Anti-LGBTQ proposals flooding state legislatures at a record pace
This year is heating up to be another record-breaking one for anti-LGBTQ legislation in U.S. state legislatures.
In an attempt to fire-up a conservative base ahead of midterm elections, Republican legislators have proposed at least 325 bills so far, with about 130 targeting transgender rights specifically. That’s already ahead of the 268 introduced last year, a previous record. A total of 27 made it into law in 2021, for the worst year in recent history for anti-LGBTQ legislation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group. This year, so far seven have become laws.
“We are seeing an uptick in the frequency and extremism of these bills as time goes on,” said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that focuses on suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth.
In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, dubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. That legislation has already inspired copycat proposals in at least a handful of states, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Ohio. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said this week that he wants to prioritize passing legislation that mimics Florida’s. A separate law requiring Texas public school students to play sports based on their assigned gender at birth took effect in January.
Last month, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed bills into law which ban some types of medical procedures for transgender youth and prevent transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. Anti-LGBTQ legislation has also been signed in Arizona, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma and Utah this year.
In 2022, Tennessee has introduced more anti-LGBTQ measures than any other state, including one that protects teachers who refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns from civil liability or being fired.
Even though just a handful of the 325 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed this year have become law, experts are concerned that their mere consideration can still have an impact. In some cases, teachers are being warned to steer clear of so-called “controversial” issues to avoid getting in trouble, which experts predict could cause a chilling effect in the classroom. The number of calls from LGBTQ youth to crisis hotlines like the one run by the Trevor Project have jumped in recent years. The group found in a qualitative analysis that some young people reported feeling stressed or even suicidal due to the laws being debated in their state.
There have been signs this year of pushback: A Texas judge last month blocked a directive from Governor Greg Abbott that the state Department of Family and Protective Services investigate instances of “sex change” procedures for youth, including surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs.