Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. These are all the states which have just recently passed or are considering anti-trans legislation. Celebrities such as Lizzo have spoken out against a few of these bills, but many of them are going unnoticed; or the sheer number of them is simply becoming harder to keep up with. In an effort to compile a list of all of these bills, I will be addressing what each of these states have in circulation or recently enacted.
To understand the status of the bills, here is a simplified version of requirements for bills to pass in a state:
- Introduced House 2. Passed House 3. Passed Senate 4. Signed by governor
- Introduced Senate 2. Passed Senate 3. Passed House 4. Signed by governor
Alabama
HB 322 or the “bathroom bill” would require students, K-12, to use the bathroom based on their “biological sex”.
Status: Passed House 2/22/22
Alaska
SB 140 Requires athletes to join teams according to their “biological sex”.
Status: Introduced 5/12/21
Arizona
SB 1165 Prohibits trans women from joining female athletic teams.
Status: Passed Senate 2/2/22
SB 1138 Outlaws puberty blockers, hormones, and gender-affirming surgeries for trans minors.
Status: Passed Senate 2/24/22
Florida
HB 1557 or the “Don’t Say Gay” bill prevents teachers from discussing LGBTQ+ identities in classrooms up to the third grade, and gives parents oversight on student mental health counseling.
Status: Passed Senate and House 3/8/22, not signed by governor yet
Idaho
HB 675 Classifies gender affirming treatments as “mutilation” and prohibits them for trans minors, making it a felony for anyone who performs them. “Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall be guilty of a felony and shall be imprisoned in the state prison for a term of not more than life” (Lines 29-31).
Status: Passed House 3/8/22
Indiana
HB 1041 Bans trans girls’ participation in school sports.
Status: Passed Senate and House 3/1/22, not yet signed
Iowa
HF 2416 Prohibits trans students from participating in academic sports programs that do not match their “biological sex”.
Status: Passed and signed 3/3/22
Kentucky
HB 23 and SB 83 the “Fairness in Womens’ Sports Act” and “Save Women’s Sports Act” both target trans women and require sports teams to be divided based upon “biological sex”.
Status of HB 23: Introduced 1/4/22
Status of SB 83: Passed Senate 2/16/22
Louisiana
HB 570 “Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act” Prohibits gender affirming surgery or treatments to trans minors, or the referral to another medical professional for said treatments. It also requires teachers to inform parents if a student expresses a trans identity to them, prohibiting school staff from keeping this secret, regardless if a parent/guardian is unaccepting.
Status: Introduced 3/14/22
Missouri
SB 781 Prohibits trans women and girls from participating in any “athletic team or sport designated for females, women, or girls”.
Status: Passed Senate 3/8/22
Tennessee
SB 2777 Legally protects teachers who openly misgender trans students.
Status: Introduced 2/3/22
SB 2153 Prohibits trans women from participating in women’s athletics.
Status: Introduced 2/2/22
SB 1861 Requires schools to confirm a student athletes’ “biological sex”, and would remove funding from any school which refuses
Status: Introduced 1/24/22
HB 2835 Establishes a $1000 civil fine for each count of a doctor providing hormone or puberty blockers to a minor.
Status: Introduced 2/3/22
Texas
SB 29 Requires biological sex to be listed on birth certificates.
Status: Introduced 9/20/21
A letter from Governor Gregg Abbott: “Dear Commissioner Masters: Consistent with our correspondence in August 2021, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called “sex change” procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law. Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”
Sent: 2/22/22
The sheer number of bills being considered that target transgender people is truly sickening. Legislators must really have nothing better to do than spend their time policing the bodies of others. A trend I have noticed throughout many of these bills is that the ones about athletes specifically prohibit trans women from joining women’s teams. This is because these legislators see trans women as men; to them the ‘stronger sex’ could not possibly be allowed to participate with women because it is an ‘unfair advantage’. Not only is this thought process deeply rooted in sexism, it is also clearly an uneducated view when it comes to trans women.
One of the most alarming bills is the “SAFE” act, which requires disclosure of a student’s gender identity to parents/guardians by schools. Not only is this crossing many lines of privacy and an overstep of schools’ power, but it is insanely dangerous. Disclosing a student’s gender identity to their parents/guardians could endanger their life by subjecting them to abuse or leading to an increase in trans youth homelessness. School staff is required to disclose gender identity of students regardless if they are aware the parents/guardians are unaccepting. I fail to see how a person’s right to privacy, safety, and gender identity is lost to these so called “parental rights”.
As a society, we are not making progress. Trans rights are still being taken away, with legal consequences for embracing your gender identity. So what can we do about these bills? Contact legislators or governors and don’t let these acts go unnoticed.