This is what happened this week in transgender rights legislation in state legislatures across the country.
- Alabama’s legislature is debating a trans erasure bill that defines gender in terms of body parts. It is a “Women’s Bill of Rights” that contains no actual rights for women and was developed by the conservative Independent Women’s Forum and Women’s Liberation Front. (AL.com)
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told the U.N. to “pound sand” when asked about a potential human rights investigation into how the state has treated LGBTQ+ people, especially trans kids. (LGBTQ Nation)
- A federal appeals court is allowing Indiana’s ban on gender-affirming care to take effect immediately. (ACLU Indiana)
- Trans advocates packed committee rooms in Kansas as hearings were held on a ban on gender-affirming care. (NPR)
- The American Psychological Association reaffirmed its support for gender-affirming care and issued a policy resolution denouncing bans on such care. (LGBTQ Nation)
- A bill to force teachers to misgender trans students and ban trans kids from using the right bathroom at school was defeated in Arizona after one Republican broke ranks with his party and voted against it. (LGBTQ Nation)
- The Nebraska Legislature tried to hold a hearing on temporary regulations for minors’ access to gender-affirming care with the state’s chief medical officer, but he decided not to go. (Nebraska Public Media)
- New York Attorney General Letitia James called Nassau County’s ban on transgender athletes “dangerous.” (Daily Voice)
- West Virginia Republicans are trying to remove an exemption to their state’s gender-affirming care ban, passed last year. The law allows gender-affirming care in cases where self-harm or suicide are likely outcomes of denying care, but now they want to remove that exemption. (AP)
- A bill banning Pride flags and discussions of LGBTQ+ people in schools in Utah was rejected by the Utah House of Representatives. (LGBTQ Nation)
