We all know that we are supposedly a country where we are all created equal, and yet, in 2023, there could not be more distinct divides, between political parties, economic classes, and especially in the area of sex and gender. If you or a loved one identify as LGBTQ, steer clear of these states, which are targeting these individual’s rights. Here is a terrifying glimpse.
Over 700 Bills Have Been Proposed That Negatively Affect 2023 LGBTQ in 2023
In 2023, the United States has witnessed a significant surge in the introduction of bills that negatively impact the LGBTQ community, surpassing all previous records. While the exact number of these bills varies, data from the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), an independent non-profit think tank, as reported by Rolling Stone, estimates that over 700 such bills have been proposed in 2023.
75+ Bill Have Already Passed
Over 75 of these bills have been successfully passed, leading to restrictions on various LGBTQ rights, such as limitations on transgender youth participating in school sports and the enactment of the first-ever laws constraining public drag performances.
LGBTQ Youth Are Targeted
Notably, a substantial majority of the bills enacted during the 2023 legislative session are directed at transgender youth. Fifteen states, including Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, and West Virginia, have imposed restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors under the age of 18.
Discriminatory Laws Are Coming Fast
In recent years, certain states have stood out as leaders in enacting discriminatory laws against LGBTQ Americans. Data was garnered from by both MAP and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Taking into account the speed and intensity with which these laws were introduced, the ranking highlights the states that are most aggressively targeting their LGBTQ communities.
Montana
Montana gained attention in 2023 when GOP lawmakers censured the state’s only openly transgender politician, Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), for opposing a bill limiting gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. This led to impassioned protests at the Montana State Capitol. Despite the protests, Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed the bill into law, making Montana one of 20 states restricting treatments for trans youth.
Montana proposed numerous bills targeting the LGBTQ community in 2023, with at least four becoming law, including the ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth and a restriction on public drag performances.
Florida
Florida has been at the forefront of anti-LGBTQ policies in recent years, with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signing laws that criminalize trans people using gender-congruent restrooms and make it a felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming care to trans minors. These new laws expanded the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, which now prohibits discussions of LGBTQ identities in elementary, middle, and high school curricula.
As DeSantis prepares for a 2024 presidential campaign, LGBTQ Floridians worry that attacks on equality may continue to proliferate in the next legislative session.
North Dakota
North Dakota emerged as a frontrunner in enacting new legislation with a focus on the LGBTQ community in 2023. This shift in policy direction can be attributed, at least in part, to the state’s prior absence of significant anti-LGBTQ laws prior to this year.
Among the ten anti-LGBTQ bills that landed on Governor Doug Burgum’s desk in 2023, all but one was signed into law. The exception was a bill requiring teachers to address trans students by the name and pronoun assigned to them at birth, although a watered-down version of this proposal was approved the following month. The GOP also passed several laws that made it more challenging for transgender individuals to update their birth certificates, prohibited them from using gender-congruent restrooms in educational institutions and prisons, mandated teachers to disclose information about trans students to their parents, and made it a felony to provide gender-affirming medical treatments to transgender minors.
Arkansas
Arkansas also emerged as an early adopter of anti-LGBTQ legislation, making significant strides in this arena in recent years. In May 2021, the state passed a law restricting gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth, and although Governor Asa Hutchinson initially vetoed the legislation, it was quickly overridden by Republican lawmakers.
Hutchinson signed additional bills allowing healthcare workers to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds and banning trans girls from participating in women’s athletics in both K-12 and college sports. In 2023, Arkansas continued its trajectory by enacting at least four more anti-LGBTQ laws, including a measure signed by the state’s current GOP governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, making it easier for patients to sue their providers if they become dissatisfied with gender-affirming medical treatments they received.
Tennessee
Tennessee stands out for having the largest number of anti-LGBTQ policies of any state in the country, leading by a substantial margin according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Tennessee has positioned itself as an “innovator” in crafting anti-LGBTQ policies, with a wide range of such bills introduced. The state boasts a substantial collection of laws limiting transgender youth’s participation in sports, eclipsing other states in this regard.
Several factors contribute to Tennessee’s role as a breeding ground for anti-LGBTQ proposals, including its political landscape marked by heavy gerrymandering and a Republican trifecta, where the GOP controls both legislative houses and the governor’s office.
Tennessee Continues to Pursue Anti- LGBTQ Legislation
Tennessee also began building its portfolio of anti-LGBTQ laws early, with a law in 2016 permitting therapists to refuse treatment based on religious beliefs and another in 2017 defining the “natural and ordinary meaning” of terms like mother and father. In 2021, Tennessee passed the highest number of anti-LGBTQ laws enacted in a single year, including bills allowing parents to opt students out of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, prohibiting trans students from using facilities corresponding to their gender identity, and mandating businesses to post signs if they permit trans individuals to use the restroom of their choice.
In 2023, Tennessee continued to accumulate anti-LGBTQ legislation, including the contentious drag ban, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge appointed by former President Trump, and a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
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