It's already a record year for anti-2SLGBTQ bills in the U.S. Here are some of the rights rolling back

There's been a bombard‐ ment of bills put forward in U.S. state legislatures this year affecting the rights of two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bi‐ sexual, transgender and queer people — and there are few signs of the on‐ slaught easing up.

Groups tracking such legis‐ lation have documented hun‐ dreds of bills affecting 2SLGBTQ people: the Ameri‐ can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lists at least 474 bills on its tracking website, while the Trans Legislation Tracker has a tally of 541.

There are a range of re‐ strictions affecting gender-af‐ firming care for minors — even for adults in some cases — bathroom use, identifica‐ tion, drag performances and education. Dozens of these bills have already passed and been signed into law, though court challenges have pre‐ vented some from going into effect.

May 17 was the Interna‐ tional Day Against Homopho‐ bia, Transphobia and Bipho‐ bia, which is meant to honour the strength and resilience of 2SLGBTQ communities and the ongoing pursuit of equal rights worldwide.

But many U.S. legislatures are rolling back what advo‐ cates say is years of progress.

Here are some of the strictest and most controver‐ sial laws enacted across the U.S. so far this year.

WATCH | States offering refuge from anti-transgen‐ der legislation:

Restricting firming care

Utah was the first state in 2023 to put a law on the books banning pubertyblockers, hormone therapy and surgery for transgender people under the age of 18. A total of 16 states have banned gender-affirming care for minors at this point.

Legislation hasn't just in‐ creased in number; in several states, some have increased in severity.

In Alabama, Arkansas and Idaho, physicians and other gender-affirming care providers could be convicted of a felony for offering care to a minor, even though it's con‐ sidered rare.

LISTEN | Impact of U.S. anti-trans laws:In Idaho, it could lead to a 10-year prison sentence. It's a similar punish‐ gender-af‐ ment in Alabama, though the age limit is 19 in that state, compared to 18 in most other states that passed such legis‐ lation. The penalty is up to 15 years in prison in Arkansas. The week before officially an‐ nouncing his run for U.S. pres‐ ident, Florida Gov. Ron De‐ Santis signed a slate of antiLGBTQ bills into law, including a ban on providing gender-af‐ firming care to youth that could see providers face crimi‐ nal charges. The law also al‐ lows the state to temporarily take custody away from a parent "in certain child cus‐ tody enforcement proceed‐ ings" if a child "has been sub‐ jected to or is threatened with being subjected to sex reas‐ signment prescriptions or procedures," the legislation reads.

The new law also requires "informed consent" for adults on what the state calls "irre‐ versible nature and dangers" of gender-affirming hormone therapy and surgeries.

Texas is set to become the largest state to ban gender-af‐ firming care for minors, once the governor signs legislation passed on May 17. The state had already conducted "child abuse" investigations into parents believed to be seek‐ ing gender-affirming care for their children last year, at the behest of the state's attorney general, until a court injunc‐ tion halted such investiga‐ tions last September.

Efforts to put restrictions on gender-affirming care are not limited to care provided to minors. Missouri lawmak‐ ers considered extending the age limit for gender-affirming care to anyone under 25. They have already passed leg‐ islation that would prevent such care being covered by Medicaid in the state.

Banning bathroom ac‐ cess

The everyday rights of transgender and gender-di‐ verse people are coming un‐ der threat as well, with laws that limit access to bath‐ rooms.

On May 17, Florida's De‐ Santis signed a bill that could see people charged with a misdemeanor if they use a re‐ stroom or changing room — be it in a school, a health-care facility, public shelter or pri‐ vate business — that doesn't correspond to their assigned sex at birth.

Kansas enacted a similarly sweeping bathroom bill earli‐ er this year that is set to go in‐ to effect this summer.

Personal pronouns

A number of states have enacted measures against recognizing someone's pre‐ ferred pronouns. Preferred pronouns represent the gen‐ der a person identifies with, something that is seen as an important sign of respect and affirmation for transgender and gender diverse people — especially young people.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill on May 8, which went into effect im‐ mediately, allowing teachers to ignore the preferred pro‐ nouns of transgender and gender-diverse students. State government employees are also permitted to reject their co-workers' preferred pronouns.

Lawmakers in Florida, Arkansas, Indiana and Mon‐ tana have also passed bills that allow teachers and class‐ mates to ignore a student's preferred pronouns without penalty.

Risks to representation Some states, like Missouri, have attempted to enact re‐ strictions on school and pub‐ lic libraries over books related to gender identity and sexual orientation, but Oklahoma's governor went after the statewide public broadcaster.

Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed funding last month for the Oklahoma Education Televi‐ sion Authority — the mostwatched PBS station in the country, according to CNN — until 2026 over 2SLGBTQinclusive programming he claimed was contributing to the "indoctrination and oversexualization of children."

The station could go dark later this year unless the legis‐ lature overrides his decision.

Drag performances have also come under threat, espe‐ cially in Tennessee. It was the first state in the country to enact a measure aimed at "male of female imperson‐ ators," which has been widely interpreted as being directed at drag performers.

WATCH | Drag perfor‐ mances become a target:

The law would forbid drag performances, lumped under the term "adult-oriented per‐ formances," where they could be viewed by minors. Any bar or facility hosting such perfor‐ mances could not be within 300 metres of a child care fa‐ cility, a private, public or char‐ ter school, a public park, fami‐ ly recreation centre, a resi‐ dence or a place of worship.

A first violation would be a misdemeanor that could re‐ sult in a fine up to $2,500 US and possible jail time up to 11 months; a subsequent of‐ fence would qualify as a felony, which could be pun‐ ishable with a fine of up to $3,000 and up to six years in prison.

A federal judge temporari‐ ly blocked the state's law

criminalizing drag perfor‐ mances, in some circum‐ stances, hours before it went into effect on April 1. The in‐ junction was extended until May 26.

Florida now has its own vaguely worded law that has implications for drag perfor‐ mances. The legislation pro‐ hibits "exposing children to an adult live performance," which includes performances that feature "lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation gen‐ itals or breasts." Though House Bill 1438 does not specifically refer to drag per‐ formances, it only referenced events such as a drag brunch and a holiday touring perfor‐ mance called "A Drag Queen

Christmas" as examples.

But Montana has made it crystal clear, specifically ban‐ ning drag story hour events at any school or library that receives public funding — the first state to do so — along with prohibiting what the state considers "sexually ori‐ ented" or obscene perfor‐ mances on any public proper‐ ty "in a location where the performance is in the pres‐ ence of an individual under the age of 18."