“At least 510 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the United States last year — a new record, according to American Civil Liberties Union data as of Dec. 21. That’s nearly three times the number of such bills introduced in 2022.”
So reports CNN of the most dominant social conservative legislative theme since abortion.
Now, 2024 opens amid battles in statehouses and courthouses over the issue of medical care for minors undergoing gender transition, and the issue will likely heat up even more as the 2024 political season progresses.
Groups affiliated with Focus on the Family succeeded in promoting legislation in 23 GOP-led states that banned transgender minors from playing team sports and/or receiving transition care. But in a handful of those states, the laws are on hold as legal challenges play out.
Meanwhile, a Focus-aligned legal group is suing the state of Vermont, where the girls’ basketball team at a small Christian school forfeited a playoff game rather than compete against a team with a transgender player.
So far, the result of this protracted culture war is a patchwork of legislation that varies across the nation, as seen in this map from Movement Advancement Project, a progressive think tank.
Individuals also may track activities state-by-state on a map from the Trans Legislation Tracker.
Here’s an overview of recent developments in the states:
- In Ohio and Idaho, bans on trans medical care were blocked before they were scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2024.
- When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine blocked that state’s ban on transgender care for minors on Dec. 29, he cited parental rights, one of Focus on the Family’s talking points. DeWine said if the law were to go into effect, “Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents,” according to The New York Times.
- On Dec. 27, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of Idaho’s ban on transgender medical care, according to the ACLU, which filed a case representing Idaho families. Judge Lynn Winmill said prohibiting hormones, puberty blockers and other medical care violates the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “Idaho’s ban is one of many passed in just the last year uprooting families, threatening the current and future well-being of transgender youth, and alarming medical organizations and pediatricians alike,” said ACLU of Idaho.
- Missouri saw more than 40 trans bills active in 2023, including one banning trans pronouns in public schools and another making it tougher for minors who were already transitioning to continue their care.
- Tennessee has seen 24 trans bills introduced, with 11 passed so far. Families there have asked the S. Supreme Court to block the state’s ban on trans care.
- Virginia saw no success during 2023 in efforts to ban trans care, but activists promise they’ll try again this year.
Vermont has no legislation banning trans care, but the Focus-aligned legal group Alliance Defending Freedom argues in its lawsuit that the state “has adopted its own orthodoxy on human sexuality and gender,” an orthodoxy that differs with and discriminates against the rights of students at Mid Vermont Christian School, a small private school in Quechee, Vt.
The ADF lawsuit says the team sat out because “engaging in such competition would cause it to be complicit in furthering the falsity that sex is mutable, in violation of its beliefs.”
Mid Vermont sports teams previously competed against public school teams throughout the state in games governed by the Vermont Principals’ Association. But last year, the Lady Eagles basketball team forfeited its playoff game rather than compete against a team with a transgender player.
At the time, Mid Vermont claimed playing the team would jeopardize “the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” according to a local news outlet. But the ADF lawsuit says the team sat out because “engaging in such competition would cause it to be complicit in furthering the falsity that sex is mutable, in violation of its beliefs.”
The board of the Vermont Principals’ Association voted 15-0 that Mid Vermont had violated the VPA’s policies and ruled it ineligible for all VPA events, including sports and academic events such as science fairs.
ADF claims the VPA’s decision means the state is “seeking to banish” the school’s “unorthodox beliefs” and charges the state with violations of students’ rights, including the right to free speech, religious autonomy, expressive association, and the fundamental right of parents to control the upbringing of their children.
Three decades ago, Focus on the Family used legislation to oppose gay rights, supporting Colorado’s Amendment 2, which was narrowly supported by voters following a controversial campaign, but later was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
But successful or not, legislation that seeks to restrict gay or trans Americans has resonated with culturally conservative voters in recent decades and is likely to do so again in the 2024 election cycle.
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