“Last week, as the war with Iran dragged into its seventh month, gas prices shot up to an average of $4.50 a gallon, and polling showed President Trump about twice as far underwater with American voters as he was at this point in 2018, Republican senators determined that the time had come to discuss the most pressing issue of the 2026 campaign: transgender athletes.”

“But it’s not clear that Democrats have figured out how to thwart the Republicans’ transgender gambit without betraying their own coalition.”

“Activists view the whole situation as an alarming shift among Democrats—one that portends worse to come.”

Three transgender women who have been detained for months at a male-only central Louisiana immigration detention center allege that they have faced abuse and transphobia at the hands of staff and other detainees.

In interviews with Verite News, they allege that they have been assaulted by officers, forcibly detransitioned, verbally harassed and kept in solitary confinement. 

Two of the women — Estephany Rivas and Sofia — have spent months at Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena. The third, Camila Toro de Paula, has been there for more than a year. 

The Trump administration forces trans women to be housed with men in detention centers. U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) houses the women in solitary confinement for their protection, but the women say the isolation has not prevented them from enduring death threats, humiliating pat downs and physical abuse by staff.

“There is nothing in the system that is built to recognize their full humanity as trans people, and now there’s no mechanisms in place to protect them from transphobic violence, from abuse of solitary confinement,” Mich González, a New Orleans-based immigrant rights attorney who has represented trans women in detention, said about the Trump administration ending protections for transgender detainees.

The three women had all been living in the U.S. for several years. Like most immigrant detainees, they do not have active criminal charges against them.

“The chances are more likely that, rather than ‘becoming straight,’ people don’t feel as safe identifying themselves again

“The passage of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act in May 2026 has raised pressing concerns about the future of healthcare access for transgender persons in India.”

“The Act also introduced provisions that punish a person for ‘compelling’ someone to adopt transgender presentations or identities. As several activists have pointed out, these provisions could potentially be misused to criminalise the delivery of community support or gender-affirming healthcare for trans persons.

“In September 2026, queerbeat spoke to Dr Kavita Arora, a senior psychiatrist based in Delhi and a founding cohort member of the Indian Mental Health Alliance (IMHA), a not-for-profit that aims to strengthen mental healthcare systems in India.”

From the interview:

“‘If a criminal case or an FIR is lodged against a doctor [under the Trans Amendment Act], then their work becomes about protecting themselves. This entire confusion has created a sense of quiet withdrawal in many young practitioners who don’t know what to do. They’re saying, “Why do we even take this panga [hassle]? Yeah, let’s not do it.” It is not that anybody is coming out dramatically and saying we are not going to look at people who are transgender. Nobody’s going to say that. That’s unethical.’

“‘However, there is a very quiet withdrawal from care saying, “I don’t have the time. Please go somewhere else. We don’t do these appointments or the surgeries are stopped.” This is worse because nobody [no trans person being turned away] is able to come out and say, “You’re doing something wrong.” It is a very quiet but very certain withdrawal [from doctors] of saying, “Should I put my neck on the line or not.”’”