2023’s Legislative Attacks on LGBTQ+ Rights, by the Numbers

Each passing year feels like a difficult one for LGBTQ+ rights, but even by the standards of recent history, 2023 was historically tough. The year boasted, by far, the largest-ever number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures. Although estimates vary widely, even conservative totals put the number of anti-LGBTQ+ legislative proposals at over 500 — a 60% increase from the year prior. According to the ACLU’s legislation tracker, just three states in the entire country — Delaware, Illinois, and New York — did not consider a bill in 2023 seeking to curtail the rights of queer and trans Americans.

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Among the most extreme and harmful anti-LGBTQ+ laws to be enacted in 2023 were a pair of Florida statutes that make it illegal for trans people to use public restrooms that correspond with their gender and allow courts to remove trans children from affirming homes during custody disputes. The former law, which applies to state-owned buildings, makes Florida the first state in history to impose criminal penalties on trans restroom use, which is now potentially a misdemeanor trespassing offense. The year’s other legislative low points include the nation’s first bills targeting drag, such as laws passed in Florida, Montana, and Tennessee. Tennessee’s drag ban, which has been struck down in court, was particularly grievous: If it had been enforced, SB 3 would have charged violators with a class A misdemeanor (which can mean a jail time of about a year and fines up to $2,500) on the first offense — punishable with a year in prison — and a class E felony (which carries fines of up to $3,000 and a prison sentence of one to six years) after subsequent infractions.

While LGBTQ+ advocates have found success in fighting these laws through the courts — with Florida and Montana’s drag bans also enjoined — the rapid proliferation of “Don’t Say Gay” and “Don’t Say Trans” laws are still standing, as of now. After Florida became the first state last year to enact restrictions on discussions of LGBTQ+ issues or people in school curricula, six more states followed in 2023: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Meanwhile, five states (Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and Tennessee) now require that schools notify parents before LGBTQ+ topics are addressed in class, giving guardians the chance to opt out of the curriculum on behalf of their kids.

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The effects of 2023’s political attacks on LGBTQ+ people will likely be felt for generations to come, but they are already painfully evident. Trans youth and their families have fled their home communities now that trans youth health care bans have been enacted in nearly every state in the American South, with just South Carolina left as a refuge for trans minors. Among those to join the growing list of states to outlaw life-saving medical treatments for trans youth this year include Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. Kentucky’s trans medical care ban is arguably the worst anti-trans bill ever to be signed into law in the U.S. The sweeping omnibus legislation also included language banning trans students from using the restroom most appropriate for them in schools, requiring school faculty and staff to out trans youth to their parents, and allowing teachers to refuse to use of a student’s pronouns.

(*) This article is heavily biased in favor of homosexuals, but its purpose here on AltrightTV.com is to show you that ‘We the People’ are fed up with the LGBTQ+ agenda here in America.

* Original Article:

https://www.them.us/story/2023s-legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-by-the-numbers