Here's the latest from our lawyers and advocates on the ground.

ACLU Supporter –

Over the past month, lawmakers have introduced and advanced anti-trans bills in state legislatures across the country once again – putting 2022 on track to be another horrific, record-setting year for attacks on trans people and their rights, especially trans youth.

While our lawyers and advocates are monitoring and fighting back against these gratuitous attacks in numerous states right now, <[link removed]> here's where some of the most critical threats are unfolding this week:

* South Dakota: This week, South Dakota passed the first anti-trans bill of 2022, SB 46. This bill bans transgender girls from being able to play on sports teams that affirm their gender. Meanwhile, HB 1005, stopping trans students from using multi-occupancy public school facilities that match their gender, including bathrooms, also passed out of the House. While this is a hard moment in the fight for trans rights, it is all the more reason we must keep showing up for trans youth – in South Dakota and everywhere these attacks are taking place.

* Arizona: Multiple anti-trans bills are being pushed in Arizona, including: SB 1138, which bans minors from gender-affirming healthcare, SB 1130, which prohibits best practice medical care for trans youth and subjects physicians to up to 15 years in prison for providing this care – and SB 1165, which excludes trans girls from participating in sports at the grade school, high school, or collegiate level.

* Indiana: Lawmakers in Indiana are trying to push trans students out of school sports in the state with bill HB 1041. This legislation already passed out of the House committee last week and now moves on to the Senate. It's critical that we keep fighting now and make sure this bill is stopped immediately.

Track all anti-trans bills across the states
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ACLU Supporter, these bills may differ – some criminalizing life-saving, gender-affirming medical care for trans youth, some banning them from school sports – but they all represent a nationwide, coordinated campaign to push trans people out of public life.

And to be clear, these bills will not stop youth from being trans. They only make it harder to access the support, education, and community that all young people need. It's a cruel and needless assault on the health and safety of kids just trying to grow up – and that's why the ACLU is pushing back relentlessly.

Our advocacy teams are fighting to stop anti-trans bills in statehouses, while our legal teams are ready to litigate should they become law. In fact, we've already filed lawsuits challenging new laws in Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, and West Virginia since 2020, and blocked four from enforcement so far.

Make no mistake, ACLU Supporter: The attacks on trans youth are part of an even larger agenda to strip away people's rights in the states, from voting to abortion to discussions of race and history – even banning books that acknowledge the existence of transgender people.

And it's more urgent than ever that we fight back for our democracy. So please watch out for more updates from us as state legislative sessions unfold <[link removed]> – and thanks as always for your activism.

With strength,

The ACLU Team

P.S. To all our young people targeted by these shameful, coordinated attacks happening right now, please know this: The ACLU is here, we have your back, and we'll never stop fighting for you, your health, or your right to be yourself. You belong. Period.

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