In the past few years, the number of proposed bills targeting the rights of transgender people has increased significantly, from 21 proposed pieces of legislation in 2015 to 589 in 2024, according to the website Trans Legislation Tracker.
As legislative sessions across the country have wrapped up for the year, more states have signed into law legislation stripping the trans community of their rights and autonomy, from health care to education. Understanding what these laws do and what they mean for the trans community is key in curbing the harm done.
Of the 589 anti-trans bills proposed across the country in 2024 so far, 42 have passed, more than 300 are active and 219 have failed, according to the legislation tracker. Still, the scope and impact of the 42 laws are vast. Here are two significant laws that, unfortunately, only minutely illustrate the damage of anti-trans laws in root across the U.S.
Idaho House Bill 421
Idaho House Bill 421, passed earlier this year, represents many themes commonly found in anti-trans legislation. Primarily the bill redefines sex and gender, stating, “In human beings, there are two, and only two, sexes: male and female.”
Outside of falsely disputing the existence of intersex people — those born with a combination of sex markers considered male and female, such as hormones or genitalia — this bill proceeds to use stringent definitions of sex as a “biological truth” to discredit the trans identity and ultimately bar trans people from using bathrooms or locker rooms that don’t align with the sex assigned to them at birth. Merrick Collins, a transgender man from Idaho, testified against the bill in January while it was still in committee.
“Look at my proud beard, listen to my deepest voice,” Collins said. “I am a man. To consider me forever a woman despite all of this to make me use women’s facilities and group me with women legally and socially is an insult to myself and women.”
On a broader scale, Idaho House Bill 421 illustrates the use of redefining gender or sex in law to discriminate against the trans community. This is a common approach used in many other states — such as Mississippi — that works to deny trans people the right of existence in public spaces. By defining sex as a biological truth, and synonymizing gender with sex, transgender individuals lose the right to participate in activities/spaces that align with their gender identity.
Ohio House Bill 68
Ohio House Bill 68 is another law representative of a few common trends when it comes to erasing trans rights. The bill enacts the Ohio Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, as well as the Save Women’s Sports Act. The former prevents physicians from offering minors gender-affirming care, while the latter prevents trans athletes from participating on teams that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.
What is notable about this bill is the language disguising the consequences of it passing. Instead of being described as a bill that outlaws health care for transgender minors and vilifies trans women in sports, it is presented as a bill “saving adolescents from experimentation” and protecting women’s rights.
What the bill does is market gender-affirming care like top surgery as a procedure being done to minors rather than one trans youth seek out of their own volition, and trans athletes as anti-feminist or taking away opportunities from women. The conversation about trans women in women’s sports is a complicated one, but using feminism to demonize the transgender community is simply underhanded.
By blocking minors’ access to gender-affirming care, what Ohio House Bill 68 has actually done is express a deep disregard for the well-being of its children.
Trans youth are more than twice as likely to have depression compared to their cisgender peers, according to one Harvard study. However, it is an established fact that gender-affirming care produces long-term positive effects for trans mental health and decreases suicidal ideation in trans youth by 73%, according to the National Library of Medicine. In light of the undeniably positive effects of gender-affirming care for trans minors, it is criminal to deny them that care, though Ohio is one of 25 states that have passed such laws to bar them access.
It shouldn’t have to be said that transgender people are not evil. It shouldn’t have to be said that being transgender does not negate a person of kindness and morality. What is immoral are the laws passed and proposed that seek to restrict the rights of transgender people. Detailing every grotesque feature of these laws is an impossible task. Throughout history, many groups of people have been demonized, discriminated against and subject to unjust treatment under the law, and still it is mind-boggling how much hate continues to exist today.
However, there are groups fighting against transphobic legislation and the grief it causes. For example, the National Center for Transgender Equality seeks to raise awareness about the trans community and provide support, while the Human Rights Campaign elevates LGBTQ+ people around the globe. Donating to these organizations, supporting trans friends and family members, and voting with the trans community in mind are all ways to fight against the wave of transphobia that plagues the community.
Cora Thompson is a rising senior at The MASTERS Program. Contact them at corat.9675@gmail.com.
The Santa Fe New Mexican observes its 175th anniversary with a series highlighting some of the major stories and figures that have appeared in the paper's pages through its history. The collection also includes archival photo galleries.
