $45,000 a year at the University of Minnesota.

A few weeks ago, she moved to Minneapolis to start law school, a choice largely shaped by the fact that Emma is trans. She has felt increasingly like Indiana's government doesn't welcome her.

"Indiana went from a place that I'd be very happy to stay in," Emma says, to a place she felt "I do have to leave sooner rather than later." Emma asked that NPR refer to her only by her first name so she can choose who knows she is trans.

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These are the kinds of tough decisions faced by some trans people in a political moment when they are being targeted by a slew of new state laws and executive orders from President Trump.

A political push with financial consequences

Since taking office a second time, Trump has used his executive orders to revoke federal diversity, equity, and inclusion practices ; prohibit trans female athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports ; ban trans people from the military ; and try to end gender-affirming care for people under age 19 .

Sixteen states now explicitly define "sex" as only male or female, typically based on the sex assigned at birth. A number of bills seek to prohibit gender-affirming care, while others would make it harder to get insurance to cover it. Some 25 states have already banned it for transgender youth.

The financial consequences of these policies are falling on a community that's long been financially disadvantaged, says Brad Sears, founding director of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which researches gender identity law and policy. Sears says these disadvantages can begin early in life, when some transgender people are kicked out of their homes as teenagers, beginning a cascade of money problems.

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"That's why we see such high rates of unemployment, people not finishing high school or college," Sears says. And those that do find work face high rates of discrimination, he adds, "whether it's being hired, fired, being verbally harassed, physically or sexually harassed in the workplace."

toggle caption Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

In January, following a White House executive order , the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a numbe