Sue Robbins(R), with the Transgender advisory Council at Equality Utah and Dr. Jennifer Plumb(L) had something to celebrate Friday with the defeat of one anti-trans bill.
The Utah House sent HB 92 a bill to deny trans youth legal healthcare, back to the Rules Committee, stopping it for this legislative session.Utah Governor Spencer Cox has said he will veto the other bill which would deny transgender girls the opportunity to play on girls intramural sports teams.
However important this victory is these attacks on trans youth are perennial happening in nearly every state with a Republican majority. What's more the bills are near carbon copies of legislature introduced in 20 other legislatures this year Doctor Jennifer Plumb, Attending Physician at University of Utah Health shared this on Sue Robbins' Facebook page
"Thank you to so many who stood up to protect health care for transgender youth. Thank you to the House HHS committee who did not allow this legislation to advance. And thank you to the brave, beautiful, brilliant big-hearted folks who make standing up with strength and support possible. To the transgender kiddos out there, know there is an actual fortress of folks surrounding you, valuing you, celebrating you and fighting for you. You are fiercely loved 🏳️⚧️
“I think we will see this again because we have national organizations that are feeding these bills to the states and they’re not going to be deterred until they lose in the courts,” she said.
Robbins says several bills regarding transgender rights are being shopped around to state legislatures from groups including the Alliance Defending Freedom a designated LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
Bills in at least 20 states are targeting the transgender community in what LGBTQ advocates say is an organized assault by conservative groups.
On Thursday, NBC reports, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban transgender student athletes from joining teams that match their gender identity. The measure, which passed 65 to 26, also calls for withholding state funds from sporting events that allow athletes to play as anything other than their sex assigned at birth. The bill now heads to the state Senate.
The same day the North Dakota House passed its bill, the Mississippi state Senate passed its own athletic ban, which now goes to the state House for consideration. Georgia, Kansas, Utah and Tennessee advanced similar legislation last week, as well.
In 2020, legislators sponsored 20 bills to restrict transgender students’ participation in sports, according to the ACLU. At least as many have been introduced this year.
Bills driven by ‘centralized groups’
To date, the only trans sports bill to become law is Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt. Signed by Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, last March, it mandates that "biological sex" be the sole determining factor for inclusion on athletic teams at public schools and universities.
Ehardt worked with the Alliance Defending Freedom in crafting the measure, The Idaho Press reported. Founded in 1994 by Christian conservatives, the Arizona-based group has provided legal counsel for a variety of efforts to curtail LGBTQ rights, from defending gay-marriage bans to ensuring the right of businesses to refuse LGBTQ customers. Perhaps most notably, the ADF defended Jack Phillips, the owner of a Colorado bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, in his 2018 Supreme Court case over his refusal to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple.
Kate Oakley, state legislative director and attorney for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, told NBC News that a bill under review in Montana restricting transgender sports participation was also written by the ADF.
The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”
In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.
The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”
In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.
The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”
In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.
LGBTQ Nation takes a deep dive into the copycat legislation
“These bills are intended to look constituent-led, but we know it’s driven from these centralized groups,” Chase Strangio of the ACLU told NBC News.
“Alliance Defending Freedom has on several occasions said that, should a state be sued for one of these pieces of anti-trans legislation, that they would be happy to take care of the litigation,” HRC’s Cathryn Oakley told The American Independent.
The work of these national organizations could explain why Republicans in so many states are trying to get these bills passed this year, even while openly admitting that they have no idea whether their legislation would address any complaints in their states.
For example, Mississippi Sen. Angela Hill (R) sponsored a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing in sports. During the debate on the bill, Republicans couldn’t even name a transgender student-athlete in the state and none of them even asked if there were any. Hill herself was only willing to say that “numerous coaches across the state” told her that “they are beginning to have some concerns of having to deal with this.”
Chace appeared on the LGBTQ Nation podcast this week to discuss the anti-transgender legislation.
