CeCé Telfer says transphobic abuse is more ‘in her face’ under Trump – and she fears for her life

NCAA’s first transgender national champion, CeCé Telfer, has said things have only gotten worse since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The track and field athlete, who in 2019 became the first out trans player to win an NCAA title, said that, since Trump was sworn into office, she feels the debate around trans participation in sports has become even more toxic than it already was.

“Each of my identities is a target, especially in America."

Trans athlete CeCé Telfer tells @AmandaDCNN why she is ready to challenge President Trump’s ban on trans athletes.

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— CNN Sports (@cnnsport) February 18, 2025

“I wake up every day and I have to make sure that I make it home alive”

Speaking to CNN Sport on Tuesday (18 February), the athlete said in her first public comment since the beginning of the Trump administration that she finds it “sad” to see people “go out of their way to say that I don’t belong here.”

“I’m Black, I’m a woman, I’m transgender, and I’m an athlete,” she told CNN. “Each of my identities is a target, especially in America.”

“I feel like a lot of the anti-trans rhetoric has become louder, more in my face,” she said when asked how her life has changed in recent weeks. “Prior to this set-in-stone administration, I woke up every day and I faced adversaries when I (left) my house. Now, I wake up every day and I have to make sure that I make it home alive.”

In just a few months following the beginning of his presidency, Donald Trump has signalled his disdain for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the trans community, through a set of hugely controversial executive orders.

Among them is an executive order barring trans women from competing in female competitive sports, which was signed in early February.

The Trump administration has also signalled intent to strip NCAA trans athletes of titles they have already won, including CeCé Telfer’s 2019 award where she won multiple titles in indoor and outdoor track competitions.

Responding to the Department of Education demanding that the NCAA titles from trans athletes, CeCé Telfer said she was willing to discuss the situation and explain her position.

“I’m willing to sit down with anybody who’s willing to have this conversation, even Trump himself,” she said. “If he wants to sit down with me and talk and have a human conversation and see me.”

Asked what she would say to Trump if given the opportunity to speak to him directly, she said: “I need some explanation as to why you want to completely eradicate us from society when we’ve done nothing wrong.

“If he wants to have a team to go around with me and see my day-to-day life and what I go through as a transgender female athlete, I’m all for it.”