State legislative sessions have been busy this term, with both positive and negative actions. PFLAG National staff are tracking where we are making strides and where legislators are putting up obstacles. PFLAG chapter members are on the ground in every state upholding good legislation and battling back against anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Strides Alaska - Alaskans testify on bill providing hate crime protections to LGBTQ+ individuals. Alaska House Bill 198 would update sentencing statutes to provide harsher sentences to people who targeted their victims based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Supporters testified before the House State Affairs Committee who subsequently passed the bill. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Arizona - Arizona lawmakers will try again to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ residents. A pair of bills to expand the state’s nondiscrimination law to include LGBTQ+ Arizonans have been introduced in both houses with bipartisan support. Proponents of the bill are cautiously optimistic. California - LA LGBT Center STI testing funding restored. Following a spending cut by the county’s Department of Public Health, free STI testing at the Center was set to be discontinued, but was restored after a flood of public pressure. The LGBT Center and the DPH will work together to find a “long term solution.” California bill to require colleges to update transgender students’ names on diplomas. The bill, introduced in the Assembly, would require that public colleges update names of former students to reflect their gender identity. He hopes that this bill will reduce barriers that gender-expansive individuals face at school and at work. California posthumously pardons gay civil rights leader. The governor announced he is posthumously pardoning Bayard Rustin, an organizer of the March on Washington in 1963, who was forced by police to register as a sex offender for being gay. The governor is creating a new pardon process for others convicted under outdated laws punishing homosexuality. Florida - Florida House subcommittee tabled anti-transgender healthcare bill. The bill, which would make it a felony for doctors to prescribe hormone therapy or perform gender-affirming surgery on minors, did not receive a vote in its House committee, meaning that it is unlikely to gain traction in the state. PFLAGers like Jennifer Solomon shared her story with state lawmakers in Tallahassee, joining Equality Florida’s action to stop this bill. Companies pull funding from Florida school voucher program due to anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Several companies, including Wells Fargo, Wyndham Destinations, and Fifth Third Bank have announced that they will no longer make donations to Florida’s school voucher program due to its discrimination towards LGBTQ+ students and employees. More information about the voucher program is available in the ‘Obstacles’ section below. Iowa - Bill to end transgender civil rights protections is dead. The Chairman of Iowa’s House Judiciary Committee has said that he will not advance a bill proposed to amend the Iowa Civil Rights Act and remove protections against discrimination for transgender individuals. Virginia - The Virginia Legislature has been on an LGBTQ+-affirming roll, with numerous LGBTQ+ bills clearing the Virginia Senate and heading to a friendly House of Delegates. The Senate voted to ban conversion therapy on children, repeal the state’s now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage, and establish statewide policies for the treatment of transgender students. The chamber also voted to replace “husband and wife” with gender-neutral “parties to the marriage” language in divorce law, and make it easier for transgender people to change how their sex is listed on their birth certificates. The state also passed the Virginia Values Act, the first state in the South to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has stated that he will sign the bill. More than 30 businesses sent a letter to lawmakers urging the passage of the Virginia Values Act. The businesses hope that the passage of the law would give them advantages in recruitment and retention of workers. Obstacles Proposals in eight states would ban puberty blockers and hormones for trans minors. In Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota lawmakers have brought bills to ban and criminalize gender-affirming medical care. PFLAGer Lauren Rodriguez, who is from Texas where the legislature plans to take up similar measures, shared a sentiment echoed by parents in the other eight states, “I can’t expect my child to thrive and continue to live if [they] pass this.” Arizona - Proposed law bans transgender women and girls from sports teams aligning with their gender identity. The proposal bars transgender students from competing on female teams in K-12 schools, community colleges, and state universities. Further, it allows lawsuits by students who believe they’ve missed opportunities due to a transgender person on a school team. Colorado - HB20-1114 threatens to make “sexual reassignment treatment” a criminal act. The bill would make dispensing such treatments as gender-affirming surgery and drug or hormone treatments associated with transitioning a class three felony. Representative Brianna Titone (D-27) speaks out against the bill, vowing not to “let legislation like this try to erase [trans people].” Florida - State-subsidized voucher program benefits private schools with discriminatory LGBTQ+ policies. 156 private Christian schools with policies to expel or deny admission to LGBTQ+ students, or policies defining LGBTQ+ identities as a sin, received $129 million through a state-funded voucher program. These vouchers went towards student scholarships. Illinois - Reported hate crimes rise in Chicago, especially against LGBTQ+ individuals. The number of hate crimes reported in Chicago in 2019 was the highest since 2011 and hate crimes reported against LGBTQ+ people were at a recent high. While LGBTQ+ individuals have been the target of nearly 30% of all hate crimes in Chicago since 2012, few arrests are usually made. Louisiana - Family of Ja’Quarius Taylor calls for FBI investigation into apparent hate crime. 17-year-old Ja’Quarius Taylor was found dead January 12 from a gunshot wound to the head. His family believes the murder was based on his race and sexual orientation and is calling for an FBI investigation in lieu of a sheriff investigation tainted by “perceived conflicts of interest and family relations.” New Mexico - Diné LGBTQ+ individuals increasingly excluded from traditional ceremonies. Although there has been historical acceptance of multiple gender roles among the Diné people, many who do not adhere to the traditional gender binary are reporting more difficulties finding traditional healers and religious leaders who embrace their identities. New York - Man arrested after assault of trans journalist Serena Daniari. While on the C train, 26 year old Pablo Valle allegedly called Daniari anti-transgender slurs while hitting and spitting on her. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio decried the attack, saying “transgender and nonbinary New Yorkers deserve to travel in their city without fear.” The MTA implemented an unrelated anti-hate crime campaign just days after the attack. Oregon - Man found guilty of hate crime after attack. After attacking Lauren Jackson, a transgender woman, for using the women’s bathroom, Fred Constanza was arrested. When tried in January, a jury found him guilty on three counts. In Oregon, gender identity is a protected class in hate crimes -- but many other states lack the same protective legislation. South Carolina - S.C. bill would prohibit gender reassignment medical treatment for those under age 18 On Jan. 24th, PFLAGers in South Carolina gathered in Columbia to lobby against the “Youth Gender Reassignment Prevention Act,” which, if enacted into law, would ban any medical treatment related to gender reassignment for anyone under age 18, except for behavioral health care services such as mental health counseling. South Dakota - South Dakota House passes bill restricting medical treatments for transgender youth. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for physicians to treat transgender children with hormones or sex reassignment surgery, and punishes such action with jail time and fines. The bill will now be sent to the state Senate for a committee hearing. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Fred Deutsch, likened trans health care to Nazi medical experiments, then scrambled to take it back. Unprecedented South Dakota Bill Aims to Erase LGBTQ People From Public Life Entirely. House Bill 1215 is the third in a trio of anti-LGBTQ bills brought to the state’s legislature this month. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that would criminalize trans-affirming medical care for minors. The other, Senate Bill 88, would require mental health providers to out kids expressing gender dysphoria to their parents. Anti-LGBTQ lawmakers and organizers use the state as a test case for the nation, experts say. Tennessee - Tennessee Governor signs anti-LGBTQ+ adoption bill. Citing the need for defense of religious liberty, this law now gives legal protection to faith-based foster care and adoption agencies who receive taxpayer money and discriminate against prospective LGBTQ+ parents. Nearly 150 companies, including Amazon, Nike, and American Airlines have signed a letter opposing Tennessee’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws and asking legislators to not pursue further legislation that targets or excludes LGTQ+ individuals. Utah - Anticipated transgender-exclusionary health care bill draws criticism. Christy Florence (wife of a transman and mother of a trans daughter) writes an open letter to her brother, Representative Brad Daw (R-60), condemning the bill he’s drafting, which would ban gender-affirming surgery and use of cross-sex hormones for minors.These policies would “restrict survival opportunities for young people who are transgender.” | 
