Shutdown Day Guide For LGBTQ+ People: "Continuing Resolutions" And New Anti-Trans Posts From The White House

Shutdown day is here, and there has been a lot of competing coverage on Republican priorities, Democrat's demands, and what shutdown politics means for LGBTQ+ people in America.

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After months of brinkmanship over a government shutdown, the deadline has arrived—less than 24 hours remain to avert what could become one of the most disruptive closures of federal operations in history. As of Tuesday morning, most political watchers believed the country was barreling toward its first shutdown since 2018, which dragged on for 35 days, the longest ever. This time, LGBTQ+ people—especially transgender people—are watching with particular alarm. Dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ riders tucked into appropriations bills threaten to gut transgender healthcare nationwide and fuel even harsher crackdowns on many areas of life under the Trump administration. In the eleventh hour, negotiators are scrambling over a clean “continuing resolution” without the anti-trans riders and without other Republican poison-pill priorities to keep the government open, but only for a short time, and success is far from certain. Meanwhile, even if this succeeds, transgender rights are still on the chopping block in the final appropriations fight.

Queer and trans people have a lot of questions today. Chief among them: What is an appropriations bill, and how does it work? Will Democrats cave on transgender rights to keep the government open? What exactly is a continuing resolution, and does it carry anti-trans provisions? How does a shutdown even work, and when will we know we’re safe? And perhaps most pressing: how nervous should I be that the anti-transgender provisions will pass? This guide is written with those readers in mind.

With that, here’s what queer and trans people need to know about the shutdown threat looming over Washington:

The Stakes In The Appropriations Bills

Erin In The Morning has tracked extensively the anti-LGBTQ+ provisions stuffed into this year’s appropriations bills. These bills set funding for the government across the year, and both chambers have already passed their own versions. Both the Senate and the House must agree to pass identical bills by October 1st, or the government runs out of money and must shut down… more on that later. In the Senate, the measures are mostly clean—aside from the National Defense Authorization Act, technically an authorization bill but still passed annually, which contains a handful of anti-trans riders. The House, however, is another story. Republicans have crammed its version with dozens of provisions targeting queer and trans people in nearly every way imaginable, using the must-pass funding process as leverage—forcing Democrats to either accept discrimination or risk a shutdown.

The House appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education is packed with anti-LGBTQ+ riders. The most alarming provision would ban “any federal funds” from supporting gender-affirming care at any age. If interpreted broadly—and consistent with how Trump has already wielded his power against youth care—it could strip federal funding from hospitals that treat transgender people, a threat that has already pushed 21 hospitals to end care for trans youth, even in blue states. At minimum, the measure would end Medicaid and Medicare coverage for transgender healthcare nationwide. The bill also carries other provisions: gutting protections for queer foster children, imposing a nationwide sports ban, and prohibiting Pride flags in public buildings.

The Commerce, Justice, and Science bill carries its own slate of riders: a ban on funding transgender surgeries in any federally owned, leased, or used facility, and a prison placement ban that would force transgender women into men’s jails. The Financial Services and General Government bill follows suit, barring coverage of transgender healthcare for federal employees and their families while undercutting D.C.’s protections for transgender care coverage. Lastly, the National Defense Authorization Act includes a Pride flag ban, a bathroom ban on bases, and a TRICARE coverage ban for transgender dependents of servicemembers. It is important to note that these provisions made the bill mostly supported by Republicans, but a handful of Democrats aided in their passage, and 17 Democrats in the House voted for the final bill with these provisions in it.

All of these provisions are a part of the final negotiation process to keep the government open through next year.

A “Continuing Resolution” Fight And What The Process Looks Like

As mentioned earlier, identical bills need to be passed in the House and Senate by October 1st in order to keep the government open. That clearly has not happened yet: Republicans know that Democrats can control whether or not a budget passes, as they have the votes to filibuster any bill that has provisions they do not like. As a result, Republicans have yet to produce an appropriations bill that Senate Democrats can agree to and the shutdown has finally arrived. This means that there are two paths forward: Democrats can negotiate with Republicans over what will be in the final bill and if they do not like it, they can expend political capital and shut the government down, or they can agree to a “continuing resolution.”

A continuing resolution would keep the government funded at current levels while congressional leaders fight over the details of a final deal. The CR version the House passed in September is straightforward: it contains no anti-trans provisions and would extend funding through November 21. A separate continuing resolution was also floated in negotiations last night which would keep the government open for 7-10 more days. But it’s only a temporary fix. All the anti-trans and anti-queer riders will still be on the table during that negotiating window for the final bill, alongside every other political flashpoint. Passage of a continuing resolution wouldn’t defeat those provisions—it would simply buy a little more time before the next round of battle.

Democrats, according to most reports, are rejecting the continuing resolution—meaning the government will shut down tonight for the first time since 2018 unless something changes dramatically. Their demands include an extension of Obamacare subsidies and limits on Trump’s power to enact rescissions, a maneuver he has used to withhold congressionally appropriated funds from programs he opposes. Democrats want these protections not only in the continuing resolution but also in the final appropriations bills.

Any negotiations now are multi-faceted—covering both a continuing resolution to keep the government open and the shape of a final bill the House and Senate can actually pass. While the Senate bills contains few anti-LGBTQ+ provisions (only the NDAA), both chambers must ultimately vote on the same compromise package that emerges from the negotiations, making their absence on the Senate side less meaningful than it sounds. A protracted shutdown would only raise the pressure to strike a deal, and many analysts predict Democrats will end up caving on at least some of their priorities.

Will Democrats Cave On Trans and Queer Provisions In The Budget?

This is the question hanging over LGBTQ+ people as the government careens toward a shutdown—and the concern is well founded. Republicans are digging in on anti-trans provisions more than in any previous funding fight. Multiple GOP congressional accounts blasted out the same copy-and-paste line, clearly drawn from a memo, accusing Democrats of “shutting down the government over taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries.” Trump went further, cancelling a negotiation meeting with Democrats and declaring he would not return until they dropped demands for “taxpayer-funded transgender surgery,” alongside a few other priorities. And this morning, he escalated again—posting this grotesquely offensive video blaming Schumer’s supposed stances on trans rights and immigration for the looming shutdown:

Republicans are making transgender people the scapegoat for the shutdown. That framing puts Democrats under intense pressure to sacrifice their LGBTQ+—and especially transgender—constituents. They hold the power to filibuster any deal in the Senate that targets queer and trans people, and any final package will reflect what both parties’ leadership agrees to in negotiations. This moment is shaping up to be the most serious test of Democrats’ commitment to LGBTQ+ rights since the 2024 elections—and the precedent is not encouraging. In last year’s NDAA fight, Democrats refused even to allow a vote on striking a TRICARE ban for transgender youth after Republicans insisted on it in the final negotiate package, despite Democrats controlling the Senate. That ban became law, despite Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s attempt to remove it—an effort blocked by her own party’s leadership.

Most political prognosticators now see a shutdown as inevitable. Today will likely bring fireworks in Congress, with the Senate staging last-ditch messaging votes as the shutdown deadline hits. But once the government closes its doors, the same battle resumes: what ends up in the final appropriations bill, or in a temporary continuing resolution that simply postpones the fight. Among those provisions are riders that could devastate the transgender community. Whether the government stays open or shuts down, the stakes remain the same—and trans and queer people cannot afford to be sidelined in the dealmaking. It will take unrelenting pressure on lawmakers, especially Senate Democrats, to stop a bargain that trades away our rights.

You can contact your representatives and senators here.