Advocates brace for anti-LGBTQ backlash at state level after Biden victory

Legislators in Montana advanced two bills Monday focused on transgender youth: House Bill 112 would prohibit transgender student athletes from participating on teams that correspond to their gender identities, and House Bill 113 would prohibit health care professionals from providing gender-affirming care to trans minors.

The bills working through Montana's Legislature are among an estimated 21 anti-LGBTQ measures that have been filed or pre-filed for 2021 state legislative sessions, according to Freedom for All Americans, an organization advocating for LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections.

"We often see backlash" after advancements in LGBTQ rights, he said, citing the flurry of measures targeting LGBTQ people after the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Bostock v.

Strangio said that with fewer opportunities to roll back LGBTQ rights at the federal level under President Joe Biden — who has signed multiple pro-LGBTQ executive orders — he's not surprised that opponents are zeroing in on the states.

The bills touch on athletics, health care and a grab bag of other issues related to queer rights and recognition.

In Kentucky, SB 83 would prohibit "discrimination" against any health care provider who refuses to administer care because of a religious objection.

In New Hampshire, HB 68 would expand the definition of "child abuse" to encompass parents' provision of gender-affirming care, while bills in Alabama, Missouri and Indiana would make it a crime for physicians to give any gender-affirming care to a minor.

Research released in September in the journal Pediatrics found that transgender children who receive gender-affirming medical care earlier in their lives are less likely to experience mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Other bills that have alarmed LGBTQ advocates include Indiana's HB 1456, which aims to prohibit transgender people's access to bathrooms that match their gender identities; South Dakota's HB 1076, which would require birth certificates to reflect biological sex; North Dakota's HB 1476, which would codify discrimination against LGBTQ people; and Iowa's Senate File 80, which would require schools to alert parents if their children are asked by school employees about their "preferred" pronouns.

LGBTQ advocates say that the statute is used to harass transgender women of color and that its repeal is necessary to end targeted discrimination.

Maryland legislators introduced a measure that would make it easier for transgender people to legally change their names.

Since he took office last week, Biden has taken several actions applauded by LGBTQ advocates, including issuing an executive order that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity across federal agencies and another that rescinds former President Donald Trump's ban on transgender people's serving openly in the military

With Biden in the White House and Democrats in control of Congress, Suffredini and other advocates are optimistic about passage of pro-LGBTQ federal legislation, including the Equality Act, which would grant LGBTQ people federal protections from discrimination in employment, housing, credit, education, use of public space, public funding and jury service