Changing Legal Landscape
It has scarcely been eight years since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, but recent legislation has dramatically changed LGBTQIA+ rights for the worse, particularly for transgender youth. According to Amnesty International USA, “In the first four months of 2023, state legislatures introduced more than 470 anti-LGBTQI+ bills — most targeting transgender youth. That’s more bills attacking LGBTQI+ rights than in all of 2022. In 2023 alone, 560 anti-trans bills have been proposed, 85 have passed, 123 have failed and 352 are still active. Among the proposed bills, 45 are from Minnesota’s neighboring states, which together have passed almost twenty percent of all adopted bills. At the federal level 27 have been introduced that attack transgender rights, including one that the House of Representatives passed that requires schools to inform parents if their minor child attempts to change any gender markers, pronouns, or bathroom use. In addition to bills designed to “out” trans adolescents, many others focus on requiring athletes to play sports according to their biological sex or denying youth access to gender affirming treatments. In response to this wave of legislation, Minnesota passed legislation preventing out-of-state extradition, arrest warrants, subpoenas, or removal of children from parents due to the child receiving gender affirming care. For the full report, click here.