It was a hot, summer afternoon in Taiwan when presidential alerts blared across cell phones: “[Air Defense Drill] Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter.”

Seconds later, air raid sirens rang throughout Taiwan’s cities, signaling the beginning of this year’s civil defense drill. For thirty minutes, streets were empty as police officers and volunteers ushered people into nearby shelters, basements, and underground malls, rehearsing for a potential conflict.

These yearly drills have become a normal part of life for Taiwan’s residents. But for E and J*, who just moved to Taiwan, this was their first civilian defense drill and yet, they had never felt safer.

The two women had fled the United States weeks earlier, arriving in Taiwan with what was left of their household: five suitcases, three backpacks, and a guitar, ready to begin their new lives.

“We felt that an unpleasant fate by the state in America was more imminent and possible than the looming threat of invasion. So it’s kinda like out of the fire and into the slightly hot pan,” said E.

E and J can pinpoint the exact moment they knew they had to leave the U.S. It was months earlier, the day of Donald Trump’s second inauguration when he signed a slew of executive orders. One in particular set off alarm bells, and they made the decision to flee.

They had been anticipating a quick exit for months. The two women, both in their mid-thirties, are married and identify as transgender — two out of the roughly 1.6 million Americans who do — making up less than 1% of the entire U.S. population. With Trump’s reelection, they were not alone, joining the hundreds of families and individuals afraid for their futures.

“We went from ‘we are fine,’ to ‘we are actively being genocided’ in the matter of a decade. It’s just like watching a truck barrel down a road and you ask, ‘is anyone going to stop this?’” said E.

It’s a question many in the transgender community have been asking themselves. For years, the community has become the center of increasingly frantic and targeted hate campaigns along with record-breaking amounts of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, creating an alarming uptick in threats the community faced.

“But it’s the shift over the last couple of years of you know, the hair on the back of your neck, the paranoia, the constantly eyes on the back of your head.” said E.

“I kind of had to stop teaching in the U.S. because it got too scary to be a teacher in the specific hate-mongering around grooming,” said J.

In the lead up to the 2024 election, the U.S. Republican stepped up their attacks, spending over an estimated 82 million dollars on anti-trans political ads, according to Human Rights Campaign. The day after Trump won reelection, E and J, renewed their passports and began a stockpile of their HRT hormonal medication.

“We wanted to be sure we could get out if things got worse politically,” said J.

They set their sights on Taiwan—a country facing its own threats from a much larger neighbor, China. Over the past five years, China has ramped up its military tactics, surrounding the democratically-governed island several times, sending forces to the air and waters on a daily basis, and threatened invasion.

But the news did not deter E and J.

“I would rather be in a country that is being invaded than in a concentration camp in a police state,” said J.

“I would rather be in a country that is being invaded than be in an American prison,” said E.

For them, Taiwan was the obvious choice. Up until recently, it was the first and only Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. It has a thriving LGBTQ+ community and hosts one of the continent’s largest pride marches, has a low crime rate, and affordable health care that has made life in Taiwan a haven for LGBTQ+ people.

I have easy access to hormones [in Taiwan], and being on testosterone is incredibly important to me,” said B*, an American transgender man who has lived in Taiwan for the past six years.

“I'm not concerned about getting arrested in the bathroom [in Taiwan]. Whereas in the U.S., there's certain states that I know I can't travel to now.”

While living in Taipei, B was able to find trustworthy doctors and ample advice on medical transition from local Facebook groups. He has found safety in Taiwan he worries he would not find in the U.S.

“I was planning on moving back to the U.S. prior to all of this. And now I've decided not to, not just because of the documentation issues but also because of the attacks on transgender healthcare, because of the general mood shift against trans people.”

Since Trump’s return to office, online forums and social media platforms have been flooded with questions and comments seeking advice to to move abroad. Rainbow Railroad, an international organization that helps LGBTQIA+ people flee dangerous situations, reported just one day after Trump’s election win, the organization received almost 1,117 requests from the U.S., the most it had received from the country over an entire year. At least half of those requests were to leave the U.S. entirely. For the first time since the organization began, the most requests for help came from U.S. citizens.

E and J consider themselves lucky to have left the U.S. with the support of their friends and family, but they fear they will never return.

“I'm an only child, so my parents are torn about it. They also live in Houston, and I've seen them twice since I moved to California. Texas has been unsafe to visit for trans people for a while for a long time now, so they're sad. My dad doesn't fly, so they're just like, I don't know if we'll see you again. And I'm like, I hope you do. I really hope you do,” said E.

Although sad and difficult, they knew it was the right decision to leave and for the first time in many years, feel safe walking down the street again. And for J, the move also meant she could return to the classroom and a profession she left behind years ago.

“The amount of stress reduction having gotten out of the country is immeasurable,” said E.

As they get settled in their new home, their focus now turns back to the U.S. and doing what they can to offer support for those back home.

* Names changed for the safety of the sources.