Anti-trans Watch: Policies in MT, NH, OH, SC Target Trans People. Positive Movement In CA, MN, MO.

This week we saw some of the worst anti-trans bills proposed - some states have proposed adult transition bans and constitutional amendments. We have also seen an increase in safe state laws.

Every week, we track all of the transgender policies that move across the United States together. The goal of this is to keep all of you, activists and informed readers, abreast of possible new laws that can be fought early. If you live in some of these states, contact your local representative or your LGBTQ+ center near you an explain how these policies would hurt you.

Last year over 250 anti-trans bills, amendments, and policies were proposed. Only around 10% of them made it through to become laws. It is possible to beat most of these bills - there are very good arguments against restrictions on transgender people from both a Republican and a Democratic framework. The decisions around transgender people should be between doctors, families, their providers, and their care team. The government has no place stepping in and telling families what kind of treatment they can get, provided it sits within medically acceptable standards of care.

A summary of this week’s policies:

This week brought entirely new kinds of anti-trans bills into the discussion. Three states are now considering anti-trans healthcare bans that target trans youth as well as trans young adults. New Hampshire and South Carolina are now added to the list of states attempting these sorts of bans. South Carolina’s anti-trans legislation goes extremely far and South Carolina is now high on my list of states that could join the “worst of the worst” deep red states on my transgender legislative risk map. Not only do the South Carolina bills medically detransition people, they also make it against the law to receive gender affirming care for those under 21 years old. South Carolina also proposes making transgender adults over the age of 21 go through psychiatrists to access their gender affirming care. This would return transition care to the 1990s gatekeeping model which prevented many poor people from transitioning and led to extreme harm to the community.

Other states have joined the mix of anti-trans policy proposals this week as well. We saw a constitutional amendment proposed in both South Carolina and Montana that would define gender as “biological sex at birth.” These amendments would entirely write transgender people out of constitutional legal protections and would lead to mass discrimination by the state against this population.

Lastly for anti-trans laws, we have a large school board vote coming up on Monday and Tuesday of next week in Ohio. We will need activists to show up and speak out. This policy has been brewing for months and has been defeated and delayed several times. It seems they are finally going to take one last vote on the policy and will determine if Ohio writes discrimination on Title IX protections for trans students into state policy.

In terms of pro-trans policies, we have actually seen three proposed or passed this week! The biggest victory is the Minneapolis executive order that protects transgender people from being extradited back to their home states if they are fleeing a crime that involves gender affirming care. Places like Texas and Alabama are criminalizing gender affirming care and these laws would protect those families and doctors. We also saw California propose a bill that would expand SB107 protections for fleeing families as well as a nondiscrimination law proposed in Missouri.

List of Anti-trans Policies:

MT LC2034 - This is constitutional amendment defining gender as “biological sex at birth” which would eliminate all transgender legal rights in the state of Montana.

NH LSR0071 - Would detransition all trans youth AND trans adults. It is one of the latest in a series of adult transition bills that would roll back transgender rights for trans adults and represents a major escalation in anti-trans activity.

SC S0243 - This bill would forcibly detransition transgender youth medically under the age of 18 years old.

SC S0276 - This would amend the South Carolina constitution to define gender as biological sex at birth for all laws in SC, eliminating legal rights for transgender people entirely at the state level.

SC S0274 - This is an adult detransition bill that would forcibly detransition trans youth and trans young adults up to the age of 21 medically. It also would return gender affirming care to the 1990s model and would require psychiatrists in order to obtain hormone therapy. It also bans individuals from transitioning rather than just banning doctors from prescribing. It forcibly outs transgender students. It bans public funding for health insurance that covers trans people. It is one of the worst bills I have ever seen.

Ohio Title IX School Board Vote - The school board in Ohio will meet one last time in order to determine if they will tell schools that title IX does not apply to trans people.

List of Pro-trans Policies:

CA SB36 - This protective bill would expand protections for gender affirming care and abortion refugees in California by protecting “fleeing felons” from other states from extradition in ways that SB107 left gaps. It also allows “fleeing felon” gender and abortion refugees from being denied SNAP benefits.

MO HB384 - Would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in reference to anti-discrimination statutes.

Minneapolis EO 2022-04 - States that Minneapolis police will not be used to enforce anti-trans laws in other states and return anti-trans “fugitives” back to their home state.