Lawmakers in at least 14 states are currently trying to restrict LGBTQ rights. These include proposals for bills that would ban trans students in Alabama from participating in school sports and end the ban on conversion therapy in Oklahoma.
From CNN:
Of the bills proposed so far, Freedom For All Americans is most concerned about two proposals in Montana — one that bans trans students from playing a school sport and another that would ban trans kids from receiving gender-affirming health care. Both bills have passed in the Montana House and will soon reach the state Senate, said Angela Dallara of Freedom for All Americans.
Montana Rep. John Fuller, who sponsored both bills, said the measures are necessary because "every child deserves a natural childhood, one that allows them to experience puberty and other normal changes that shape who they will become," according to the Montana Free Press.
If the state does pass the bills, it won't be done quietly. Several trans and non-binary Montana residents testified online and in person this month about the harm the school sports bill would cause young trans people in the state despite supporters of the bill continuing to use offensive language and misgender trans people, the SB Nation blog Outsports reported…
Vocal opposition is working: Pizer said her Lambda Legal colleagues sent a written testimony explaining why a South Dakota bill that would ban correcting one's gender on a birth certificate was unconstitutional. It seems they were heard — the bill failed to advance out of committee, Pizer said.
The 14 states who are pushing for anti-LGBTQ laws include Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Utah. Each bill can be tracked at Freedom for All Americans.
Image by infomatique – https://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/9183769654/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41420845
