Factbox: New U.S. state laws directed at transgender youth

by Reuters
Friday, 20 May 2022 08:41 GMT

A person wearing a rainbow mask is seen during the Brooklyn Liberation's Protect Trans Youth event in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, U.S., June 13, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

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As transgender rights emerges as a major front in America's culture wars, here's a round up of bills directed at transgender youth passed or enacted this year:

May 19 (Reuters) - Conservative lawmakers have passed a flurry of bills this year directed at transgender youth, including measures that bar classroom discussion of gender identity, block access to healthcare to help young people transition, and restrict participation in sports.

The Republican-sponsored legislation comes in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, with transgender rights emerging as a major front in America's culture wars.

Here are some of the bills passed or enacted this year:

SCHOOL SPORTS BANS

ARIZONA: Governor Doug Ducey signed a law that bans transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams in public and private schools.

KENTUCKY: The legislature, overriding Democratic Governor Andy Beshear's veto, enacted a law that bans trans women and girls from school sports teams in grades six through 12 and at Kentucky colleges and universities.

INDIANA: Republican Governor Eric Holcomb vetoed a bill banning trans girls from girls' school sports. Republican leaders in the legislators have vowed to override it.

IOWA: Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill requiring student athletes to join school sports team based on "sex at birth" across public and private schools as well as in higher education.

KANSAS: Governor Laura Kelly's veto of a bill to ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports will stand. Proponents of the bill did not get the two-thirds majority needed in the state's House of Representatives to overturn the Democratic governor's veto, essentially killing the bill despite a vote by state senators to override that veto.

LOUISIANA: A bill prohibiting transgender girls and young women from joining girls' school sports teams is one procedural vote away from the desk of Governor John Bel Edwards. The law applies to public schools, including colleges, and private schools that receive state funding.

OKLAHOMA: Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill banning transgender girls from participating and competing in girls' school sports. The law also requires parents or guardians of student athletes under 18 to sign an affidavit "acknowledging the biological sex of the student at birth."

SOUTH DAKOTA: Governor Kristi Noem, a Republican, signed a bill prohibiting trans women and girls from playing on girls' school sports.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Republican Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill banning transgender athletes from playing school sports that match their gender identity in public elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges, as well as private school teams that compete against public schools.

TENNESSEE: Governor Bill Lee signed legislation extending last year's law prohibiting transgender women and girls from female sports teams to apply to collegiate sports.

UTAH: Lawmakers voted to override Governor Spencer Cox's veto on a bill banning transgender girls' participation in girls' sports teams in school. Cox, a Republican, called the bill a flawed measure in explaining his veto.

HEALTHCARE RESTRICTIONS

ARIZONA: Doug Ducey, the Republican governor, signed into law a bill banning physicians from performing "irreversible gender reassignment surgery" on minors.

ALABAMA: Republican Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed into law a bill that would criminalize parents and health care professionals who provide transition-related medical care to minors, with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. The bill is being challenged in court.

TEXAS: Bypassing the legislative process, Governor Greg Abbott issued an order to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children. The order is currently being challenged in court.

OTHER RESTRICTIONS

FLORIDA: Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans any classroom conversation, including instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, and says all teaching for grades 4-12 must be "age-appropriate," wording that is not defined in the bill. The law allows parents to sue school districts they believe to be in violation.

ALABAMA: Kay Ivey, the Republican governor, signed a bill requiring students in public schools to use bathrooms and changing rooms that match the gender on their original birth certificates. The measure also prohibits classroom discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grades.

OKLAHOMA: Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a measure prohibiting nonbinary designation on birth certificates and limiting it to male or female.

Sources: State legislatures and governments, The Human Rights Campaign, Equality Federation, Freedom for all Americans, ACLU, Freedom Oklahoma.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani; Editing by Diane Craft, David Gregorio and Richard Pullin)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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