Anti-trans Legislative Digest: Drag Bans, Bounty Hunters, And More

We now have 440 anti-trans bills targeting trans people in the United States. Healthcare bans, drag bans, and anti-trans bills have progressed. Some positive legislation has passed as well.

Every week, additional anti-transgender bills emerge in state legislatures across the United States. As the landscape is constantly evolving, I periodically offer a legislative summary to provide an overall perspective on the proposed, advancing, and enacted legislation. This week, there is progress on anti-transgender medical and drag bans that are advancing through several state legislatures. For the first time since 2016, adult restroom bans that make it illegal for transgender people to use the bathroom are being proposed. New inhumane bills targeting transgender individuals in ways never before seen have gained national attention in Florida, Texas, and other states. As a result, some states have implemented laws to safeguard their transgender population. Let's assess the current state of anti-transgender legislation in the United States.

Medical Care Bans

Map of gender affirming care bans in states with a chance of passing.

Gender affirming care bans that target transgender youth are moving in several states. These bills have been the bulk of the anti-trans bills in 2023. Some of these forcibly detransition trans youth in the state - South Dakota’s bill even specifically has a provision telling doctors how to medically detransition youth under their care. Coming into the week, we had seven states that banned gender affirming care - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah.

Just this week, Iowa newly joined the ranks of states banning care for transgender youth. HB538 moved through the Iowa legislature at breakneck speed, barely giving activists any chance to mount a resistance. The bill was first introduced on March 6th and was passed through the Senate Committee and the full Senate within 24 hours. The very next day, it was substituted into a separate bill in the House and passed fully into law.

Some states are successfully fighting back their anti-trans bills. In West Virginia, an amendment was introduced and accepted that would allow exceptions for transgender youth with “severe dysphoria” to continue to be treated. In Nebraska, Senator Cavanaugh has filibustered for over a week and not let any bill through - there has even been consideration over skipping the bill. Lastly, in Missouri, four senators have grinded the Senate to a halt to block the gender affirming care ban moving there, forcing it to adjourn early for spring break.

Several other states have bills moving - if you see your state in light red, that means that there is a bill at risk of becoming law in your state.

Gender affirming care bans harm transgender youth. Trans youth allowed on gender affirming care have a 73% reduced risk of suicidality. Another study found a 40% reduction in actual suicide attempts. These treatments for transgender youth are viewed as the standard of care for 29 major medical organizations in the United States. Stopping these bills results in lives saved.

Drag Bans Slowly Move

Map of drag bans moving through the United states

Drag bans have been a little slower to move than gender affirming care bans. The only state that has a drag ban fully passed is Tennessee, though other states such as North Dakota and Oklahoma have drag bans moving through committees and house chambers. These bans tend to target drag artists and transgender people for “exhibiting a sex different from the sex assigned at birth” while “performing in public” and typically include a clause about prurient interest. The terms are often undefined and vague, allowing police officers to arrest people for simply dancing down the street at Pride or singing at karaoke.

Montana, Oklahoma, and Arizona have already passed drag bills through a legislative chamber or committee coming into this week, and North Dakota now joins the list. Arizona’s Democratic governor will certainly veto any bill received there, but Montana, Oklahoma, and North Dakota’s bills have a high risk of passage. Montana’s drag ban targets “male and female impersonators” and would make it a crime if anyone viewed you and thought you were “sexualized” while performing in public - many proponents of the bill viewed all trans people as sexualized during its hearing. Oklahoma’s bill goes even further than that, banning a “male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant masculine or feminine persona” using “exaggerated makeup.” In some readings, a bill like this could ban Dolly Parton and professional wrestling, if their performances are deemed offensive and “harmful to minors.” North Dakota’s ban would charge drag artists with a felony for drag in public.

All other states in pink are at earlier steps in the legislative process, although many extremely harmful bills can be found in these states. Keep a watch on my newsletter and social accounts to stay up to date on their progression.

If you see a state in slotted red, these are states with drag bans that have been halted or made ineffective. Arkansas and South Dakota removed all references to drag from their proposed bills, defanging them. Similar mechanisms may be tried in other states.

Bathroom Bans Are Back

There will be no map for this section, as there are not many adult bathroom bans being proposed. Several school-level bathroom bans have been proposed and passed around the United States that target students, but this week, we have seen the first introduction of adult transgender bans since the ill-fated North Carolina bathroom ban of 2016. Florida and Arkansas have both proposed criminalizing transgender people for using the bathroom.

Arkansas bathroom ban would make it a crime for a transgender person to enter the bathroom if a minor is present. It would charge them with a sex crime and likely result in jail time. Senator Clark Tucker called it “the most extreme anti-trans law in America” and said that it would “criminalize being transgender in America.” His speech halted the bill two weeks ago, but the Senate brought it back out of committee and fully passed it, sending it to the House.

Florida’s bathroom ban has not seen movement yet, but it goes even beyond Arkansas’. Florida’s bathroom ban would charge transgender people with crimes if they enter a bathroom and refuse to leave when asked to do so. It would let any cisgender person force transgender people out of them using the threat of arrest. It is inherently discriminatory and cruel.

National Bans And New Bills Target The Community

Every week, it seems like there are new bills or developments that come out that target the community in extremely cruel ways. These last two weeks are no exception to that. Here is a list of a few new bills that target the trans community in increasingly cruel ways:

• A national anti-trans sports ban may get a vote in the full House of Representatives.

• A bill in Florida that would allow people to kidnap trans kids or the kids of trans parents.

• Effective bans on clinics providing gender affirming care through policies making the clinics impossible to operate in Oklahoma

• Bans on any books with trans characters or gay characters, regardless of how family friendly they may be in Texas.

• Don’t Say Gay expansion bills in Florida that would entirely ban pronouns for trans people in school.

• A social transition ban proposed in Texas in schools.

• A bounty hunter drag ban in Texas.

Protective Bills Getting Passed

Laws explicitly protecting the right to gender affirming care.

There have been multiple very positive pieces of legislation passed. The above map shows a list of laws that explicitly protect the right to access gender affirming care. This week, New Mexico passed HB7, a bill that codifies the right to access gender affirming care in the state - this will make it an attractive state for people being targeted by surrounding states with a loss of access. In Michigan, though not listed on this map, a state level version of the equality act was passed. Although it doesn’t explicitly protect gender affirming care, its provisions will likely result in the care getting higher protection in courts. Lastly, the governor of Minnesota released a strong trans-protective executive order that will protect trans refugees fleeing other states from being extradited back to their home states.

Final Thoughts

In the last few weeks, we have started to see some victories. Filibusters in state houses have slowed the passage of anti-trans legislation, and the movement of gender affirming care bans is stalled in several states. Still, some states are forging forward with their bans and targeting the community in cruel new ways. Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas seem particularly scary for trans people right now - the worst new bills appear to be crafted in these states. Still, there is room for hope. Protective measures are being put into place in states that are under Democratic control, and further measures appear to be under consideration in many states. In the next few months, we may see a shift in momentum as court cases begin to deliver victories against some of the worst bills that have made their way into law. Stick with me and I will cover all of those bills for you so that you are kept up to date.