LGBTQ Equality Maps and Bill Tracking Updates: August 2023

MAP's Equality Maps provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. In this regularly changing landscape, these are the state and local policy updates from mid-June 2023.

For a full look at LGBTQ policy throughout the year, see MAP's brief, Assessing the Damage: Reviewing How State LGBTQ Policies Changes in 2023.

State Policy Updates

Bans on medical care for transgender youth

See our Equality Map here.

See our new fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information, available below, which includes a chronology and details on effective dates, exceptions, lawsuits, and more.

Overall snapshot: 21 states have enacted these types of laws; 18 of them were enacted this year alone. Lawsuits challenging these laws have been filed in at least 13 states.

• Two bills were vetoed by the governors of Louisiana and North Carolina, which means that five states have now vetoed bans on medical care for transgender youth.
• However, on July 18, Louisiana's legislature overrode the veto. It is expected that North Carolina's legislature will attempt to override the veto in the coming days.
• New lawsuits were filed against the existing bans on medical care in Georgia, Missouri, and Texas
• Existing bans were blocked by court orders on the following dates:
• June 16: Indiana temporarily blocked the bans on medication and "aiding and abetting," but not the ban on surgical care
• June 20: Arkansas blocked the statewide ban on medical care for transgender youth. The state, however, plans to appeal the decision, however, so the case is ongoing.
• June 28: Kentucky blocked the state's ban, but it was later reversed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• June 28: Tennessee blocked the state's ban, but it was also later reversed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Note: The latest federal appeals court rulings in Kentucky and Tennessee are the outliers; to date, every single other court decision on these laws has been in favor of transgender youth and their right to access medical care.

Bans on transgender youth sports participation

See our Equality Map here.

See our new fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology of laws and vetoes, a breakdown of grade levels affected, and further analyses.

Overall snapshot: 22 states ban transgender youth from sports participation. Ten governors have vetoed these laws; four of those vetoes were overridden by legislatures.

• June 18: Texas expanded its existing K-12 sports participation ban to college sports.
• July 5: North Carolina's governor vetoed a sports ban bill. The legislature has indicated it will attempt to override this veto.
• July 20: Arizona's ban was temporarily blocked by court order.

"Don't Say LGBTQ" curriculum censorship laws

See our Equality Map here.

See our fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information here.

• June 30: The governor of Louisiana vetoed a "Don't Say LGBTQ" bill that would have applied to all grades K-12, and on July 18, the legislature failed to override the veto.
• Louisiana is one of several states that already has an older style curriculum censorship law dating back to 1987.
• July 5: The governor of North Carolina vetoed a "Don't Say LGBTQ" bill that would have applied to grades K-4, but it is expected that the legislature will attempt to override this veto in the coming days.

Targeting or restricting drag performances

See our Equality Map here.

See our fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information here.

Snapshot: At least six states have enacted laws?-?all this year?-?either targeting or explicitly restricting drag performances. So far, these laws in two states have been blocked by court rulings.

• June 18: Texas enacted a new law targeting drag, though not explicitly restricting it.
• June 23: A judge temporarily blocked Florida's law targeting drag.
• July 7: A lawsuit was filed challenging Montana's law restricting drag.
• July 28: A judge temporarily blocked Montana's law restricting drag.

Banning gender marker changes on driver's licenses

See our Equality Map here.

See our fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information here.

• July 10: In Kansas, a court ordered that transgender and nonbinary residents are, for now, forbidden from changing the gender marker on their driver's license under any circumstance.
• While at least eight other states make it extremely difficult and burdensome to update a driver's license, Kansas is now the only state to explicitly forbid any changes.
• The July 10 court order was set to expire on July 24, but the judge later extended it until at least November 1 as the court case continues.

Background: This court order is a result of an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the state's recent new law defining "sex" (see more in the section below). Though this law itself doesn't ban gender marker changes on identity documents, the Kansas attorney general sued his own state, arguing that future gender marker changes should be banned and that previously issued changes should be revoked.

Defining sex to allow discrimination

See our Equality Map here.

See our fact sheet with supporting citations and additional information here.

Snapshot: Five states have defined sex throughout state law to effectively allow discrimination against transgender and non-binary people.

• August 2: Oklahoma's governor signed an executive order to define sex throughout state law in exclusionary ways. This is the first executive order of this type, following four other states' enacting similar legislation this year.
• As noted above, these laws are already being leveraged to try to ban people from updating the gender marker on their identity documents and to more broadly discriminate against transgender people.

Enacting new, pro-LGBTQ laws

Click each link to go directly to the relevant Equality Map or state profile.

Paid family leave

Both Minnesota and Maine enacted new paid family leave laws this year, including expansive definitions of "family member" that would apply broadly, reflecting the way many LGBTQ people (and others) make families.

Restricting conversion "therapy"

Snapshot: To date, 22 states and the District of Columbia states ban or restrict the harmful practice of conversion "therapy."

• June 27: Arizona's governor issued an executive order partially banning conversion "therapy" by forbidding state funds and resources from going toward this harmful and discredited practice.
• July 26: Michigan fully banned the practice. Michigan's statewide ban on conversion "therapy" moves the state up to "Medium" on our Overall LGBTQ Policy Tally.

 

Transgender health care "shield" protections

Snapshot: To date, 14 states and the District of Columbia have either an executive order or legislation protecting access to gender-affirming health care in their state.

• June 25: New York (legislation)
• June 27: Arizona (executive order
• July 13: Oregon (legislation)

Arizona's governor issued multiple executive orders protecting transgender health care and LGBTQ youth more broadly.

• In addition to the new "shield" protections and restriction on conversion "therapy," the governor also ordered that the state's employee health plan remove its discriminatory exclusion of transgender-related care.

Local Level Policy Updates

DeKalb County, Georgia enacted a new nondiscrimination ordinance.

• The ordinance includes both sexual orientation and gender identity. It applies to public accommodations (but not employment or housing). Additionally, it applies only to unincorporated areas of the county.

MAP's LGBTQ Equality Bill Tracker

To continue highlighting trends across the country, included below are MAP's current bill tracking counts for LGBTQ-related bills in state legislatures.

Note that these counts may differ from other organizations or public counts for a variety of reasons, and this work is greatly facilitated by the leadership and work of other organizations including the Equality Federation and their member state groups.

The count of anti-LGBTQ bills so far in 2023 is:

• At least 740 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across at least 47 states.
• At least 152 anti-transgender medical care bans or related bills have been introduced across at least 37 states.
• At least 75 anti-transgender sports bans or related bills have been introduced across at least 31 states.
• At least 56 anti-drag bills have been introduced across at least 21 states.

To schedule an interview with a MAP researcher or for questions please contact Rebecca Farmer at rebecca@mapresearch.org.

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About MAP: MAP's mission is to provide independent and rigorous research, insight and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. MAP works to ensure that all people have a fair chance to pursue health and happiness, earn a living, take care of the ones they love, be safe in their communities, and participate in civic life. www.mapresearch.org