Ellicott City residents Hayley and Ellie Streeter are counting down the days until they welcome their first child in April.“We’ve been looking forward to those little moments: their first step; when they first open their eyes; those moments when they’re peaceful, as few as there might be, and you could just look at them,” Hayley said. “I’ve been looking forward to my parents being able to grow up with them and just us all growing together.”But aside from their baby’s due date, there’s another date weighing on the Streeters’ minds: Jan. 20, 2025, the day President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.After half of Americans voted to return the former president to the Oval Office for a second term, the Streeters have worried their blossoming family could soon be under threat by the incoming administration’s policies.Marylanders who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other gender or sexual minorities (LGBTQ+) are readying marriage certificates, adoption paperwork, estate plans, and other legal documents in anticipation of Trump-era restrictions.Hayley, who is carrying their baby, said she and her wife were already planning a second-parent adoption to ensure Ellie would have legal parental rights to their child. Originally from England, Ellie is also navigating the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen. But Trump’s reelection has added urgency to both matters for the Streeters.“Now it feels much more like an imperative…. It feels like we’re going to count down to January 20 to try to fully secure and figure out that adoption process to make sure it happens,” Hayley said, referring to the date of the presidential inauguration.Maryland is considered a reliably blue state, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans approximately 2-to-1. Marriage equality was legalized in Maryland in 2013, two years before the Supreme Court settled the issue nationally with their decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. The state’s top court recognized adoptions by same-sex parents in 2016, while federal court rulings in 2016 and 2017 made same-sex adoption legal nationwide. And a recent report by the Human Rights Campaign gave high scores for LGBTQ+ rights in 10 Maryland cities.But while Vice President Kamala Harris handedly won the state – earning 63% of votes statewide – Trump showed gains in all but one of Maryland’s counties compared to 2020 election results. And some residents worry Maryland’s own LGBTQ-friendly policies will not be enough if they are superseded by executive, legislative, and judicial decisions at the federal level.“Who knows where the line is going to stop when it comes to trying to send people out of the country?” Hayley said. “Who knows where the line is going to stop on recognizing marriages, especially between queer couples?”Firming up legal footingCome January, Republicans will control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. Conservatives also hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court – three of which justices Trump appointed during his first term.Threats to marriage equality loom large for many queer community members, Maryland attorney Alice Young acknowledged.“We don’t know what the future holds, but the Supreme Court has signaled that it would consider reversing the marriage decision,” Young said.In the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned 50 years of precedent on federal abortion rights set in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s majority opinion that “[n]othing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.” However, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion that the court should overrule the use of substantive due process in previous decisions that he described as “demonstrably erroneous,” and reevaluate the rights they protected. These include decisions that legalized marriage equality nationwide (Obergefell) and struck down state laws prohibiting sexual contact between consenting adults of the same sex (Lawrence).“[I]n future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell…. After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated,” Thomas wrote.If same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex parents, or other LGBTQ+ rights face legal challenges, they would first be litigated in lower courts and likely appealed, before potentially being taken up by the Supreme Court.Were the Supreme Court to hand down a decision that simply overturned the Obergefell decision, federal protections of same-sex marriage would be reversed. States like Maryland, which already had their own pre-Obergefell laws affirming same-sex marriage, would be able to continue their marriage protections, according to Young.However, an outright federal ban on same-sex marriage would apply nationwide. That, too, would almost definitely be challenged by LGBTQ+ advocates in the courts.Young said couples and families should be wary of leaning too heavily on marriage certificates and birth certificates, which she said are administrative documents issued by a city and do not confer any interstate authority. A second-parent adoption decree, on the other hand, creates an order of the court that is “given full faith and credit,” Young said. When traveling across state lines, the relationship between the parent and child would remain intact.“Married same-sex couples with children should consult a lawyer to see if second-parent adoption makes sense for them,” Young said.Before Obergefell, LGBTQ+ couples married in a state that had legalized same-sex marriage could not cross state lines to somewhere without marriage equality and be considered to be married.“That was the whole point of fighting for a Supreme Court decision that would confer that marriage nationwide,” Young said.That’s why Young said it is important to create and maintain the “big three” legal documents: power of attorney, will, and advanced directive.It’s best practice for anyone to keep their finances in order and ensure their wishes are legally documented, Young advised.“All people, whether they’re married or not, or whether they’re queer or not, should review their assets regularly,” she said.‘You do this for your loved one’Obtaining those “big three” documents has been front of mind lately for Jilleien and Colleen Rippey. Although the Baltimore couple have been married since 2017, they hadn’t started much of the estate planning work until recently.“I think with a lot of things, we get complacent,” Jilleien said.As the Rippeys sat up in bed into the early morning hours on Election Night and watched one state after another be called in Trump’s favor, they felt déjà vu from when he was elected to his first term.“Me and my wife stayed up until like 2:30,” Jilleien said. “We were just sitting in our bedroom. It was a very similar response as the first time: we cried.”When Trump was first elected, the Rippeys were already engaged and planned to marry in 2018. They moved up their wedding date to 2017, concerned at the time that their right to marry would be threatened.People who have always been allowed to marry, or whose other rights haven’t been threatened based on their identity, may not understand the concerns of the LGBTQ+ community right now, Jilleien said. But less than a decade after marriage equality was legalized nationally, many queer couples worry those rights could be taken away.“With any marginalized community that’s had to fight for their rights, Colleen and I remember when we couldn’t get married,” Jilleien said, “and so to have something for such a little bit of time and then be afraid of losing it, I think it hits really, really hard.”Their fears don’t stop at marriage. The Rippeys, who founded the Baltimore nonprofit Love and Lunches together in 2015, are scared about what other actions Trump and his administration might take over the next four years, including the roadmap laid out in Project 2025 policy plan from American conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The plan takes aim at LGBTQ+ rights, particularly those of transgender people, as well as other facets of government.“Every single one of those things [in Project 2025] frightens me on all levels,” Jilleien said.On the campaign trail, Trump sought to distance himself from Project 2025, though the plan was co-authored by several former Trump officials and allies, including Russell Vought, whom Trump has nominated to lead the Office of Management and Budget, the agency that coordinates the implementation of the president’s policies. The president-elect has also echoed much of the plan’s rhetoric.Earlier this month, the Supreme Court considered a case in which Tennessee’s lawmakers and governor sought to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a stated goal of Trump. The Supreme Court’s decision in that case, United States v. Skrmetti, is expected by summer 2025.But when it comes to estate planning, Jilleien said she and Colleen are trying to make decisions out of love, not fear.“Even if this wasn’t happening, even if Trump wasn’t going to be president, you do this for your loved one,” Jilleien said. “Even though we’re not maybe at that age where you’re thinking about that, these are things we should do because you never know what will happen.”I thee wedLeading up to the election and in the weeks since, Jennifer Carpenter saw many LGBTQ+ community members expressing fear of the future.Carpenter, who owns Nevermore Weddings and Events based in Frederick County, wanted to do what she could to provide support and a safe space for love, so she has been providing free officiation to LGBTQ+ couples.“Safety is important because you can feel unsafe in a number of ways,” she said, “and when all of those things pile up on you and your most basic rights are being impacted, it feels terrible.”Carpenter, who herself is bisexual, is certified to officiate anywhere that her Universal Life Church designation allows. She offers her officiation services free of charge to LGBTQ+ couples, as well as people experiencing terminal illnesses.“We might ask for a little bit of gas money if it’s outside of an hour and a half, but typically it’s fine,” she said.Couples deserve their special day, and Carpenter is glad she can help give it to them.“Most of these people just reach out for a signature and I’m like ‘I would like to give you something a little more than that. I think you know you’d want to be able to remember this moment, and it’s not going to feel the same later if you do this again.’” She added, “You should be able to be with the person that you want to share your life with on any degree, doesn’t matter who that person is…. You just should be able to be happy. And if that makes you happy, I don’t see why it impacts other people.”During a recent wedding Carpenter officiated, she gathered with a couple at a local park. Though they were shy, their joy shined through.“That first couple that came to me and asked was very quiet, very nervous to reach out to anybody,” she said. “But that moment during that small ceremony we did with just the two of them, they still smiled, they were still happy, they cried. It’s still a tremendous experience.”For couples who are ready to take that step in their relationship, officiants like Carpenter are there to help.But before running to the wedding altar, couples should evaluate whether they are prepared for the commitment of marriage.“Rather than people rush into a marriage, which is unwise for other reasons, it is important to have a power of attorney and directive,” said Young, the attorney.Those who do plan to marry should still make sure their legal affairs are in order.“For people intending to be married anyway, it would be important to talk to a lawyer to see if there’s any reason to formalize a prenuptial agreement in terms of assets,” Young said.The price tag on planningThe Streeters were already more than $10,000 in the hole from fertility treatments. What’s another $2,000, they asked themselves.“We’re hitting kind of a numb place trying to stay on top of it,” Hayley said. “It just feels like everything keeps costing money, and now it’s a matter of safety. So choosing: am I going to spend money or am I not going to have that safety?”As Jilleien and her wife wade through their own estate planning process, they are concerned about those who cannot afford the cost of legal help.“Colleen and I are fortunate enough that we can go and pay for this to happen,” Jilleien said. “But I feel like there are people who need this assistance who maybe don’t have the money to pay for that level of estate planning.” wants to organize a pro bono clinicYoung said there are legal services available to those in need, such as Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, which matches potential clients with pro bono service providers for estate planning. Free State Justice also helps with estate planning. Meanwhile, senior residents age 60 and older may be eligible through Senior Legal Services, located in Courthouse East in downtown Baltimore at the corner of Calvert and Fayette streets (111 N. Calvert Street, Suite 631, Baltimore, MD 21202).Hope in the midst of uncertaintyAfter another divisive election that has left many marginalized groups feeling even more isolated than before, Jilleien encouraged those individuals to lean on their community for support.For their part, Jilleien said she and her wife have been talking to their neighbors and friends, with whom they’ve made promises to look out for one another.“To feel that level of connection when maybe it’s easy to feel as disconnected as someone who’s queer in the United States at this moment, to feel such a level of community, to know that you have people, is huge,” she said.She added, “My biggest hope is for what the marginalized communities of this country are going to be able to make happen in the midst of darkness.”Young advised people not to get bogged down by threats, but be prepared to push back against real, actionable challenges.“The incoming administration has a way of making threats and riling up responses and we need to take care not to respond to every threat, but to be ready to respond to actual legal changes and challenges,” she said. “In other words, to be clear, this feels very scary and it’s possible to get swept up in rhetoric and instead we should respond to actual changes. We just have to be cautious and attentive to make sure we make wise use of our energy.”While community members may feel a lot of uncertainty and anxiety right now, Young reiterated that estate planning is something tangible that couples and individuals can do to feel more secure.“Putting an estate plan in place to protect your loved ones is an action that you can take now and control that you can exert in this uncertain time,” she said. “Not everything is out of your control.”Hayley encouraged people to give what they can to support vulnerable communities.“If you aren’t sure how to help, now is a really great time to donate to local organizations, whether that’s money or your time or skills, and if you didn’t think this affected you or your family, I promise you someone you know is affected.”She also had this reminder: no one is alone.“Your feelings are not isolated,” she said. “We’re all out here feeling that way, and the best thing we can do is mutual aid, reaching out, continuing to move forward and organize. There’s still a lot of fight left.”