Since January, 556 anti-trans legislation bills have been introduced across the United States. As of June, 85 state-level bills have passed, while 105 have failed and 366 are still active. The numbers will continue to vary from there, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker.
One state-level bill has been introduced by Republicans in New York which would “protect women’s sports in middle school and high school from unfair competition.” The legislation proposes to ban students that are not assigned female at birth to participate in sports, which includes transgender and genderqueer students.
To give a definition, transgender means a person is a gender they were not assigned at birth. While genderqueer means a person is not a binary gender or goes by binary gender norms. Students who are transgender or genderqueer are crucially affected by this New York state legislation due to not being cisgender, or in this case, cisgender female.
On March 29, the Kentucky state legislature passed a law similar to that proposed in New York, according to an article by Today. This law bans “gender-affirming care for transgender youth, restricting the bathrooms trans students can use in school.”
Laws like the ones in New York and Kentucky are harmful to trans and gender non-conforming students. Many of those students are at a young age where they are exploring their bodies in ways that teachers cannot explain to them. With anti-trans laws being in place, they can be excluded and isolated from schools just for being trans or gender non-conforming, and left without guidance.
The long history behind American anti-trans legislation dates back as early as the 1950s and 60s. At the time in the U.S., political campaigns targeted and discriminated against gay people, viewing them as abnormal and dangerous to society. Due to these harmful campaigns, thousands were dismissed from their jobs or not employed due to their sexual orientation.
Frank Kameny was one of many fired from his job in 1957. Kameny petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for relief in recognition of his civil rights, according to an article by History. When the Court declined to take the case, he picketed the White House and spent the rest of his life countering workplace discrimination.
Not only did such discrimination personally affect the lives of queer people, it strongly discouraged the expression of queerness to the point of complete erasure in society. This led many people from the LGBTQ+ community to suppress their identities to the point of “passing” as straight around others to protect themselves. Effeminate gay men, butch lesbians, low-income trans women, “street queens” and other gender non-conforming people were arrested and criminalized for dressing or behaving in a way that police officers deemed as inappropriate or unnatural for someone of a certain sex.
One infamous anti-LGBTQ law in 1950, in particular, was the Lavender Scare — a policy that was based on the fear of gay men and women posing a threat to the federal government. This notion of fear came from the belief that they could be vulnerable to blackmail by foreign governments. However, no evidence was found to support this notion, which purely scapegoated gays and lesbians.
Then in 2018, one of the first anti-trans legislation bills was introduced in New Hampshire that explicitly prohibits gender re-affirming healthcare for trans youth such as hormone replacement treatment (HRT), puberty blockers and “sex reassignment surgeries”.
Another New Hampshire legislative bill — from the current year — is a parental bill of rights in schools. The terms of this legislation require all parents to be notified of information related to the health, well-being and educational progress of their children while they are in custody and control a New Hampshire public school.
However, on May 18, the New Hampshire House voted to indefinitely postpone the “parental bill of rights” in a 195-190 vote, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin. The action to postpone greatly helps LGBTQ+ students like Tess Sumner protect their human rights, who was at the House that day to watch the vote.
On the other hand, State representative Arlene Quaratiello claims that the parental bill of rights was never meant to out any LGBTQ+ youth, but to empower parent-child relationships and help children navigate complicated life situations. However, regardless of how well-intentioned this bill might be, it is still important to make sure children’s safety at home is prioritized.
The biggest issue about the ongoing attempts to oppress trans rights is many Republicans’ desperate attempt to eradicate anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community in America, according to a PBS article by Kate Sosin. She quotes evangelical Dartmouth professor Randall Balmer, who says that “when one issue fades as with same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, they’ve got to find something else.” As Balmer said, it seems like the Republican Party will stop at nothing to erase the LGBTQ+ community in any way they can through legislation.
The last decade has been a whirlwind for LGBTQ+ politics as legislative laws continue to oppress the rights of the community. While times have changed since slandering and scapegoating political campaigns, laws still target trans and gender non-conforming youth today. There is tremendous support for young people in the LGBTQ+ community, but there is still a long way to go for them to be wholly accepted by mainstream society.
Featured image: Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
Edited by: James Sutton