Anti-Trans Legislative Digest: A Rundown Of What's Moving
Anti-Trans Legislative Digest: A Rundown Of What's Moving
With nearly 370 bills targeting transgender people in the United States. Here's what's going on with them.
Anti-trans bills are proliferating throughout the United States - 367 in total - making it daunting to keep track of them all. Rather than inundate readers with details, this overview will provide a bird's eye view of the major trends we are seeing. Seven states have already passed or carried over highly detrimental healthcare bans, but this week marks the first major defeat of such legislation. In several states, drag bans with ambiguous and unconstitutional definitions are also gaining traction, though we're beginning to see cracks in the Republican Party's willingness to pass them after some bans failed. A handful of states are targeting the transgender community in new and cruel ways, but some states are taking protective measures to push back against these bills. Let's take a closer look at the significant anti-trans bills currently making their way through the United States.
Medical Care Bans
Gender affirming care bans mostly target transgender youth with a forced withdrawal of their medication. Because many of these youth have been transitioned for a long time, this amounts to forced medical detransition - an extremely cruel fate for transgender people. We entered into 2023 with two states having such a ban: Alabama and Arkansas. Both of these states continue to have their bans temporarily blocked in court. Late in 2022, Florida’s Board of Medicine convened by Ron DeSantis and packed with anti-trans doctors created their own “standards of care” that banned gender affirming care for transgender youth. Utah, South Dakota, Mississippi, and Tennessee all proceeded to pass their own bans this year, with organizations vowing to challenge the bills in court. Some of these bans even go as far as to spell out exactly how doctors must medically detransition their trans teens.
Bans are imminent or quickly moving through state legislatures in several other states. Some of the most significant fights currently are happening in Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. Each of these states has seen significant progress in their bills, and activists are working tirelessly to push back against them. Nebraska senators have already announced a filibuster to block the state’s anti-trans bill after extremely emotional hearings. Missouri’s bill was recently pushed through committee after a clearly politically motivated “whistleblower” attacked a local gender affirming care center - this bill was also amended to target transgender adults in prison as well as to remove exceptions for medical threats to the life of the child. Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Indiana all saw heavy protests and rallies - as did a number of other states with such bills moving.
This week we also saw our first major victory on medical bans. In Wyoming, activists managed to push back and defeat both a medical ban and a “Don’t Say Gay Or Trans” bill. One Wyoming activist drove ahead of a snowstorm to deliver 200 postcards from LGBTQ+ people and allies to the committee. Speaker Sommers relayed why he allowed the bills to die: “these are not Wyoming solutions for Wyoming problems.”
Drag Bans See Mixed Results
Drag bans target drag artists as well as transgender people who are performing in public. Many of these bans fail to differentiate between transgender individuals and drag performers, using phrases such as "male and female impersonator" or "dressing in a manner not in accordance with your assigned sex at birth" that are unconstitutionally vague and infringe on First Amendment rights. In addition, these bans often focus on performances that include elements such as dancing, singing, or monologuing. Such bans usually specify that it applies to any drag in public that "appeals to the prurient interest," which is a subjective term that could refer to anything that incites lustful thoughts. Some police officers may view drag or transgender people as inherently sexualized, enabling them to deem a performance as "prurient," as evidenced by several testimonies. These bans may also ban pride and ban gay clubs from hosting drag events. While various states have introduced drag bans, only a few have seen significant legislative progress. Tennessee has passed a drag ban, while Arkansas and South Dakota removed all references to drag from their proposed bills, defanging them.
Oklahoma, Montana, and Arizona have drag bills progressing through their state legislatures that have already passed at least one committee vote. Due to Arizona’s governor, it is unlikely that any drag bill would be signed into law. Oklahoma recently passed an extremely broad drag ban that would ban “any male or female performer” with “extravagant costumes and makeup” through a committee - essentially banning clowns, Dolly Parton, and professional wrestling. Montana’s drag ban recently passed a full house floor vote and could be used to ban Pride or target transgender people. Transgender representative Zooey Zephyr recently went viral speaking on this bill before it passed a House floor vote in Montana. Several other states are considering drag bills but have not heard them in committees yet.
See Rep. Zephyr’s speech:
Disclosure: Representative Zephyr is my partner and I am active in pushing back against Montana’s anti-trans laws.
States Fielding Cruel New Bills
Several states are fielding cruel new anti-trans bills that target transgender people in new ways. These bills represent possible future avenues for attack that we may see later in the 2023 legislative cycle as well as in the 2024 cycle, which I expect to be especially harsh due to 2024 being a presidential election year. Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Montana, and Texas have all been fielding particularly bad anti-trans measures with new harmful ways that they target transgender people.
Kentucky has proposed a bill that combines every anti-trans youth bill into one and also effectively bans social transition as well as mental health care for transgender people. This particular bill would force every therapist in Kentucky to become a conversion therapist. Florida has targeted companies for providing gender affirming care insurance coverage for adults with a bill that mandates perpetual liability and also has released a bill that would allow people to sue you for $35,000 if you call them transphobic. Tennessee is considering a bill that may have national insurance implications by banning companies that offer gender affirming care insurance nationally from TennCare. Montana is currently considering a bill that would lead to a complete writing out of transgender people from all laws that would also ban drivers license updates and even amends a vestigial gay marriage ban in case the Obergefell decision ever falls. Lastly, a Texas bill could end all gender affirming care for trans adults by removing malpractice insurance from doctors.
Some States Pushing Positive Legislation
We have seen a number of states pushing positive, pro-transgender legislation in the last few weeks. The Maryland Trans Health Equity Act recently had a hearing - this bill would mandate Medicaid to cover modern gender affirming care such as hair removal and facial feminization surgery. Oregon has released a similar bill that would also apply to private insurance companies - should this bill pass, Oregon will join Washington, Hawaii, and Colorado in fully covering gender affirming care. Minnesota’s House Committee recently approved a transgender refugee protection bill for trans youth and their families fleeing anti-trans states that criminalize their care - it also protects transgender youth from custody disputes where one parent wants to detransition them. New Mexico has likewise recently passed a provider protection bill out of committee. Utah and Minnesota appear poised to pass conversion therapy bans and Michigan may pass a statewide version of the Equality Act, protecting transgender people and all LGBTQ+ people.
Final Thoughts
Many bills are currently moving around the United States, but we have seen our first cracks in the Republican armor this cycle. The victory in Wyoming was truly impressive, and seeing drag bills fall in a number of states can give some people cause for hope. Nevertheless, anti-trans bills are moving with force in many red states and I am anticipating a minimum of 10 states to have gender affirming care bans in place by the end of this year.
Soon, I anticipate the narrative around anti-trans laws to begin to shift. Court battles will begin and I anticipate many of these laws will start to get blocked in court. Once they do, there will be lengthy court fights and families may be protected from the impact of some of these laws for quite some time - Arkansas’ court battle has been ongoing for nearly two years, for instance. This will not prevent many transgender youth from being hurt in the meantime.
It remains to be seen how bills targeting drag and Pride get weaponized against the community. Activists have spoken out about how broad these bills are and how they can be used to target our community. Some lawmakers have indicated that they are OK with this, while others have pretended that the bills would not affect the community at all. I think most transgender people and drag artists do not trust that these bills will not be used to target transgender people and drag artists in many public settings.
One thing I am extremely heartened by are the large protests that seem to be happening as these bills continue to be heard around the United States. To leave my readers on a good note, watch a few of these wonderful gatherings of people opposing anti-trans laws and groups targeting transgender people. We’ll keep fighting together until all transgender people have full liberation:
Hi Erin! I'm from KY originally, a parent of 2 TGNC kiddos, and I shared your piece focused on KY HB 470 with family living there and on social media, and my uncle just commented that students have walked out in both Lexington and Louisville to protest SB 150 and HB 470. It's not as good as a legislative or judicial defeat, but it's good to hear that residents are aware and young people are speaking out! https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article272592667.html
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2023/02/22/j-graham-brown-school-senate-bill-150-protest/69931118007/