Equality Maps
LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: February 2024
Legislative sessions are commencing across the states, and we are already seeing an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills in 2024. As of February 8, state legislatures have introduced over 400 anti-LGBTQ bills, according to the ACLU. This year is on track to break 2023’s record for the highest number of anti-LGBTQ bills to date.
In this rapidly changing landscape, MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Maps provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. See below for state-level policy updates as of February 8, 2024, as well as policy trends to anticipate in 2024.
▸▸ State Policy Updates
Bans on medical care for transgender youth
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology and details on effective dates, exceptions, lawsuits, and more.
There are now 23 states with a ban or restriction on medically necessary, prescribed health care for transgender youth. More than one-third (38%) of transgender youth live in states with these bans. However, lawsuits have been filed against the bans in 16 of these states, with another lawsuit soon to be filed in Ohio.
- December 6: In Wisconsin, the governor vetoed a ban, becoming the sixth governor to do so.
- December 26: A federal judge temporarily blocked Idaho’s ban on medical care for transgender youth, and in late January, this block was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- January 8: A new lawsuit was filed against Louisiana’s medical care ban.
- January 11: The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unfortunately allowed Alabama’s ban to go into full effect.
- January 24: Ohio’s Senate overrode the governor’s late-December veto of a medical care ban. The law is scheduled to go into effect April 24, 2024, though the ACLU has already stated their intent to sue prior to that date. Governor DeWine is the seventh governor to veto a ban to date.
Shortly following the Ohio governor’s veto, his administration proposed multiple new regulations that would severely restrict, if not effectively ban, medical care for transgender people of any age. On February 7, Ohio’s Health Department announced it is striking several provisions regarding transgender adults’ access to care in the governor’s proposed regulations, according to The Hill.
Bans on transgender kids playing school sports
See our Equality Map and our supporting citations with additional information, including a chronology of laws and vetoes, a breakdown of grade applicability, and further analyses.
There are now 25 states that ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) transgender youth live in states with these bans.
- January 24: Ohio’s Senate overrode the governor’s late-December veto of a ban on transgender youth playing school sports. This makes Governor DeWine the 11th governor to veto a sports ban. The law is scheduled to go into effect April 24, 2024.
Gender marker changes on driver’s licenses
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations sheet with additional information here.
- January 26: In Florida, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) issued a memo banning all gender marker changes on driver’s licenses, effective immediately. The memo also noted criminal and civil penalties for licenses that reflect a transgender person’s gender identity, rather than their sex assigned at birth.
Follow Equality Florida for more information as this latest escalation in the state’s ongoing attacks on transgender people continues to develop.
Bans on transgender people’s use of bathrooms and facilities
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
Ten states ban transgender people from using bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity. Two of these states include criminal penalties.
- January 31: Utah enacted a bathroom and facilities ban. The ban applies to bathrooms in K-12 schools, and additional provisions apply broadly to any publicly owned or controlled “changing rooms.” (See our citations fact sheet for more on how these spaces are defined.)
The law also creates multiple potential criminal penalties under different scenarios. While these penalties do not apply to K-12 school settings, confusion around these multiple scenarios and differing penalties may lead to further heightened scrutiny of transgender people’s bathroom use.
Defining “sex” to allow discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
Seven states have enacted policies that explicitly define “sex” throughout state law to allow discrimination against transgender people.
- January 31: Utah’s bathroom ban law also created exclusionary definitions of “sex” and applied those definitions throughout all state law to enable discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people.
In combination with the bathroom ban provisions, this moves Utah to “Negative” on our Gender Identity Policy Tally. Utah is the first state in 2024 to enact such a law.
▸▸ Looking Back, Looking Forward: Policy Trends Affecting LGBTQ People
In our 2023 Equality Maps Updates, MAP tracked the number of anti-LGBTQ bills being introduced across state legislative sessions.
Our 2023 counts broke records, with more than 750 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced. A snapshot of laws that were enacted in 2023 in the policy areas we track includes the following:
- Bans on transgender youth and/or adult medical care: 19 states
- School curriculum censorship laws: 6 states
- Forced outing laws: 8 states
- Bans on sports participation for transgender youth: 6 new states, 2 states expanded existing bans
- Bans on bathrooms and facilities access: 6 states
- Sex definition laws: 4 new state laws, 2 new executive orders
It is important to note while 2023’s total anti-LGBTQ bill count was devastatingly high, most of these bills — an estimated 90% — were defeated last year.
As we look to the months ahead, MAP’s experts are again tracking anti-LGBTQ legislation and closely watching the following policy areas and more:
- Bans on best practice medical care for both transgender youth and adults
- Sex definition bills, with new and specific provisions restricting access to bathrooms and facilities, stripping existing LGBTQ protections, and more
- Religious exemptions laws: there is a resurgence of these types of bills related to marriage recognition, medical care (both for transgender people and broader medical care), and school settings (e.g., teachers’ exemptions from pronoun use, and more).
- Forced outing laws
In our forthcoming updates, MAP will continue to highlight these policy areas, MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Bill Tracker, state and local level updates, and more.
▸▸ MAP Policy Research Updates
MAP released the latest report in its longstanding Standard Annual Reporting project, which assesses the financial health and well-being of major LGBTQI movement organizations.
The 2023 National LGBTQI Movement Report focuses on fiscal year 2022 and shows that across all organizations combined, the number of donors at every level of giving increased from the prior fiscal year, even sometimes reversing longer-term trends.
Click here to read the full 2023 report and more.
▸▸ Early Insights from the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey
The National Center for Transgender Equality released early findings from the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey. The report highlights the experiences of transgender people, including discrimination many transgender people face, and the need for policy and social change to ensure that they can live full, healthy, and authentic lives.
The 2022 survey saw three times the number of respondents compared to 2015, with over 92,000 participants. Some of the main findings include:
- Nearly half (47%) of respondents thought about moving to another state because their state government considered or passed laws that target transgender people for unequal treatment (such as banning access to bathrooms, health care, or sports).
- Five percent (5%) of respondents moved out of state because of such state action.
- More than half of trans adults reported that their families were either supportive or highly supportive of their identity and gender expression.
The incredible survey is a historic milestone that provides insight into the vibrant lives of trans people. Explore the early insights at ustranssurvey.org.
