LGBTQ Americans and the 2024 election: “I don’t feel welcome here.” [Video]

Lucian Holness woke up to a daunting reality on Nov. 6. Acute stress led to the mix of emotions that struck the transgender marketing manager as they learned President-elect Donald Trump — never a reliable ally to the LGBTQ community and an increasingly hostile figure for transgender Americans — had won a second term in the White House. 

“I went into this election fully expecting Trump to win,” said Holness, who lives in New Jersey and began to medically transition during the pandemic, an experience they called “liberating” and “amazing” after a long time spent “feeling like something was wrong.”

Assuming Trump would take the presidency again was a self-preservation tactic, Holness told CBS News but it did not necessarily soften the blow.

“Maybe I thought it would be a closer race than it was. And just seeing how many states we were losing, the immense way that we lost …