Posted April 6, 2023 | by James Shanley | in Civil Rights, DemDaily, LGBTQ Rights, State Issues, Uncategorized

DemDaily: The Wave of Hate

April 6, 2023

The last two years have seen a wave of anti-transgender legislation introduced in red states across the country, fueled by conservative lawmakers and religious groups intent on dehumanizing and denying recognition to transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people.

According to Trans Legislation Tracker, a watchdog group monitoring anti-trans efforts in legislatures, lawmakers across 47 states have introduced 492 anti-trans bills so far this year, up from 174 in all of 2022.

Of the 2023 bills, 32 have passed, 43 have failed, and 417 are still active in their respective legistatures. Utah has signed into law four anti-trans bills this year, the most of any state, while Texas legislators have introduced a staggering 57 such bills targeting transgender people since they started session in January.

Transgender is commonly defined as "denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that person’s sex assigned at birth." Quite simply, some people's gender identity – their innate knowledge of who they are – is different from the male or female sex identification on their original birth certificate, so they identify as transgender. If your gender doesn’t conform to the two-gender "male" or "female" binary, you may identify as nonbinary.

This week witnessed a whirlwind of discriminatory legislation against transgender people.

On the heels of Iowa's March 22 passage of a bathroom bill that prohibits trans students and staff from using the bathroom of their gender identities in public schools, many Republican-controlled states are following suit with their own versions.

On Tuesday, Kansas lawmakers similarly voted to prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities, while also forbidding them from changing their names or genders on driver's licenses.

Although Governor Laura Kelly (D) is expected to veto the bill, the GOP supermajority in the legislature is expected to override her -- as they did on Wednesday in passing the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, which bans transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports from kindergarten through college.

Also this week, Republican Governors Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Brad Little of Idaho signed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors. The ACLU promptly filed a lawsuit in response to the Indiana bill, claiming it violates the US Constitution's equal protection guarantees.

At least 12 states have passed similar injunctions against the care, which supports an individual’s gender identity through a range of services from counseling to hormone therapy.

North Dakota set a single-day record for anti-trans laws, advancing eight to Governor Doug Burgum's (R) office on Tuesday. Among those awaiting his signature is a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, imposing a Class B felony -- which carries a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment and a $20,000 fine -- on doctors who perform surgery on or prescribe hormone therapy to children.

In Arkansas, legislators on Wednesday sent a bill to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' (R) desk that would require parental approval for teachers to address transgender students by their preferred pronouns. Last month Sanders signed a law allowing recipients of gender-affirming care to sue their provider for malpractice well beyond current statutory limitations, making malpractice insurance for healthcare workers wishing to provide the services prohibitively expensive.

The first three of dozens of anti-trans bills moving rapidly through the Texas Legislature were approved by the state Senate this week -- banning trans students from collegiate athletics, criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors and prohibiting transgender youth from updating their birth certificate. All three bills are expected to sail through the state House along party lines and head to Governor Greg Abbott (R) for his signature.

Combating the right's anti-trans onslaught, Democratic lawmakers in over a dozen states have introduced legislation to protect the rights of trans people and their healthcare providers.

Colorado, Washington, Minnesota and Vermont's legislatures have all advanced "shield laws" or "trans health refuge" bills -- which provide legal protection for patients seeking gender-affirming care from out of state and prevent state officials from complying with arrests, extraditions, or subpoenas related to care an out-of-state trans person recieves.

Illinois and California already have such protections enshrined into law. 20 states and Washington DC also currently allow people to update gender markers on identification without submitting medical documentation.

Transgender issues are also children's issues and healthcare issues. A March 20-23, 2023 NPR/PBS/Marist poll showed that 54% of Americans oppose laws that ban gender-affirming medical care for minors.

Conservative lawmakers are betting that the assault on gender and sexuality rights will resonate with their voters and motivate their base at the polls -- which may prove ill-advised.

The strategy of pursuing a hard-right agenda employed in the 2022 midterms secured the victory of radical conservative candidates in GOP primaries across the country, but cost Republicans the general election gains needed to secure Congress.

Republicans are more than happy to once again take the gamble -- at the cost of the civil liberties and basic protections of the most vulnerable among us.