WEEKLY UPDATE

Roundup of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Advancing In States Across the Country

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 hostile legislative climate facing LGBTQ+ people, and the scale and scope with which the ongoing legislative assault is being waged.

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

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

  • Laws banning gender affirming care for transgender youth: 14

  • Laws requiring or allowing misgendering of transgender students: 4

  • Laws targeting drag performances: 2

  • Laws creating a license to discriminate: 3

  • Laws censoring school curriculum, including books: 4

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; with the increase in LGBTQ+ erasure bills, bills that strip away dozens of legal protections and rights for LGBTQ+ people, coming as the newest form of attacks on the community

• 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 May 8, 2023)

• More than 140 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have passed at least one chamber this calendar year. Some notable bills that advanced this past week or may advance this week include:

• 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

• Florida:

  • SB 254: would ban gender affirming care for transgender youth and would also also give Florida the unprecedented ability to strip parental rights from a parent who supports their transgender child and give custody to the parent who does not support their child

  • HB 1521: would impose criminal penalties on transgender people for using the restroom that matches their gender identity

  • SB 1320: would expand Florida's Don't Say LGBTQ+ law championed by Gov. DeSantis last year.

• Iowa:

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

  • SF 391/HF 327: would remove info about HIV and AIDS from required curriculum standards

• Louisiana:

  • HB 466: would establish “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” style curriculum restrictions

  • HB 81: would allow schools to forcibly out and intentionally misgender transgender and non-binary students

• Montana:

  • SB 458: “LGBTQ+ Erasure Act” that would prohibit LGBTQ+ people from bringing claims of sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination in areas like employment, housing, public accommodations, health care, credit, and education. It would also require applications and records such as marriage license, death certificates, cemetery interment records, and child support registration to list sex based on type of gametes, eggs, or sperm rather than gender identity. The bill doubles down on the state ban on transgender students participating in sports consistent with their gender identity and the ban on marriage for same-sex couples (which is unenforceable)

  • HB 359: would target public drag performances

  • HB 676: could force schools to out students

• North Carolina:

  • H808: would ban gender affirming care for transgender youth

• New Hampshire:

  • SB 272: would force schools to out transgender and non-binary students

• North Dakota:

  • HB 1522: would prohibit schools and state employers from requiring respectful pronoun use for students or colleagues and forbids transgender students from using school restrooms consistent with their gender identity

  • HB 1297: would prohibit changes to gender markers on birth certificates

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

• In Tennessee:

  • HB 239: the “LGBTQ+ Erasure Act” 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:

• Oklahoma:

  • SB 613: bans gender affirming care for transgender youth

• Indiana:

  • SB 350: prohibits local governments from stopping the dangerous, abusive practice of so-called “conversion therapy.”

• Tennessee:

  • HB 727: makes it more difficult for students to access comprehensive and inclusive sex education

Additional bills that are in the final stages in the legislature or on their way to the state’s governor:

• 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

• 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

  • SB 1320: would expand Florida's Don't Say LGBTQ+ law to higher grade levels

  • HB 1521: would criminalize transgender people for using the restroom that matches their gender identity

  • SB 1580: would allow healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the bases of religious beliefs

  • SB 170: would discourage cities from passing non-discrimination ordinances by raising the barriers to proposing ordinances and making it easier to challenge ordinances in court

  • SB 266: would allow the state Board of Governors to give direction to universities on removing majors and minors in subjects like critical race theory and gender studies

  • **Florida’s legislature also passed a memorial statement (S.M. 1382) opposing LGBTQ+ service members, unconscious bias training, and ‘woke’ policies in the military, which do not need the governor’s signature**

• Iowa:

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

  • SF 391/HF 327: would censor remove info about HIV and AIDS from required curriculum standards

• Montana:

  • 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.

  • SB 458: would adopt an anti-LGBTQ definition of “sex” that would impact the entirety of Montana law.

  • HB 676: could force schools to out students

  • SB 518: would allow schools to misgender and forcibly out transgender and non-binary students,

  • HB 359: would criminalize drag performances.

• North Carolina:

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

• North Dakota:

  • HB 1522: would prohibit schools and state employers from requiring respectful pronoun use for students or colleagues and forbids transgender students from using school restrooms consistent with their gender identity

  • HB 1297: would ban making changes to gender markers on birth certificates

  • HB 1474: would strip away multiple legal protections for LGBTQ+ North Dakotans

• Tennessee:

  • HB 239: would establish a trans exclusionary definition of sex in state statute

  • HB 158: would prohibit public education institutions from requiring implicit bias trainings

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

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 Pennsylvania, a statewide non-discrimination law moved forward:

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

Looking Back at the 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.