Support the ACLU: Stand Against Anti-Trans Bills & Advance LGBTQ Equality

The ACLU works to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, & queer people belong everywhere and can live openly and authentically without discrimination, harassment, or violence. The ACLU has a long history of defending the LGBTQ community, including winning the right for same-sex couples to marry at the Supreme Court. Today, the ACLU brings more LGBTQ rights cases and advocacy initiatives than any other national organization.

In 2023, state legislatures across the country have introduced nearly 500 bills attacking transgender people, especially young people. While the attacks differ — some would criminalize medical care for trans youth, some would ban them from school sports, and others would censor books and discussions about race and gender in classrooms — they are not isolated. They represent a coordinated campaign to push trans people out of public life.

Here's the latest (as of April 2023):

1) Protecting Trans Youth Participation in Sports

Anti-trans legislation negatively impacts the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth. More than two-thirds of LGBTQ+ youth said their mental health had taken a turn for the worse in light of recent efforts by states to restrict their rights.

Transgender athletes want to participate in school sports for the same reason as anybody else: to find a sense of belonging and social engagement, to be a part of a team, and to challenge themselves. But states and schools across the country are trying to exclude trans people from enjoying the benefits of sports on equal terms with their cisgender peers. Not only do these proposed laws discriminate against trans youth in ways that compromise their health, social and emotional development, and safety, they also raise a host of privacy concerns.

In April, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 734, a bill that would deny transgender girls nationwide equal and fair participation in student athletics. Instead of passing legislation that the American people actually want and need, this House majority is legislating discrimination and hate towards school children.

We're challenging bans on trans student athletes in Idaho, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
We are also working in state legislatures across the country to stop these bills from passing.

2) RuPaul's Drag Race & MTV Join the ACLU's Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights

In partnership with production company World of Wonder, MTV, and RuPaul's Drag Race, the ACLU's Drag Defense Fund (aclu.org/dragdefense) will support the ACLU's work defending LGBTQ rights, including censorship of drag performers.

3) Preserving Access to Gender-Affirming Health Care

In 2021, Arkansas became the first state ever to pass legislation that would ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming health care – which the ACLU successfully blocked in court. This year, we are seeing over 100+ bills aiming to ban gender-affirming medical and mental health care for trans minors. These proposals regulate clinicians and/or parents. Some impose criminal penalties, while others are exclusively civil. All of these measures run counter to medical science, prevailing standards of treatment for transgender youth, and basic human dignity.

We're suing Oklahoma to challenge the state's ban on all forms of gender-affirming health care for trans youth. In Montana, the ACLU of Montana sued against the censure of state representative Zooey Zephyr for voicing her objection to SB 99, a ban on the rights of trans youth to access gender-affirming health care. The ACLU, ACLU of Montana, and Lambda Legal have also promised to challenge the harmful SB 99 ban in court. And in Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri secured a win for trans Missourians when a judge extended her recent temporary restraining order against the Missouri Attorney General's extreme and unprecedented restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans people of all ages.

Learn more from medical experts and trans young people about why gender-affirming care is life-saving care here (https://bit.ly/3sYjvuc).

We need to send a clear message that trans and non-binary people belong EVERYWHERE and that those who attack trans youth have to face all of us.

Thank you for your continued support.