Preemption & Anti-LGBTQ Bills in State Legislatures

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This is the latest in a series of LSSC toolkits aimed at providing a one-stop-shop for all of the messaging, media, legal, and research resources associated with individual issue areas that are commonly preempted. Click here to view them all.

This document was last updated in April 2022.

Messaging 101

  • Nobody wants to experience discrimination simply because of who we are. 

    • But for many LGBTQ Americans, discrimination is real and its impact lasting. In fact, one in three LGBTQ people report facing discrimination in recent years, including three in five transgender Americans.

  • There’s no federal law that explicitly and comprehensively protects LGBTQ people from discrimination.

    • Many states and cities have stepped up to fill that void, enacting local policies that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace, in schools, and in all the places where we go about our lives - from government offices to restaurants. 

      • A 2020 Supreme Court ruling extends nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people in the workplace only, and only for workers at larger businesses. Ultimately, comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinances at the local and state levels are critical to ensuring that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination in the workplace and in all other areas of life, such as in housing and public accommodations.

    • In states lacking explicit protections, LGBTQ people and youth depend on locally passed policies to ensure they’re treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.

  • A supermajority of Americans support measures protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination – including majorities in every single state.

  • But that hasn’t stopped some state legislatures from singling out LGBTQ people - particularly transgender youth - with bills designed to undermine their humanity and dignity. In fact, both 2021 and 2022 have proven to be record-setting years for anti-LGBTQ bills.  

    • Many of these bills target LGBTQ youth. Bills like “Don’t Say Gay” are designed to erase LGBTQ existence in schools; while other legislation often seeks to ban trans kids from participating in sports or accessing best practice medical care.

    • These bills are indisputably harmful: A 2022 Trevor Project report found that 85 percent of transgender youth, and 66 percent of all LGBTQ youth, reported that anti-trans bills were negatively impacting their mental health.

  • Many of these bills also undermine or threaten punitive action against local governments and school boards that enact policies to protect LGBTQ people.

Bans Against Transgender Student Athletes 

  • Many of the bills advanced in state legislatures over the last two years aim to ban transgender kids from participating in school sports. These unnecessary and dangerous bills also often threaten local school systems with state funding cuts if they fail to comply with the state’s discriminatory policy.

  • There are real consequences to these bills - a lack of acceptance and affirmation causes undeniable and unacceptable harm to trans youth. 

  • Local governments and school boards who enact protections for LGBTQ youth - particularly transgender kids - are acting in the best interest and safety of their constituents; they should not face repercussions from the state for doing so.

Bans Against Best Practice Medical Care

  • Other anti-transgender legislative trends in recent years aim to ban best practice medical care for transgender youth - and sometimes threaten punitive measures against doctors who disobey the state’s discriminatory edict. 

  • Bills seeking to prevent transgender people from accessing quality medical care are extreme, cruel, and dangerous. Arkansas even enacted such a ban into law.

  • Many of the state bills introduced over the last year would criminalize medical best practices encouraged by groups like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Media Examples

Legal Resources

Adam Polaski