Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. You can share news from your state with [email protected] for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. 2024 State legislative sessions see several anti-trans bills become law. Five states passed anti-trans healthcare bans; four states passed sex re-definition laws; four states passed anti-trans bathroom bans; several states also passed curriculum censorship laws. California - State conducts first survey of LGBTQ+ seniors. The California Department of Aging, the University of California, Berkeley, and others conducted the survey of over 4,000 LGBTQ+ older adults. Overall, the survey showed high levels of satisfaction with quality of life, but it did highlight community concerns about the personal, financial, and mental health well-being of transgender women. LGBTQ+ groups fight discrimination as second Trump term looms - Artemes Gidram, a board member of PFLAG Fresno interviewed with messages to uplift the transgender community and highlight resources to update gender markers and names on documents such as passports. Georgia - Senate special committee to make recommendations on trans athletes to full legislature. The Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports - which is an all-male committee - announced that it is preparing to make recommendations to the state legislature about how to regulate transgender student athletes ahead of the 2025 legislative session. A release date for these recommendations has not been announced, but the committee may push for legislation that would ban trans students from competing in scholastic athletic teams. Illinois - PFLAG Decatur holds Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial service. The service included lighting a candle and ringing a bell for each of the 36 transgender people who were killed in 2024. Missouri - Missouri judge upholds state’s anti-trans healthcare ban. Circuit Court Judge Robert Craig Carter held that the ban on medically-necessary care for trans and non-binary youth was constitutional. Please read Lambda Legal’s statement regarding the ruling. Montana - Legislature rejects measure to ban trans lawmaker from using women’s bathroom. A bipartisan vote killed a rules proposal which would have banned openly trans state legislator Zooey Zephyr from using the women’s bathroom at the State Capitol. Ohio - Gov. DeWine signs anti-trans bathroom ban into law. SB 104 bans trans students from using bathrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated spaces that align with their gender identity. The law applies to all public K-12 schools, as well as public colleges and universities. Texas - Lawmakers weigh further anti-trans measures for 2025 legislative session. Legislators have pre-filed bills re-defining sex for the purposes of government records, bills to prevent trans people from amending their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity, among other proposals. Trans residents of Odessa speak out about the local bathroom ban. PFLAG Midland/Odessa President Alexander Ermels and PFLAG National Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Diego Sanchez spoke to how bathroom bans targeting transgender people also harm people of color, regardless of gender. Utah - Utah State University joins lawsuit aiming to ban trans athletes from Mountain West Conference. The athletic conference currently allows trans students to play on the team aligning with their gender identity. The lawsuit aims to change this in the wake of several teams refusing to compete against San Jose State University, which they allege has a trans player on its team. | 
