Human Rights Campaign issues first ever national state of emergency for LGBTQ people

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, wrote in her preface to a new report the group released this week. “For the first time in HRC’s nearly half-century history, we’re declaring a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States.”

The nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization is sounding the alarm over what it says are more than 525 anti-LGBTQ bills filed at the state level across the country, more than 200 specifically targeting transgender people.

“As of press time, more than 70 of those have become law,” Richardson wrote. “These laws are fueled by an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican establishment — and coordinated, well-funded extremist groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, Heritage Foundation and the Family Policy Alliance — insistent on trying to control our families and lives.”

The declaration and report come during an LGBTQ Pride Month that has already seen anti-LGBTQ violence and intimidation along with backlash and terrorist threats against multi-national companies and national retailers who have shown public support for the LGBTQ community.

SB 49, which critics have called North Carolina’s own “Don’t Say Gay” bill, would remove instruction on gender identity and sexuality from school curricula. It would also, among other provisions, require teachers to notify parents if a student questions their own gender—outing many young trans people before they’re ready to tell their families, who might be hostile to their identities.

SB 560, SB 639, HB 786, and HB 808 aim to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, even when prescribed by their doctors and approved by their parents.

SB 641 and SB 819 would allow healthcare providers to discriminate against some patients or medical care according to their religious principles.

SB 631, SB 636, and HB 574 would, in various ways, prevent transgender and intersex youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

HB 673 and SB 579 attempt to criminalize drag performances.

Among the figures in the HRC report:

525 – the number of anti-LBGTQ bills filed in 41 states across the country

98,600 – the number transgender youth aged 13-17 HRC estimates are now living in states where they cannot participate in sports according to their gender identity

32 – the number of states where gender affirming care bans for youth have been filed

20 – the number of states where gender affirming care bans for youth have passed — several states that have passed such bans have extended bans on gender affirming care to adults

92,700 – the number of transgender youth aged 13-17 HRC estimates are now living in states where they can no longer access gender affirming care recommended by their doctors and approved by their parents

5 – number of states in which “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bills have passed, banning discussions of sexual orientation/gender identity, and LGBTQ+ people, in classrooms

241,000 – the number of LGBTQ high school students (among the more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) HRC estimates are now living in states where such “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bills have passed

3,500 – the number of trans youth HRC estimates are now living in states where such “forced outing” bills have passed

6 – the number of states that have passed school-based pronoun bans, which prohibit schoolteachers and staff from using a child’s chosen name and pronouns if they do not align with the sex the child was assigned at birth

10,000 – the number of trans youth HRC estimates are now living in states where such school-based pronoun bans have passed

Read the entire report here.