The United States government has made several moves in recent weeks affecting LGBTQ+ citizens, with trans folks thrown into an especially precarious situation.
On the same day he took office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring that his administration will recognize only two sexes—male and female—and they are “not changeable.”
Accordingly, the State Department suspended all passport applications seeking to change a sex marker as well as all applications requesting an “X” sex marker.
Legal advocates for members of the trans and nonbinary communities are taking the matter to the courts. In the meantime, the LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Lambda Legal advises that trans people “should NOT apply to renew or change their gender marker OR name at this time.” Instead: “If you have urgent upcoming travel or an emergency need, you should seek out an attorney licensed in your state of residence.”
In a further effort to “erase the trans community,” as one traveler impacted by the changes put it to Travel + Leisure, the State Department has removed “transgender” and “queer” recognition from its website compiling info for international travel. The site now refers exclusively to “LGB travelers.”
As the Washington Post reports, the National Park Service has even scrubbed trans references from its website for the Stonewall National Monument, ignoring the pivotal roles of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and other transgender activists in the 1969 Stonewall uprising.
Can LGBTQ+ people rely on the U.S. State Department’s travel website?
Given this state of affairs, can anybody planning a trip, either domestically or overseas, count on safety advice issued by the current U.S. government as it relates to sexuality or gender identity?
“Definitely not,” says Matthieu Jost, founder and CEO of the LGBTQ-focused travel platform Misterb&b, when we asked whether resources such as the State Department’s travel website remain at all useful in this regard. “It’s not a good place to check for up-to-date information nowadays. Rely on other organizations.”
In Jost’s view, it’s more important than ever for LGBTQ+ travelers to “do their homework before traveling” to a place in order to research the safety situation. And ideally, he says, “you need to have at least two sources of information to cross-check the data.”
All the uncertainty has already had a chilling effect on LGBTQ+ travel, according to the numbers at Misterb&b. “We have seen a drop in bookings in the U.S. by 25% year over year,” Jost told us. “People are scared to travel, and it started immediately after the new administration took office.”
Online resources for LGBTQ+ travelers
Fortunately, LGBTQ+ travelers aren’t without resources for info about visiting other places.
One of the best and most comprehensive databases of its kind is Equaldex, an independent reference where you can search a vast trove of data related to LGBTQ+ rights and protections in countries and regions around the world.
Use the search bar or color-coded map to find the destination you’re interested in, and you’ll be taken to a profile page highlighting the legal status of LGBTQ+ people there, with info on whether, for example, same-sex marriage and gender-affirming care are permitted.
Additionally, Equaldex provides an assessment on public opinion toward LGBTQ+ rights in the destination, based on published surveys and other thoroughly sourced studies.
Charts and tables on Equaldex let you compare and contrast locales, and users can weigh in with their own experiences. Because attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people can vary across regions in the same country, most nations’ profile pages also have links to separate pages for smaller areas within that country, such as individual profiles for all 50 states in the U.S.
And speaking of the U.S., another helpful online tool for tracking LGBTQ+ rights in individual states is the equality index maintained by the Human Rights Campaign, which bills itself as “the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization.”
The advocacy group’s website shows, state by state, where bathroom bans, anti-drag legislation, non-discrimination laws, and other measures designed to protect or harm LGBTQ+ people have been put in place.
HRC has a free guidebook you can download, too, for health and safety resources, know-your-rights information, and other helpful stuff for travelers.
As on the federal level, some websites operated by state governments may not be reliable on this front. In 2024, for instance, Florida removed LGBTQ+ travel info from its state website.
For a governmental resource that has so far proven less hostile to the safety and interests of queer and trans people, Canada’s online travel info still covers “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.”
On the Travel Advice and Advisories pages posted by the Canadian government, go to the “Laws and culture” tab for the country you’re researching to find “laws and social customs” that could affect LGBTQ+ travelers, including laws that, as the website explains, “criminalize same-sex activities and relationships” or “criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.”
The United Kingdom still provides official advice for LGBTQ+ international travelers as well. Many, but not all, of the U.K.’s governmental pages with travel advice for specific countries include information for queer travelers in subsections about “laws and local advice.”
Another way to help ensure safe and enjoyable travels: Find a tour, travel agency, cruise, or accommodation that caters to LGBTQ+ vacationers. IGLTA, the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, has tons of offerings to browse as well as destination guides and a directory of special events, from Pride celebrations to arts festivals to sports gatherings, held around the globe.
For places to stay, Jost’s own Misterb&b has scores of listings for vacation rentals, hotels, and other properties “celebrating diversity and providing a safe, comfortable environment for LGBTQ+ travelers.”
Using Misterb&b’s mobile app, Weere, you can connect with local residents and other travelers before or during your trip for insights on what to do and what to avoid. Jost says the site is compiling its own index of the safest destinations for LGBTQ+ travelers.
Jost knows from his own travels the importance of feeling safe and welcome while on the road. He got the idea for Misterb&b, which launched in 2014, after an unpleasant homestay experience in Barcelona.
“When [my partner and I] arrived,” he told us, “the host realized we were a gay couple and she was shocked that we were going to sleep together in the same bed just next to her [room]. So we decided to leave. I didn’t want to be in that situation again, either for me or for my community.”