WASHINGTON, D.C. — As extremist lawmakers in state houses across the country continue advancing a record-breaking number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures, the Human Rights Campaign — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — is providing the below snapshot (updated weekly) to illustrate the current legislative climate for LGBTQ+ people, and the scale and scope with which the ongoing legislative assault is being waged.

Some of these harmful pieces of state legislation were also advanced or enacted within a day of extremist members of the U.S. House of Representatives voting to pass a discriminatory bill that would ban transgender kids nationwide from participating in school sports.

This weaponization of public policy has been driven by extremist groups that have a long history in working to oppress the existence and rights of LGBTQ+ people. Several of these organizations have been deemed hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council.

Year-to-Date Snapshot: 2023 Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislative Activity

• Over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures, a record;

• Over 220 bills specifically target transgender and non-binary people, also a record; and

• 36 anti-LGBTQ laws have been enacted so far this year, including:

  • Laws banning gender affirming care: 13

  • Laws requiring or allowing misgendering of transgender students: 2

  • Laws targeting drag performances: 1

  • Laws creating a license to discriminate: 2

  • Laws censoring school curriculum, including books: 2

Notable 2023 Trends & Topline Analysis

• There have been more anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state houses this year than in each of the previous five years; and

• More than 125 bills would prevent trans youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care, in addition to more than 45 bills banning transgender students from playing school sports and more than 30 “bathroom bills,” a figure that exceeds the number bathroom bills filed in any previous year.

• Some states that have been the most proactive in advancing anti-LGBTQ+ laws include Florida, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas

Notable Bills Advanced in the Past Week (updated as of April 24, 2023)

• More than 130 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have passed at least one chamber this calendar year. Some notable bills that advanced this week include:
  • In Alabama:

    • HB 261: would ban transgender college and university students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, would be Alabama’s second anti-transgender sports ban

  • In Florida:

    • HB 1521: would prohibit gender-inclusive restrooms and changing facilities in schools, private businesses, public shelters, healthcare facilities, and jails

    • SB 254: would ban gender affirming care for transgender youth and would also also give Florida the unprecedented ability to strip parental rights from parents who support their transgender children

  • In Iowa:

    • SB 496: would ban classroom discussions that touch on LGBTQ+ topics in grades K-6, and would also require schools to forcibly out transgender students

  • In Missouri:

    • HB 183: would ban transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity

    • Note that last week, the Attorney General of Missouri issued a rule - which becomes effective on April 27 and expires February 6, 2024 - that declares that it is “an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practice” for “any person or health organization” to provide gender-affirming medical care or refer a client for gender-affirming care unless a series of unnecessary, discriminatory, and offensive conditions are met. This rule is already being challenged in court.

  • In North Carolina:

    • HB 5741 and SB 631: both would ban transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity

  • In Tennessee:

    • HB 306/SB 1237: would allow private schools to prohibit transgender students from playing sports consistent with their gender identity

    • HB 239: would adopt an exclusionary and discriminatory definition of sex which would exclude LGBTQ+ people from state non-discrimination laws and allow discrimination against transgender people in critical services including rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, in detention facilities, as well as in bathrooms, locker rooms, school athletics and beyond

    • HB 1269: would allow for the intentional misgendering and deadnaming of transgender and non-binary students by their teachers

    • HB 158/SB 102: would prohibit public education institutions from requiring implicit bias training

• The following bills have additionally been enacted into law.
  • In Indiana:

    • HB 1569: bans gender affirming surgeries for incarcerated transgender individuals

  • In North Dakota:

    • HB 1254: bans gender affirming care for transgender youth

  • In Arkansas:

    • HB 1615: a license to discriminate bill that also would allow discrimination by child welfare agencies.

• The following bills are in the final stages in the legislature or on their way to the state’s governor:
  • In Arkansas:

    • HB 1468: legislation that will prohibit school staff from addressing transgender students by their preferred name and pronouns.The bill also allows staff and students to misgender and deadname one another without consequence, creating a hostile school climate that is ripe for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

  • In Indiana:

    • SB 350: would ban local governments from prohibiting conversion therapy

  • In Iowa:

    • SF 496: would ban classroom discussions relating to LGBTQ+ topics in grades K-6

  • In Florida:

    • SB 254: would penalize providers by inflicting criminal penalties (including felony penalties) on providers who give gender-affirming care; it would take licenses away from those providers; and it would prohibit Medicare from covering gender-affirming care for transgender youth or adults. It would also forbid public funds, including those of a public university, public hospital, city, or county, and Medicare, from being used to provide benefits that include gender-affirming care – for transgender people of all ages. And – uniquely – it allows the state to use gender-affirming care or the “risk” of such care for a child as a reason to give Florida family courts exceptional jurisdiction to set aside another state’s custody determination

  • In Montana

    • SB 458: is a mega discrimination bill that passed in the House this week. This bill adopts an anti-LGBTQ definition of “sex” that would impact the entirety of Montana law. It now goes to the Governor for signing into law.

    • SB 99: is a wide-ranging bill that would make it effectively impossible for health care practitioners to provide age-appropriate, best practice, gender affirming care. It would also forbid state employees who work with minors from “promoting” treatment for gender dysphoria, chilling the ability of educators, public health workers, child care workers, and employees of state medical facilities to be able to do their job. Recipients of Montana Medicaid and the CHIP program will not be able to receive coverage for gender-affirming care.

      • An openly transgender state representative, Zooey Zephyr, was chastised for being ‘uncivil’ when she told the other legislators that if they passed this bill they’d have ‘blood on [their] hands’. In retaliation she reportedly will not be allowed to speak on any bills for the remainder of the session. Protests over the way she’s being treated resulted in several arrests yesterday.

    • HB 303 - would allow medical practitioners, healthcare institutions, and health care payers – including doctors, nurses, counselors, pharmacists, and insurance companies – to deny any medical services based on personal belief rather than patient need.

    • HB 676: a curriculum censorship bill that passed the House and is scheduled for second reading in the Senate this week.

  • In North Dakota:

    • HB 2247: would limit state data collection to two sexes, inherently discriminating against transgender and non-binary individuals

    • HB 1297: would prohibit gender marker changes on birth certificates if a person identifies as transgender

    • HB 1473: would prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity in certain state-operated facilities

    • HB 1474: would remove transgender individuals from state data collection

    • HB 1522: would penalize schools for proper pronoun accommodations for trans students

  • In Tennessee:

    • HB 306/SB 1237: would allow private schools to prohibit transgender students from playing sports consistent with their gender identity

    • HB 239: would adopt an exclusionary and discriminatory definition of sex which would exclude LGBTQ+ people from state non-discrimination laws and allow discrimination against transgender people in critical services including rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, in detention facilities, as well as in bathrooms, locker rooms, school athletics and beyond

    • HB 1269: would allow for the intentional misgendering and deadnaming of transgender and non-binary students by their teachers

    • HB 158/SB 102: would prohibit public education institutions from requiring implicit bias training

• Despite the traction gained by anti-equality legislation in the past week, progress for legal equality for LGBTQ+ people were advanced in the following ways:
  • In Kansas, Governor Laura Kelly vetoed:

    • SB 26: would prohibit transgender youth from receiving gender affirming care

    • SB 180: would apply a definition of gender discriminating against transgender individuals

    • SB 228: would require individuals to use restrooms aligning with their gender assigned at birth

    • HB 2128: would force misgendering in overnight and jail cell accommodations for transgender Kansans

  • In Minnesota, a ban on conversion therapy heads to the Governor:

    • HF 16: would ban dangerous conversion therapy practices in the state

  • In Pennsylvania, a statewide non-discrimination law moved forward:

    • HB 300: would enshrine in law nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ residents

Looking Back at 2022 State Legislative Sessions

In a coordinated push led by national anti-LGBTQ+ groups, which deployed vintage discriminatory tropes, politicians in statehouses across the country introduced 315 discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2022 and 29 passed into law. Despite this, fewer than 10% of these efforts succeeded. The majority of the discriminatory bills – 149 bills – targeted the transgender and non-binary community, with the majority targeting children receiving the brunt of discriminatory legislation. By the end of the 2022 legislative session, a record 17 bills attacking transgender and non-binary children passed into law.

Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation took several forms, including:

• 80 bills aimed to prevent transgender youth from playing school sports consistent with their gender identity. 19 states now exclude transgender athletes in school sports.

• 42 bills to prevent transgender and non-binary youth from receiving life-saving, medically-necessary gender-affirming healthcare. 5 states now restrict access to gender-affirming care.

• 70 curriculum censorship bills tried to turn back the clock and restrict teachers from discussing LGBTQ+ issues and other marginalized communities in their classrooms. 7 passed into law.

For more information about the onslaught of state legislative bills being introduced in state houses across the country, or to request an interview with an HRC legislative expert, please contact press@hrc.org.