On April 19, as Iowa’s 2024 legislative session neared its end, Pete McRoberts and his team from the ACLU of Iowa remained at the statehouse. They had already spent nearly eight hours dealing with an unexpected legislative battle. At 4 p.m., a bill aimed at assisting veterans’ families by extending the window for modifying death certificates took an unexpected turn and became anti-transgender.
The sudden amendment was not aimed at benefiting veterans or their families. Instead, it introduced a strict definition of sex into the already restrictive policy on updating birth certificates for transgender individuals in the state. This amendment linked a measure that harms a specific demographic with a piece of legislation intended to assist people throughout the state. The revised definition of “sex” now disregards an individual’s psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender, focusing solely on the biological indication of male and female.
Local LGBTQ+ advocacy groups expressed concern over the implications of this policy, as it effectively prohibited transgender individuals in Iowa from updating their birth certificates. This restriction meant that trans people would be unable to obtain accurate personal identity documents, which can lead to increased instances of harassment and discrimination in their everyday lives.
Republican lawmakers in statehouses throughout the United States have been employing a familiar tactic for years. They have been altering legislation designed to aid students, veterans, and local industries, often at the eleventh hour and without affording the public an opportunity to provide input. This is in addition to bills that are stripped of their original content and substituted with anti-trans provisions, as part of a deliberate effort to pass laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community by any means possible.
But there is a noticeable shift taking place: despite the efforts of states to implement more extreme measures in order to pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws, they are finding less success. Lawmakers from the Republican party have been altering state legislation that was initially designed to be inclusive for all, and instead transforming them into bills that curtail the rights of a minority. However, these bills are now being withdrawn or rejected before they even reach the voting stage.
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During the final day of Iowa’s legislative session, amidst the chaos, the Republican who initially proposed the anti-trans amendment unexpectedly dropped it at 10:30 p.m. without providing an explanation on the House floor. For McRoberts, this incident was indicative of a larger trend in Iowa, aligning with the shift witnessed in other Republican-controlled states. Over time, lawmakers have become increasingly assertive in their pursuit of anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
In 2024, Iowa Republicans put forth the fourth-highest number of anti-LGBTQ+ state bills, according to the national ACLU. However, only four out of the 37 bills proposed were eventually signed into law.
According to McRoberts, while the bill may have been killed, the ideas behind it will continue to persist. He stressed that safety can only be assured once the legislature has adjourned.
In recent years, there have been instances where lawmakers have attempted to pass anti-trans laws during the final moments of their legislative session. Notably, in Alabama and Kentucky, these bills were eventually signed into law. This year, Republican lawmakers in several states followed suit, disrupting the usual governance process by introducing anti-LGBTQ+ bills or obstructing the passage of other legislation to prioritize anti-LGBTQ+ efforts, according to advocates.
During this year, however, there has been a noticeable shift in dynamics. In March, as Georgia’s legislative session neared its end, Republicans made a remarkable attempt to incorporate policies specifically aimed at transgender students into bills that were initially designed to benefit all students in the state. Their focus was on a bill intended to establish mental health screenings and provide additional resources for student-athletes.
The bill underwent significant changes and was transformed into a law that prohibits sex education for students below 6th grade, restricts transgender students from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity, prohibits transgender students from using restrooms that match their gender identity, and grants parents the right to be informed about every library book their child checks out. It is ironic that despite the bill still addressing mental health for student-athletes, numerous studies have consistently demonstrated that legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community negatively impacts students’ mental well-being.
According to the Georgia Recorder, Republicans in Georgia took a surprising step by amending a bill that initially focused on providing overdose reversal drugs in government buildings. The amendment included a ban on puberty blockers for transgender youth, catching Democrats off guard. It seems that the previous ban on hormone replacement therapy for trans youth, implemented in 2023, was not sufficient for Georgia Republicans.
Transgender Georgians, their families, and allies successfully fought against the largest number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills ever introduced in one legislative session in Georgia. Despite changes made to these bills without public input, none of them, including the ones with last-minute language additions, were passed. Jeff Graham, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Georgia Equality, highlighted the lack of opportunities for public comment regarding these changes.
Former State Rep. Mauree Turner of Oklahoma, who made history as the first openly nonbinary state legislator in the United States, became accustomed to witnessing Republicans disregard the rules during their tenure in office. They observed Republicans consistently introducing motions to bypass the rules in order to insert new amendments into bills, undermining the original purpose of the bills and incorporating transphobic language.
Turner, a Democrat, observed that when it came to addressing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policy in Oklahoma, the response from party leaders and Democrats was lackluster. In a state where Republicans hold control over both legislative chambers, Democrats seemed reluctant to speak up or risk alienating their conservative colleagues by discussing transgender individuals. Turner, for instance, advocated for trans-inclusivity in Democrats’ public discussions about abortion access. However, they were told that such messaging wouldn’t effectively resonate with Republicans. Yet, as Turner pointed out, Republicans already disregard their input, so why dilute the message?
“We have the power to make the shift and the change as elected officials. It is important for us to do more,” they asserted.
For years, Oklahoma Republican lawmakers have been strategically altering noncontroversial bills to advance their anti-trans policies.
During a special legislative session in 2022, Republicans in Oklahoma made a proposal to replace a bill concerning state payroll systems with a bill that would prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender youth at state-funded hospitals. This proposal was successfully passed, resulting in the cessation of gender-affirming care at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health, which happens to be the primary provider of such care in the state. Cindy Nguyen, the policy director for the ACLU of Oklahoma, highlighted the significant impact of this decision.
Nguyen emphasized the importance of staying vigilant and monitoring changes constantly. “Sometimes we only become aware of these changes if we are closely following them 24/7,” Nguyen pointed out. “There have been instances where bills that initially had no connection to anti-queer legislation suddenly transformed into something else overnight.”
In 2023, Republicans in Oklahoma requested a bill to be substituted. The original bill aimed to establish the “rights of individuals in Oklahoma to use internal combustion engines and gas-fueled stoves.” However, the Republicans proposed a new bill that sought to redefine sex based on reproductive capacity. This bill aimed to exclude transgender individuals from civil rights protections, employment protections, and educational benefits. Despite their efforts, the bill did not pass.
Oklahoma lawmakers proposed a total of 55 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community this year, surpassing other states in their efforts. However, only one of these bills was successfully passed into law. According to Nguyen, this lack of progress can be attributed to Republican lawmakers who faced pressure from their constituents following the tragic death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student who was bullied and subsequently passed away. In order to avoid further negative attention on the state, legislators were hesitant to support measures that could perpetuate the harmful views expressed by the state superintendent of Oklahoma’s public schools, who denied the existence of transgender and nonbinary individuals.
According to Nguyen, despite the introduction of anti-trans bills, lawmakers may be aware that such actions could jeopardize their chances of being reelected or bring negative attention to them. Nguyen believes that the incident involving Nex has sparked anger among parents, teachers, and students.
According to Turner, the Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma didn’t make as many efforts to replace routine laws with anti-trans laws this year. This can be attributed to the groundwork they had laid in the previous four years. The rise of anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and rhetoric has made these lawmakers more confident in openly promoting harmful policies, without feeling the need to conceal their intentions as much as they did before.
According to Turner, “Blatantly bad bills were initiated at the start of the session this year. There was no need to conceal their bigotry because Democrats were well-aware that there would be minimal resistance.”
Missouri, along with Tennessee, introduced a significant number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year. In an unprecedented move, far-right Republicans in Missouri disrupted regular proceedings to prioritize the passing of anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
The Missouri Senate deliberated on various bills for more than four weeks after the commencement of its legislative session. During this time, the state’s recently formed far-right Freedom Caucus became an official part of the state legislature.
Missouri witnessed a decline in the number of bills passed into law this year, with only 50 bills being enacted. This is the lowest number since 2020, when the country was grappling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In the previous years, from 2021 to 2023, the state General Assembly managed to pass approximately 70 bills into law annually. Shira Berkowitz, the senior director of public policy and advocacy at PROMO, Missouri’s LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, believes that this decrease in legislative activity can be attributed to the dysfunction caused by the friction between mainstream Republican lawmakers and their far-right colleagues.
According to Berkowitz, the infighting primarily revolved around the dissemination of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric by the newly formed Freedom Caucus in the state. The State Freedom Caucus Network, which consists of 11 states, seeks to steer the Republican party towards more conservative positions by employing obstructive strategies. Their stall tactics, commonly utilized to advance anti-abortion measures, prompted Missouri Senate leaders to strip four members of their committee chair positions and relegate them to parking spots far from the Missouri Capitol.
According to Berkowitz, the infighting, dysfunction, and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during the recent legislative session have been particularly draining, considering that the state should be focusing on rural school districts and implementing nondiscrimination protections. While the infighting did manage to prevent the passage of any anti-LGBTQ+ bills, it also allowed for the proliferation of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in political campaigns and media sound bites.
“It’s absolutely insane,” they expressed, frustrated by the lack of accountability among elected officials. “These grown adults, who are supposed to represent us and are funded by our hard-earned tax dollars, seem to have no checks and balances in place. They can’t even hold each other accountable, let alone be held accountable by the people they serve. It’s a complete free-for-all.”
