Equality Maps

LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: September 2024

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 a listing of state and local level policy changes, plus MAP updates, as of September 18, 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 26 states with a ban or restriction on medically necessary, prescribed health care for transgender youth. Now 2 in 5 (40%) transgender youth live in states with these bans. However, lawsuits have been filed against the bans in 17 of these states.

• August 6: In Ohio, a court allowed the state’s ban to go into effect. The ruling also allowed the state’s ban on transgender youth playing school sports to go into effect, as the two policies were part of the same bill. The ACLU said it would appeal.
• August 26: In Florida, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the state’s ban on transgender health care to go into effect again. It had previously been blocked by court ruling, including multiple provisions affecting adult access to care, but this latest development reversed that ruling.

Equality Map: Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth

Gender markers on identity documents

For driver’s license policies, see our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here. For birth certificate policies, see our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.

• August 2: The Missouri Department of Revenue changed its rules without public comment or notice, adding similarly burdensome requirements of either medical documentation from a surgeon showing “proof of full transition” or a court order (which often also requires medical documentation). This overnight change replaces Missouri’s former policy that had been in place since at least 2016, requiring only a form with a provider’s signature attesting to the individual’s gender identity.
• August 20: Without public notice or comment opportunities, Texas instituted a new and total ban on any changes to the gender marker on a driver’s license.
• August 30: Shortly after, Texas also instituted a similar total ban on changes to the gender marker on a birth certificate, again without any public comment or notice.
• September: As covered by The 19th News in July, Florida had stopped processing gender marker changes on birth certificates, despite at least a decade of doing so. We initially changed Florida to “unknown or unclear policy” on our map, given no official policy or comment from the state government. However, Equality Florida reports the state is still refusing to issue updated gender markers, and so we updated our map to reflect their actions.

In 2024 alone, at least five states (Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Missouri, and Texas) have bypassed the legislative process and weaponized state agencies to ban or severely restrict the ability of transgender people to access accurate IDs.

Last year, Tennessee and Kansas became the first states to institute a total ban on gender marker changes to driver’s licenses, following new laws regulating gender by defining “sex.” Today, four states totally ban these changes, and another nine states impose severe requirements. At the beginning of last year (2023), 0% of transgender people lived in states with total bans on gender marker changes to driver’s licenses. Today, 17% — or one in six transgender people — live in states with such bans.

Equality Maps: Identity Document Laws and Policies

Pathways to legal recognition of parent-child relationships

See our Equality Maps on different pathways to parentage here. Each map has a corresponding factsheet available through the orange button beneath the map legend.

• August 8: In Massachusetts, the state enacted the Massachusetts Parentage Act, strengthening existing pathways and adding new ones including recognition of parents using assisted reproduction, regardless of marital status.

▸▸ Local Level Policy Updates

• June 19: Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania, enacted an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance covering all three areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. The ordinance also bans conversion “therapy.”
• September 5: Lorain, Ohio, banned conversion “therapy” at the local level. It is the 12th municipality in the state to do so, and the first this year.