Iowa, South Dakota, and Utah have enacted laws this year that ban transgender girls from participating in sports, and seven other pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation await action by governors in Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill (HB 1557) - discriminatory and dangerous legislation that seeks to silence teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people-into law. So far, in 2022, HRC is tracking 583+ pieces of potentially LGBTQ+-related legislation and, of those, atlmore than 310 are anti-LGBTQ+, and more than 135+ are specifically anti-transgender bills.
Transgender and non-binary people continue to face legislative and executive attacks across the United States. Further, it identifies how media sources may either intentionally, or inadvertently, perpetuate stigma towards trans and non-binary people in the stories that they cover and the way they cover them. This report gives new insight into how media coverage and broader “visibility” can both affect society’s perception of the transgender community as a whole, as well as transgender individuals. Earlier this week, the HRC Foundation, in partnership with Civis Analytics, released Trans Lives & Positive Visibility: How News & Media Can Positively Cover Trans and Non-Binary Stories. While we recognize our gains as a community this TDOV, we also know there is much more work to be done. While these developments are frightening, we have a deep, confident hope that together we can defeat these attacks and move forward to a more equitable world for transgender and non-binary people.” Joni Madison, Human Rights Campaign Interim President
As we celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, we must continue to shine a light on the epidemic of violence impacting Black and Brown transgender women and the discriminatory, dangerous bills being pushed through state legislatures around the country - bills that could prevent schools from being safe for trans and non-binary students, prevent trans student-athletes from playing sports, cut off access to age-appropriate, medically-necessary health care, and more. Transgender and non-binary people are our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our family, and our loved ones. Transgender and non-binary people face countless challenges-and through it all, they have continued to fight for visibility, share their stories and organize for lived and legal equality.