HRC Reports a Dangerous Year for the Transgender Community in 2016
In report release on February 19th by the Human Rights Campaign, 44 out of 125 proposed bills so far in 2016 are transgender related. This is more than double the 21 that were introduced the year before. Of these proposed bills, several actually stand a serious chance of becoming law.
The bills encompass a wide variety of transgender issues including undoing existing non-discrimination provisions related to transgender people, limiting transgender people from equal access of sex-segregated spaces, access to medically necessary care and humiliating burdens on transgender people who seek to marry. There are also proposals that would make it effectively impossible to correct the gender marker on one’s birth certificate.
Another area of concern are the “First Amendment Defense Act” (FADA) bills, which would permit publicly funded programs to refuse service on the basis of “sincerely-held religious beliefs” that a person’s gender is determined by their anatomy at the time of birth. These bills stand a real chance of passing and are currently on the table in four states.
23 of the 44 anti-transgender bills filed this year are leveled at transgender children in schools and playing school sports.
23 of the 44 anti-transgender bills filed this year are leveled at transgender children in schools and playing school sports. One bill would require an applicant for a marriage license to disclose whether they had ever undergone “a sex reassignment,” and then would print the answer on the marriage license when it is issued. Another would require a “husband” to be a “natural-born male as defined by the person’s original certificate of birth” and a wife to be a “natural-born” female, also according to her original birth certificate. A smaller number of bills limit access to access to medically necessary healthcare.
Here are the breakdowns of the 44 proposed bills:
29 bathroom/locker room/sports, 2 health (including prisoner healthcare), 3 anti-trans marriage, 3 discrimination carveout, 2 birth certificate and 5 FADAs.
We will keep you updated on the progress of the proposed bills as the information becomes available.
Mila Madison – | Twitter | Email
It is going to be a long year for us as we fight for our rights. We need to get involved and write to our Governors, Senators and local legislators. We cannot assume that things will just work themselves out. If we want real change we will need to continue to fight for it. I hope we all do our part in fighting for equal rights for our community. Even if we lose we must continue to fight. We must do our part to vote out of office those who wish to hurt us. Stay strong and get involved!
