2015 saw a significant number of anti-trans bills introduced across the country, and since then, the number of bills has increased exponentially.
According to Trans Legislation Tracker, 2023 holds the record with almost 300 bills being introduced and 2024 is slated to be even higher.
These anti-trans bills run the gamut from the former hot button issue of “bathroom bills” that force trans people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth to proposed bills that criminalize gender affirming care.
Furthermore, there are bills that ban trans people from participating in sports and that allow school faculty to reject a student’s declared pronouns and gender identity.
Key Stats
In 2023, 87 pieces of legislation across 25 states that negatively affect trans people were passed into law. Additionally, there were over 200 bills that were introduced but did not pass.
In the less than 2 months of 2024, 3 have already been passed.
NOTED BILLS FROM 2024
OH HB68
Passed this year in Ohio, this bill contains a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Gender-affirming care is evidence based and includes social, medical, and mental treatments that alleviate the gender dysphoria many trans people experience. The ACLU of Ohio has announced that they plan to file a lawsuit to block the law from going into effect later this year.
WI AB510
Passed this year in Wisconsin, this bill is known as the “parental bill of rights.” It grants parents and guardians the right to determine what name and pronouns their child is to use at school and mandates that parents are privy to any medical or mental health information that is revealed by the student in an evaluation, among other rights. The ACLU of Wisconsin has condemned this bill, claiming it allows for dead naming and outing of trans people.
The driving force behind this influx in coordinated legislation is the dubious claim that they are protecting children and families. Supporters of this bill wish to impose a rigid and immutable understanding of sex and gender that excludes transgender people. They claim that gender affirming surgeries are tantamount to mutilation and that children are incapable of making sound decisions surrounding their gender identity.
The fervor with which conservatives have rallied against transgender people cannot be understated. Michael Knowles, a popular, right wing Daily Wire host who, while a speaker at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee, called for “the eradication of transgenderism.”
He stated, “For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.”
The reality is that transgender people exist and they are not a new phenomena even though in recent years they have found themselves in the spotlight.
To deny their right to exist as they are is to deny science. Every major medical association has accepted gender affirming care as legitimate and necessary. Gender affirming care has been shown to be beneficial to trans people and denying them access to these treatments can prove disastrous.