How LGBTQ+ Leaders Are Navigating the Political Moment

When the group LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education started taking shape in the 2000s, it consisted of a handful of out-of-the-closet presidents who gathered informally to swap guidance. More than a decade later, it’s a thriving professional development organization for upward of 100 presidents, chancellors, deans, department heads, directors and other administrators. But it’s been a hard year for the group and its members as political headwinds batter both higher ed and LGBTQ+ communities.

State and federal bans on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have chilled some campus programming for LGBTQ+ staff and students. The Trump administration targeted universities for welcoming trans athletes and students. Federal agencies axed grants related to LGBTQ+ subjects, and an executive order sought to establish “two sexes.” In response to government restrictions, some universities deleted messages for Pride Month and dropped out of events. Others eliminated LGBTQ+ affinity housing and graduation celebrations.

Jim Berg, executive director of LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education (which was known as LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education until 2023), said the nonprofit has been affected by the upheaval while also working to support members through it.

Some LGBTQ+ leaders’ gender expressions don’t match their government-issued IDs, making them hesitant to travel for the group’s annual leadership institutes, Berg said. Some colleges and universities are no longer willing—or question if they’re legally allowed—to pay for administrators to attend events or purchase institutional memberships. The organization, which subsists on memberships, saw individual members rise but institutional memberships drop off by a whopping 30 percent in 2025. The financial hit forced the group to reconfigure its budget and rely more on fundraising.

“It was an immediate impact after this administration took over,” Berg said.

Susan Henking, president of Wells College and a board member for LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education, said she worries about LGBTQ+ presidents and leaders who want to be open about their identities and speak out on politics but fear ramifications for their institutions. She said colleagues in states like Florida and Texas, where state lawmakers have targeted diversity work, are “trying to get out.” Meanwhile, “it’s a low-level burnout phenomenon constantly for everyone.”

She emphasized that higher ed leaders are focused on how the political moment is affecting students, but they’re struggling, too.

“The political situation we’re living in, in my view, is catastrophically bad for higher education generally and catastrophically bad for LGBTQ people,” Henking said. “It feels like it’s pushing people back into a closet, forcing them to choose between their personal lives and the lives of their institutions … It’s not just chilling; it’s frightening.”

She said campuses benefit when leaders feel they can be their full selves.

“There’s some price to pay for living with your heart on your sleeve a little bit,” she said, “but there are some advantages to it, too. I think we really need to help leaders be persons as well as leaders, and I think that actually also helps students and faculty and staff.”

Bolstering Supports

LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education hopes to serve as a source of community and belonging for LGBTQ+ administrators as they navigate these heightened challenges.

Kristin Esterberg, chancellor of the University of Washington, Bothell, and a board member of the LGBTQ leadership group, said administrators’ experiences range widely depending on what types of institution they lead and where they’re located, so the resources they’re seeking out vary.

Some needs are evergreen. For example, members have often turned to the organization for professional advice—especially up-and-coming administrators looking to throw their hats into the ring for a presidency or chancellorship. Webinars with search consultants help them prepare, as does the organization’s mentorship program.

LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education member Andres Cladera (left) greets now board president George Kacenga at the organization’s 2024 institute in Bothell, Wash.

“The search process is always a challenge for LGBTQ leaders,” especially trans and nonbinary candidates, said Esterberg, former president of the organization’s board. Members often come in with questions about how forthcoming to be about their identities or what role their spouse or partner might play on campus. “Members who are looking for a leadership position have to think about, what are they navigating? When I was engaged in my first presidential search, I thought a lot about are there places I couldn’t bring my family, or wouldn’t want to bring my family?”

The group has also introduced new programming to meet the moment.

This year, the organization emphasized personal wellness at its in-person leadership institute, Berg said. It also introduced more virtual programming focused on community building, including regional webinars for administrators in parts of the country that might be more hostile to LGBTQ+ communities.

“It’s often the case that an out administrator might be the only out person on their campus, or the only out person in leadership at their institution,” he said. “We can help them to find a provost or somebody who has a similar job that they do but in a neighboring state to try to help them to build community that way.”

Daniel López, president of Harold Washington College in Chicago, said LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education has been “instrumental” to him for guidance as anti-DEI policies have proliferated in recent years. He’s been involved with the organization for over a decade and joined the board about six years ago.

He finds the federal policy landscape to be among the most challenging he’s experienced in his 30-plus years in higher education. Even in a blue state like Illinois, he said it’s jarring to have watched the legalization of domestic partnerships and then gay marriage, only to find LGBTQ+ rights “under attack” later in his career.

“The biggest challenge is trying to continue to do our work when we get specific directives from this administration about DEI,” López said, “and all the things that we have put in place to protect, to support our LGBT community, that’s all being questioned.”

But he described his colleagues as a support system. For example, he’s called up other leaders to brainstorm the best ways to check in with and offer support to trans students, faculty and staff members under the Trump administration.

At least “we’re navigating through this together,” López said.

Moving Forward

Berg emphasized that the landscape for LGBTQ+ people in higher ed is not all doom and gloom.

He pointed out that even in this political moment, LGBTQ+ leaders are assuming new presidencies. A board member, Luca E. Lewis, became the first out trans college or university president when he took the helm at Ventura College this year.

Despite challenges, “we’ve had some good wins,” Berg said. “One thing that we’re trying to provide is hope. We’re in it for the long haul. We’re not going to disappear tomorrow.”

He wants LGBTQ+ higher ed leaders to know that “there’s an organization who cares about them … that they can find community if they’re not finding it on their campus or that they can learn from us and build community where they are,” he added. “If we can all work together, we can weather this current condition.”

Esterberg also stressed that the moment and its challenges will pass, and part of the organization’s job is to help members get through it. As a sociologist who researched LGBTQ+ movements during the McCarthy era, she takes the “long view.”

“All movements have periods of upswing and then abeyance,” she said, “and so maybe we’re in a period of abeyance right now. And the importance of organizations is to continue to build base, to continue to build strategy and to keep moving forward.”