Equality Maps
LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: November 2023
MAP’s Equality Maps provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. In this regularly changing landscape, these are the state and local policy updates over the last month.
▸▸ 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.
- October 5: In Oklahoma, the state’s ban went into effect, after a court ruled against the families of transgender youth by denying their motion for a preliminary injunction (temporary block) of the ban. LGBTQ advocates are appealing the court’s ruling, and the lawsuit continues.
- October 11: A new lawsuit was filed against North Carolina’s ban on medical care for transgender youth.
- November 1: Advocates in the lawsuit against Tennessee’s ban officially asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will do so.
Bans on transgender kids playing school sports
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology of laws and vetoes, a breakdown of grade applicability, and further analyses.
- October 12: In Alaska, new regulations from the state Board of Education were formally filed and approved. This created regulatory ban on transgender girls playing on girls’ teams in high school sports, which goes into effect on November 11.
Targeting or restricting drag performances
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- October 11: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that blocked Florida’s law targeting drag — keeping the block in place and ruling the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
- October 13: A federal court in Montana extended its temporary block on the state’s law explicitly restricting drag. This keeps the block in place as the court case continues.
Bans on transgender people’s use of bathrooms and facilities
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- October 27: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked Idaho’s bathroom ban for transgender students in schools.
Transgender-inclusive health benefits for state employees
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- October 19: Georgia settled a lawsuit with TLDEF, ending the state’s discriminatory exclusion of transgender-related health care for state employees. Effective immediately, the state will cover this healthcare for state employees and their dependents.
