State-level anti-LGBTQ bills have real, negative impacts on states, well-being of residents

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups from Ohio and across the country say state-level legislation has had broad-based impacts on the rights and well-being of their communities.

Legislation that has limited the ability for minors to receive gender-affirming care, for transgender student athletes to participate in sports that align with their gender identity, for teachers to teach about topics that might include LGBTQ+ topics, and even bills barring individuals from using the bathroom they choose based on their gender, have all had impacts in states including Ohio. Advocates say the fact that legislation has had “preemption,” or provisions within the bill that allow it to override any local ordinances or laws, has had even more of an effect.

Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio, said while preemption “has not been fully harnessed” by the Ohio legislature, when it comes to anti-LGBTQ measures, “it is being used in targeted legislation toward anti-DEI and anti-trans measures.”

“It’s really interesting because before 2024, there hadn’t been any explicitly anti-LGBTQ law passed in Ohio,” Steward said. “So we’ve literally seen 20 years of preemption not being used in this way, and now all of a sudden, it’s being very much used as a tool to target LGBTQ communities.”

Steward represented Ohio in a virtual briefing that also included states like North Carolina and Texas, which are seeing an uptick in legislation that creates problems for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Steward mentioned the bill passed in the last General Assembly that banned gender-affirming care for minors. The law was just recently partially overturned by the 10th District Court of Appeals, though the ruling kept in place a part of the law that blocks student athletes who are transgender from playing in sports with the team of their gender. Ohio’s law on this specifically impacts middle and high school students, along with college athletes.

The appeals court sent the case back to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, with the ruling that keeping doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy “interferes with parent-appellants’ fundamental right to care for their children.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said filing an appeal in the case is a “no brainer” saying he would fight to protect “these unprotected children.”

“I think this is a great example of how we’re seeing these preemptive measures are overreaching in many states,” Steward said.

The director mentioned a bathroom ban law that took effect in February and efforts to regulate drag shows in Ohio, along the potential for bills requiring schools to deny a student’s name change when related to their transition. The current and potential measure all result in fears those who contact Equality Ohio express for the future of Ohio and their lives. Steward said their legal clinic has seen a 200% increase in client intakes since the presidential election.

Amid the surge of legislation focused on LGBTQ+ individuals, Steward said these laws have caused verifiable problems, particularly for transgender people. He mentioned 2024 research by The Trevor Project which found suicide attempts by transgender and nonbinary youth had gone up by as much as 72% between 2018 and 2022, when 48 laws were implemented in 19 different states related to transgender issues.

“It is without question that anti-transgender policies, and the dangerous rhetoric surrounding them, take a measurable toll on the health and safety of transgender and nonbinary young people all across the country,” Jaymes Black, chief executive officer for The Trevor Project, said of the research.

According to the Equality Federation, 575 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced by state lawmakers in 2023, and of those, more than 400 specifically targeted transgender individuals.

The Local Solutions Support Center, which hosted the virtual briefing on anti-LGBTQ measures, found that in 2023, at least one-third of the bills considered anti-LGBTQ+ and introduced around the nation by state legislatures included provisions that preempted local government authority “to pass measures protecting LGBTQ+ individuals and families or otherwise advancing LGBTQ+ rights.”

North Carolina has seen its own share of bills, including one that blocked gender-affirming care for youth and another banning trans athletes from participating in sports, according to Aron Johnson, organizing director for Equality North Carolina. These bills have not only had a negative economic impact on the state, but further impact on those singled-out in the bills.

“There’s real data that already points out that trans youth already experience unsafe and unwelcoming environments, and discriminatory school policies only put their physical and mental health at further risk,” Johnson said.