Fight Back and Help Defeat Anti-Transgender State Legislation!
by Rhodes Perry
Last year was — once again — a record year for anti-transgender bills in state legislatures. In 2017, more than 60 bills were introduced in nearly half of the nation’s legislatures, all designed to attack the basic rights of trans people in those states.
These bills went after the right to be treated with dignity in all aspects of life, from denying trans people’s access to life-saving health care to targeting transgender youth in school and child welfare settings, from creating sweeping exemptions that allowed trans people to be kicked out of public spaces or turned away from essential services, to prohibiting individual cities from protecting trans people from discrimination.
Fortunately, we defeated the vast majority of these anti-transgender bills, thanks to so many transgender people and our allies located in states all across the country. So many of you made a difference — by speaking up, sharing your stories, and fighting back.
We need you to step up once again and help us beat back these bills.
We’re bracing for another wave of anti-transgender legislation. To make sure that you have the most up-to-date information on bills in your state, we are launching our 2018 State Action Center, where you can learn what bills have been filed and what you can do to stop them.
Already, legislators in 8 states have filed 13 anti-transgender bills, and more are expected to be filled over the next few weeks. Similar to the past few years, we are seeing bills that threaten to harm transgender people and their loved ones. Some examples are:
- bills that try to prevent trans people from getting transition-related care,
- bills that force trans children out of the restrooms matching their gender at school,
- bills that encourage businesses to discriminate against trans people, and even
- bills making it a crime for parents to support their trans children.
Many anti-transgender state legislators will continue to attack us this year, and we need your help now, more than ever, to fight back. We are honored to stand up alongside transgender communities across the country to push back against those state legislators who want to make it harder for us to live our lives every day.
Take action today by subscribing to our email list to get regular updates on state legislation — and keep checking the State Action Center over the coming months to find out what you can do to protect trans people in your state.
