An overview of the current state of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the US
So far, 18 bills have been passed through state legislature in 2021, enacting more anti-LGBTQIA+ laws this year than the last three years combined.
- 7 anti-trans sports bans in Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Montana, and West Virginia
- 4 religious refusal bills, including in Arkansas, Montana, and South Dakota
- 2 anti-LGBTQ education bills in Tennessee and Montana
- 1 anti-trans medical care ban bill in Arkansas
- 1 sham “hate crimes” bill in Arkansas
- 1 anti-all comers bill in North Dakota
- 1 anti-trans birth certificate bill in Montana
- 1 discriminatory diversity training ban bill in Oklahoma
By Bill Type:
7 anti-trans sports bans in Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Montana, and West Virginia
AL HB391 (Alabama)
States that no public K-12 schools may participate in, sponsor, or provide coaching staff for interscholastic athletic events in which athletes are allowed to participate in competition against athletes who are of a different biological gender, unless the event specifically includes both biological genders.
Source: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1310890
AR SB354 (Arkansas)
The ‘Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,’ states that biologically female athletes should not have to compete in a scholastic sport against a student who is biologically male, regardless of their gender identity.
Source: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1325777
AR SB450 (Arkansas)
This law makes it so that any interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic team or sport that is sponsored by “a covered entity” be designated strictly based on sex. Under this law biologically male individuals are prohibited from any athletic team or sport that are specifically designated for biologically female individuals.
Source: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1335541
Other passed state laws with similar language:
MT HB112 (Montana)
MS SB2536 (Mississippi)
Known as the “Mississippi Fariness Act,” the law requires public schools that are members of the NCAA, NAIA, MHSAA or NJCCA to organize its athletic teams based on biological sex as well as to provide legal protections to these institutions that do so.
Source: https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/1275985
TN HB3 (Tennessee)
The law states that for interscholastic athletic activities in Tennessee, students will be assigned to sports teams based on their sex as assigned at birth. Not only is this mandatory, but if a birth certificate provided by a student does not indicate the student’s sex upon birth, the student must provide evidence of their sex at the time of birth.
Source: https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/HB0003.pdf
Other passed state laws with similar language:
WV HB3293 (West Virginia)
4 religious refusal bills, including in Arkansas, Montana, and South Dakota
MT SB215 (Montana)
A religious refusal bill that could allow businesses in Montana to discriminate against Montanans and visitors, on the premise of exercising their religion, including against LGBTQIA+ people. The bill allows protections which “open the door to the discrimiantion of marginalized people based on an individual’s religious beliefs.”
Source: https://www.aclusd.org/en/legislation/senate-bill-124-0
Other passed state laws with similar language:
SD SB124 (South Dakota)
AR SJR14 (Arkansas)
AR SB289 (Arkansas) Medical Ethics & Diversity Act
Will allow doctors and other medical professionals to turn away patients on the premise of religious or moral objections. The provision gives providers “the right to not participate in non-emergency treatments that violate their conscience,” this could include a physician who can now refuse to treat a transgender person, or even a mental health professional, who has the right to end treatment with someone if they find out their patient is gay.
Sources:
2 anti-LGBTQ education bills in Tennessee and Montana
TN HB1223 (Tennessee)
A sweeping anti-LGBTQIA+ education bill which would require a school district to notify parents before “providing a sexual orientation curriculum or gender identity curriculum,” in any form of instruction.
Source:https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/tennessee-gov-bill-lee-signs-anti-lgbtq-education-bill-into-law
MT SB99 (Montana)
The bill, which not only allows parents to remove their children from “human sexuality instruction,” is also now required to notify parents or guardians if courses or events pertaining to sexuality take place. The bill directly targets LGBTQIA+ kids by marginalizing and erasing the opportunity for them to learn about themselves within a health context.
1 anti-trans medical care ban bill in Arkansas
AR HB1570 (Arkansas) Arkansas Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act
The law bans gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender people under the age of 18 years old. Arkansas is now the first U.S. state to make gender-affirming medical care illegal.
Source: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1329760
1 sham “hate crimes” bill in Arkansas
AR SB622 (Arkansas)
The bill, which intends to protect individuals from violent crime based on “mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics,” fails to refer to specific categories such as race, sexual orientation or gender identity in its language, further marginalizing the LGBTQIA+ community in failing to establish explicit protections.
1 anti-all comers bill in North Dakota
ND HB1503 (North Dakota)
The bill allows student groups, colleges, universities and high schools to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ students by undermining the state’s previous “all-comers” policy which prevented discrimination against students based on race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
1 anti-trans birth certificate bill in Montana
MT SB280 (Montana)
Prevents the majority of trans people from changing the gender listed on their birth certificates. Specifically, the policy prevents individuals who have yet to undergo gender-affirming surgery from changing their gender marker on their certificate.
Source:https://www.them.us/story/montana-passes-anti-trans-birth-certificate-bill
1 discriminatory diversity training ban bill in Oklahoma
HB 1775 (Oklahoma)
The bill prohibits mandatory diversity training for students in Oklahoma’s public universities with respect to sexual orientation, race stereotyping, sex stereotying and gender identity.
Alabama: 3 Bills Alaska: 1 Bill Arizona: 4 Bills Arkansas: 7 Bills Connecticut: 2 Bills Florida: 4 Bills Georgia: 4 Bills Hawaii: 1 Bill Illinois: 1 Bill Indiana: 3 Bills Iowa: 10 Bills Kansas: 4 Bills Kentucky: 5 Bills Louisiana: 4 Bills Maine: 3 Bills Massachusetts: 1 Bill Michigan: 1 Bill Minnesota: 4 Bills Mississippi: 2 Bills Missouri: 9 Bills Montana: 7 Bills New Hampshire: 2 Bills New Jersey: 1 Bill New Mexico: 1 Bill North Carolina: 2 Bills North Dakota: 1 Bill Ohio: 2 Bills Oklahoma: 4 Bills Pennsylvania: 1 Bill Rhode Island: 1 Bill South Carolina: 4 Bills South Dakota: 1 Bill Tennessee: 12 Bills Texas: 12 Bills Utah: 2 Bills Washington: 1 Bill West Virginia: 7 Bills Wisconsin: 3 Bills