Over 275 Bills Targeting LGBTQ Rights Flood State Legislatures

NEW YORK, NY - January 16, 2024 - As states across the country start their 2024 legislative sessions, the American Civil Liberties Union is already tracking 276 bills targeting LGBTQ rights in state legislatures, including efforts to censor LGBTQ-related speech, restricting school policies ensuring the safety of transgender students, and restrictions on medical care for transgender people.

In 2023, politicians introduced over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills and 80 became law-nearly triple the number introduced and passed in 2022. This includes 20 state laws that ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and at least one law in Florida heavily restricting access to medical care for transgender adults.

"Transgender people across the country are enduring a historic and dangerous effort to control our bodies and our lives, fueled by extremist politics with the goal of erasing us from public life," said Harper Seldin, Staff Attorney for the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project. "Taken together, these proposals are a blatant effort to deny transgender people the freedom to be ourselves at school, at work, and the support of the medical care many of us need to live. We at the ACLU and our nationwide affiliate network stand ready to defend our freedoms and our families from this baseless assault."

Bills active for the 2024 state legislative session are counted and categorized by the ACLU here.

The bills being introduced attack LGBTQ people, particularly trans youth, in seven primary areas:

• Health Care Access
• Lawmakers are targeting access to medical care for transgender people. Many of these bills ban affirming care for trans youth, and can even create criminal penalties for providing this care.
• Schools & Education
• State lawmakers are trying to prevent trans students from participating in school activities like sports, force teachers to out students, and censor in-school discussions of LGBTQ people and issues.
• Free Speech & Expression
• Despite the safeguards of the First Amendment's right to free expression, politicians are fighting to restrict how and when LGBTQ people can be themselves, limiting access to books about them and trying to ban or censor performances like drag shows.
• Access to Accurate IDs
• These bills attempt to limit the ability to update gender information on IDs and records, such as birth certificates and driver's licenses.
• Weakening Civil Rights Laws
• These bills attempt to undermine and weaken nondiscrimination laws by allowing employers, businesses, and even hospitals to turn away LGBTQ people or refuse them equal treatment.
• Public Accommodations
• These bills prohibit transgender people from using facilities like public restrooms and locker rooms.
• Other Anti-LGBTQ Bills
• These bills don't quite fit in any of the other categories but target the rights of LGBTQ people. Examples include restrictions on marriage and bills preempting local nondiscrimination protections.