From limiting gender-affirming health care for minors to restricting who can attend drag performances, more than 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in the US so far this year.
A total of 120 bills have been filed in 22 states, the majority of which focus on young trans people.
Texas has introduced the most with 36, followed by Missouri with 26, then North Dakota with eight and Oklahoma with six.
Bills aiming to restrict transgender girls and women competing on the sporting team that aligns with their gender identity have been proposed in at least three states this year.
At least 11 have suggested legislation that would see gender-affirming health care restricted for minors.
Chase Strangio, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s LGBT and HIV Project, told NBC News that the “rightward shift in state legislatures is really scary.”
He continued: “We’re seeing continued erosion and efforts to restrain and constrict and limit bodily autonomy across the board. … There’s just a lot that I think people are taking for granted, particularly people who live in states like New York and California and aren’t paying attention to what’s going on in states like Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.”
Some of these bills have also taken aim at the art of drag, with Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia all having proposed legislation that would ban minors from going to drag performances.
Some of these would even look to classify any business that hosted such a show a “sexually oriented business.”
The surge in anti-LGBTQ+ bills has left some LGBTQ+ activists concerned that 2023 will become the worst year for such legislation on record.
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