Transphobia in the United States has changed over time. Understanding and acceptance of transgender people have both decreased and increased during the last few decades depending on the details of the issues which have been facing the public. Various governmental bodies in the United States have enacted anti-transgender legislation. Social issues in the United States also reveal a level of transphobia. Because of transphobia, transgender people in the U.S. face increased levels of violence and intimidation. Cisgender people can also be affected by transphobia.
Recently, hate crimes and violence against transgender and non-gender conforming people have increased, especially in states that have enacted anti-transgender legislation.
A 2023 poll found that a slight majority of Americans are against anti-transgender legislation.[2]
A 2021 Gallup poll found that 62% of Americans believed that transgender people should only play sports on teams that match their gender assigned at birth.[3] Many professional sports leagues in the United States allow transgender players to participate with various types of guidelines and inclusion levels.[4] The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference allows transgender students to compete according to their gender identities.[5]FIDE has banned trans women from participating in women's chess events stating that they have "no right to participate."[6]FINA effectively barred all transgender women from competing in professional women's swimming, with the exception of athletes who "can establish to FINA's comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later".[7][8] A 2024 AP VoteCast survey of more than 120,000 American voters found that "more than half of voters said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far."[9]
Native Americans in the US often use different terminology to describe their non-binary gender identities based on their cultural values.[10]Two-Spirit is used in some cultures, and the Navajo have nádleehé.[10] The Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Zuni Pueblo, also have specific terms for individuals who present outside of the gender binary.[11]
Historically, transgender individuals and communities in the US have been marginalized and received few legal protections.[12] Attempts to protect LGBT people legally in the US workplace has been tried unsuccessfully since 1994 with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).[13] However, individual court cases, such as Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, prohibit discrimination of employees "based on their perceived failure to conform to socially constructed characteristics of males or females."[14]
The United States State Department amended its policy in 2010 affecting gender markers on Social Security cards and United States passports.[15] The change, which was still in effect in 2018, allowed individuals to provide information from their physician about updating gender on these documents.[16]State IDs and driver's licenses are updated for gender on a state by state basis.[17]
States that reflect a more conservative population are more likely "to have more restrictive views on civil rights issues" which also informs their attitudes on transgender people.[22]
Anti-trans attitudes
Public opinion in the United States about transgender people is often similar to attitudes about LGB individuals, with the difference being that "attitudes towards transgender individuals are significantly more negative."[23] Data published in 2024 showed 80% of Americans supported LGB people living as they choose, but only 67% supported the same for transgender people.[24] Some anti-transgender attitudes are based on the idea that gender is "natural and so, by extension, transgender people are unnatural."[25] Because some Americans believe transgender people are unnatural, that also automatically makes them dangerous in their perceptions.[25]
Some people who oppose transgender rights argue that "irresponsible parents" and young people are rushing to make decisions about their trans identities, and that these decisions are largely based on social contagion.[26] Conservative activists question the need to talk to children about their gender or sexual identities.[27] A 2018 paper published by Lisa Littman in PLOS One described a hypothesis of rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD).[28] Despite the fact that follow ups on Littman's study did not show support for her ideas, the paper she published has been used to justify anti-transgender legislation and policies in Florida and other US states.[29] Social contagion ideas suggest that being transgender is a transmissible "disease" between vulnerable individuals.[30] It also implies that being transgender is a medical issue to eradicate from the population, rather than a difference in gender identity.[30]
Activists who oppose gender-affirming care claim that physicians and parents are putting children through "irreversible medical treatments" without proper safeguards.[31] Some states have pushed for laws banning gender-affirming care by claiming that medical treatment for transgender youth is "child abuse."[32]Social media accounts, such as Libs of TikTok, have helped spread a moral panic about gender-affirming care.[33][34] Many groups and individuals, despite a lack of evidence for their beliefs, have contributed to a culture war around transgender people.[35] Arguments against gender-affirming care ignore that it has an extensive history of medical use.[36]
Some anti-trans activists believe that "LGBT ideology" will destabilize the United States government and that LGBT people are a security threat.[37] Some groups and individuals have also argued that transgender soldiers are a threat to military readiness,[38] although there is no evidence to suggest this.[39]
Some anti-trans activists associate trans women with predatory sexual behaviors.[40] This idea is rooted in certain forms of second-wave feminism, advocates of this idea describe trans women as "rapists and boundary-violators trying to invade women's space", while trans men are regarded as "tokens".[41] This has been refuted by research; a study of the effects of Massachusetts' anti-discrimination laws for restrooms found no evidence that cisgender women were placed at risk by the laws. Further, evidence has been found that the risk of assault for transgender children is reduced when they are allowed access to restrooms and locker rooms which match their gender identity.[35]
Others argue that their religious beliefs prohibit them from using gender identity in place of biological sex,[42] although the Bible does not mention trans people.[43]
Some socially conservative Americans also conflate people who dress in drag with transgender presentations.[44]Christopher Rufo has implored conservatives to call drag queens "trans strippers", which, according to Nathan J. Robinson, is an inaccurate description of drag performances.[44]Michigan Republican, Tudor Dixon, has called drag queens "sexualized performers."[45] This is in contradiction to the history of drag performances which are not inherently sexual in nature.[46]
Colonialism has also affected transgender identities. Hispanic LGBTQ+ organization, QLatinx, describes how "racism, sexism, heterosexism, xenophobia, and transphobia share a common root source of oppression that ultimately works to sustain white supremacy and heteropatriarchy."[47] The structures of racism, homophobia and transphobia all share the feature of inciting violence against people perceived as part of those categories.[48]
Anti-trans beliefs also have a negative effect on some Native American cultures that have two-spirit or indigenous transgender individuals.[49][50]María Cristina Moroles, in her journey as a two-spirit person found that many indigenous communities rejected her identity.[51]
Some transphobic ideas are also internalized by transgender people. This is called Internalized transphobia and can be expressed by the individual feeling shame, isolation, "and a harmful internalization of cisnormative gender expectations."[52]
Overall, transgender lives are often seen as less important than cisgender lives and violence and discrimination against them can be normalized by transphobic Americans.[53]
Early history
When European settlers colonized North America, they came into contact with indigenous people who had different ideas about gender and gender identity.[50][54] Europeans used many tactics to impose their own gender roles and ideas onto Native peoples.[50] The French colonizers called many third gender indigenous people "berdaches."[54]
Encounters with Spanish colonizers led to a massive genocide of many of the Indigenous peoples of California, including "third-gender people, who were lost not by 'passive' colonizing collateral damage such as disease or starvation, but through active, conscious, violent extermination."[55] When colonists discovered other genders among indigenous people, they worked to end the practice "through the twin disciplinary actions of physical and spiritual punishment and regendering".[56]
As roles for indigenous non-binary people disappeared in their cultures these individuals "found themselves rejected by their families and communities."[57]
Colonists themselves often did not fit into binary gender roles.[12] Many non-conforming people fought in the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, signing up and continuing to live in their chosen gender role afterwards.[12] Many anti-transgender ideas were already being pushed into American colonial culture by the eighteenth century.[58] Transgender women in the 18th century faced violence and "even capital punishment."[59] By the late nineteenth century, the idea that gender and sexuality are part of a spectrum began to spread.[60]
20th century
Before the 1910 publication of Transvestism by Magnus Hirschfeld, most individuals who would now be considered transgender were termed "inverts," a term that also included homosexuals.[61] The term transsexual was described by doctor David Oliver Cauldwell in the American medical literature in 1949.[61] Prior to these medical terminologies, there were categories created by transgender people themselves, such as "men-women" and "women-men."[62] In 1900, a transgender woman, then known as a "man-woman," was killed, and her body salted and stuffed into a trunk by her father.[63] Her story was one of many violent accounts such people faced in the early 20th century.[63]
After 1953, Christine Jorgensen's widely popularized "sex change operation" led to a depiction of her in both medical literature and popular media as a "sick, abnormal" person who was "rescued" by modern medicine.[64]
During the 1960s, transgender people were not welcome in gay bars in San Francisco.[65] By the middle of the 1960s, the Johns Hopkins University created the first "official gender-identity clinic" in the US.[64] The clinic was described by media and press releases as being a project designed to help "unfortunate individuals, trapped in the wrong body" and would "rehabilitate" "deviant" transsexual people.[66]
In the 1970s, the word "transsexual" was often used to describe transgender people.[67] In the medical establishment in the United States, professionals had a pervasive sense of mistrust for their transgender patients.[67] Doctors and psychologists who worked with the trans community had negative feelings about the people they worked with, calling them manipulative and "possibly incapable of love".[67]
During the 1970s, transgender women were frequently rejected in lesbian spaces and they were also accused of being fake women and "male infiltrators".[68]Beth Elliott was discriminated against by the Daughters of Bilitis, who originally allowed her to become a member in 1971, but they later succumbed to pressure to force Elliot out.[68]Robin Morgan was one of the most prominent detractors of Elliot, who she accused of being a man who was "leeching off women", with the "mentality of a rapist".[68] This high-profile attack led to other attacks against other transgender women who attempted to enter other types of women's spaces.[69] Later, Sandy Stone, who had worked at Olivia Records, was subjected to a hate mail campaign which was aimed at getting her fired from the record label.[69] Academics also sent hate mail to Stone during this time.[59]
In 1973, more conservative lesbian and gay men in San Francisco created their own pride parade which "banned transgender people and individuals in drag".[69] In New York City that same year, Jean O'Leary almost provoked a riot when she read a statement in which she denounced drag queens.[69] In response to the event in New York City, the LGBT movement in the United States intensified its marginalization of transgender people.[69]
In 1979, Janice Raymond wrote The Transsexual Empire, which is "often cited as the basis for anti-trans feminism", according to the Progressive.[70] Raymond believed that people chose to become transgender in order to opt out of the sex roles which were assigned to them at birth.[41] Raymond's book affected not only people involved in women's spaces, but also medical professionals.[71] The director of the gender identity clinic at Johns Hopkins closed down his clinic after he and his secretary published a biased study about transgender people in 1979.[71] It was later found that individuals at the organization pushed for the closure of the program for personal reasons.[71]
During the 1980s, transgender people, still more often known as transsexuals, were "treated as sick, perverse, abnormal," in society in the US.[72] This continued into the 1990s, where individuals who do not adhere to "normal" gender roles lack a "safe social space."[73]Thomas Szasz describes transsexualism in the 1980s in his book, Sex by Prescription as a type of castration.[74] Szasz also felt that the diagnosis of transsexualism was too medicalized and that it was more important to look at the nature of the condition itself.[74] Despite the criticism by Szasz and others, the idea of transsexualism as a medical disorder helped people in the medical profession to accept the idea more readily.[74]
In 1993, Brandon Teena was raped and later killed after his transgender identity was revealed.[77] Two men that Teena had thought were his friends were the assailants.[76] The reporting on Teena's murder was also transphobic, often misgendering him.[76]
Tyra Hunter was injured in 1995 in Washington, D.C. and the paramedics who responded stopped treating her and instead made fun of her because she was transgender.[78] Hunter later died because of the injuries and no charges were made against the paramedics.[78]
In 1996, a trans man, Robert Eads, discovered that he had ovarian cancer.[79] Eads experienced medical discrimination with gynecologists refusing to treat him until 1997.[79] The cancer, however, had progressed too far and Eads died in 1999.[79]
Chaya Raichik and Marjorie Taylor Greene at US Congress.
Government entities in the United States that create anti-transgender legislation and policies are using "medical gatekeeping" as a "tool whereby the state can use medical language and practice to barriers around gender affirming care."[52] In 2021, professor Eric Stanley describes transgender people "props in the latest culture war," and goes on to describe how "anti-trans bills are rooted in an obsession with the idea of trans people's bodies."[80]
When the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act was proposed in 2007, it contained language protecting sexual orientation and gender identity.[81] However, the sponsors eventually removed gender identity protections because President George W. Bush said he would veto the bill if they were included.[81]
Arkansas passed the 2015 Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act which prohibited local governments from enacting laws protecting LGBTQ people at greater levels than are already afforded at the state level.[82] Because Arkansas does not provide protections for LGBTQ people at the state level, this bans local governments from also protecting LGBTQ individuals as well.[82] In addition, this act was passed right after Fayetteville, Arkansas worked to pass civil rights protections for LGBTQ people in the city.[82]
In 2016, when a large number of "bathroom bills" were proposed in the country, the result was that all women faced harassment due to increased policing on who was using what bathroom.[83] In Kansas, a proposal was created that would give students $2,500 as a bounty for reporting trans people using unapproved restrooms.[84] Washington State proposed a similar law which would allow students to sue their schools for $2,500 if they "encounter a trans person in the bathroom."[84] In March 2016, North Carolina passed their bathroom bill, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which led to a national outcry and several large businesses threatening not to do business in the state.[85] Later in 2016, a case, Franciscan Alliance v. Burwell, was filed which sought to have regulations protecting trans people accessing healthcare struck down.[86]
The Trump Administration reversed Title VII policies that protected transgender people based on sex, stating that these protections applied only to cisgender individuals.[87] On February 20, 2017, the Trump administration "withdrew guidance...stating federal law requires transgender students to have access to bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity."[88] In July of the same year, President Trump announced a ban on transgender people serving in the United States military.[88] In October 2018, Trump proposed a roll back of civil rights protections in healthcare for transgender people.[88]
The first state to ban transfeminine athletes from participating in youth sports was Idaho.[4] On March 30, 2020, the bill was signed by Governor Brad Little.[89] During 2020, 16 other states also drafted bills that were similar to the one passed in Idaho.[89] In 2020, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit to challenge Connecticut's rule allowing transgender students to participate in youth sports according to their gender identity.[90] In 2021, the case was dismissed, though the ADF has said they will appeal the decision.[5][90]
In 2021 and 2022, a "historic wave of bills" targeting transgender people were developed and proposed in state legislatures around the country.[91] This amounted to around 200 bills, all proposed by Republican lawmakers.[91] Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill in 2021 that banned transgender students from participating in school sports that match their gender identities.[92] Governor Kristi Noem in March 2021 issued an executive order banning trans girls from girls' sports teams in South Dakota.[93]Arkansas passed a bill in April 2021 blocking youth from accessing gender-affirming care.[94]
Legislators in Alabama created a bill in February 2022 that would require transgender students in grades K-12 to use the restroom matching the sex on their birth certificate.[95] April 2022, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that would make gender-affirming care for youth a felony.[96] Later, that bill was blocked from going into effect with a partial injunction from the state court.[97] State attorneys in Alabama have vowed to appeal the ruling and believe that there is no constitutional right to gender affirming healthcare for children or adults.[97]
In March 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which banned the ability to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in a classroom setting for specific grades.[98] In November 2021, Oklahoma Governor, Kevin Stitt, signed an executive order to prohibit changing gender identity on Oklahoma birth certificates.[99] Also in 2022, Iowa created a bill to prevent transgender youth from participating in sports matching their gender identity.[100]
In February 2022, Governor Greg Abbott declared transitioning and HRT to be "child abuse" and ordered Child Protective Services (CPS) to investigate parents who allowed their children to transition.[101] Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, started the attack by issuing an opinion that gender-affirming care was a form of child abuse.[26] Paxton also requested a list from the Texas Department of Public Safety of all people who "had switched the gender identifier on their Texas driver's license within the past two years."[102] The order from Abbott and Paxton also required that therapists report any clients receiving gender-affirming care.[103] In Dallas, one hospital stopped providing gender-affirming care at their facility after Abbott's directive was made public and Texas Children's Hospital also stopped providing HRT.[104][105] Several families were investigated by CPS after the directive was ordered.[103][106] In June 2022, a judge from Travis County blocked these kinds of investigations into families with transgender kids.[104] Due to these attacks on transgender children and youth, many families began to look for ways to leave the state.[107][108][109] A political strategist for Greg Abbott said that attacking transgender children is a "winning issue" for the governor as he runs for office again.[105] By November of 2024, Paxton had sued three Texas doctors for allegedly prescribing HRT for minors after Texas banned gender affirming care.[110]
In May 2022, a Title IX investigation took place at a Wisconsin school when several middle school students allegedly misgendered another student.[111] The case received attention from conservative media outlets, including The Laura Ingraham Show.[112] The investigation was dismissed after the school and much of the city of Kiel, Wisconsin received bomb threats.[111]
In June 2022, the Texas Republican Party adopted bans for gender-affirming care as part of their party platform.[113] Later, the Texas GOP claimed that drag shows are more of a threat to children than guns.[114] Michigan Republicans proposed a bill in June 2022 that would let parents sue any public school that allowed their children to see a drag show.[115] DeSantis, in Florida, worked on taking away Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care from transgender people of any age.[116] Ohio passed a law in June that requires "genital inspections" if a girl or woman is suspected of being transgender.[117]
In July 2022, attorneys general from twenty states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia filed suit against the United States Department of Agriculture over their prohibition of discrimination against LGBTQ people receiving school meals. This included discrimination against gender identity.[18] In Florida, state education officials told schools to "disregard recent guidance from the Biden administration" that would help protect transgender students under Title IX.[42] Florida Education Commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., called the guidance regarding transgender protections "woke insanity."[42] In mid-July, the GOP in the US House of Representatives supported bills that would target transgender athletes with the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" sponsored by Greg Steube.[118] Late in July 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis used a 1947 Florida Supreme Court Decision as guidance in his complaint over a drag show.[119] DeSantis alleged that the drag venue violated a public nuisance law.[119]
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US Representative, introduced a bill called Protect Children's Innocence Act in August 2022 that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a class C felony.[120] The bill specifies sending anyone who provides such care a prison sentence of 10 to 25 years and would also prohibit the use of federal funds for gender affirming care.[120] This would effectively stop anyone who is using Affordable Healthcare Act plans from accessing gender affirming care.[120]
In September 2022, high school students from the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools were told that they were attending a college fair for a school field trip.[121] Instead of a fair, they were taken to a church where transgender students faced bullying and discrimination.[121] In October 2020, an intersex transgender woman was arrested after she filed a police report in Bexar County describing her alleged assault.[122] She was outed to the police, who later put her in the male block of the jail.[122] As of December 2022, she and local community groups are asking for dropped charges and sensitivity training for the police.[122] In November 2022, the Florida medical board restricted most gender-affirming care for minors.[123] In December 2023, Monarch High School in Florida was fined $16,500 total for allowing a transgender athlete to compete in girls' volleyball.[124]
In preparation of the Texas legislative session in January 2023, Republican lawmakers pre-filed bills that will target transgender people and make gender-affirming care illegal for youth.[102] By January 19, 2023, over 124 bills were introduced that would target LGBTQ and transgender people in the U.S.[125] In Florida, a number of transphobic bills were introduced in February 2023.[123] Bills filed targeted drag shows, gender-affirming care, libraries containing LGBTQ books, and one bill would prohibit teachers from using a students' preferred pronouns.[123] In Tennessee early in March 2023, Governor Bill Lee signed a law banning minors from watching drag shows, despite his own participation in drag as a school boy.[126] On March 3, Florida submitted SB254 which would allow the state to take away children from parents who allow gender-affirming care for them, even if they live outside of the state.[127] At the end of March 2023, Kentucky legislature overrode the governor's veto and put into law that bans gender affirming care in the state and requires doctors to de-transition minors who are already receiving care.[128] In addition, schools may not allow conversations around gender or sexual identity for all grades.[128]
In April 2023, Montana removed transgender lawmaker, Zooey Zephyr, from the floor and then proceeded to pass a bill banning gender affirming care for minors.[129]Idaho passed a law banning gender affirming care for minors with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison for any doctor providing gender affirming care.[130]
In May 2023, Missouri passed a bill to restrict gender affirming care and sports participation for transgender minors.[131] Oklahoma also passed a bill that month making it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors.[132] Transgender people were arrested and removed from the Texas Capitol in May 2023 for protesting a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.[133] Early in May 2023, the governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, signed a bill that would potentially out transgender students to their families.[134] North Dakota governor, Doug Burgum, signed a bill in May 2023 that prohibits public schools and government entities from creating policies about pronouns.[135]
In August 2023, Katy Independent School District (KISD) passed gender identity policies that many LGBTQ people and allies called an "attack" on non gender conforming students in the school.[136] KISD was one of the first school districts in the Houston area to pass guidelines that have negative effects on transgender students.[137] In February 2024, Texas Governor, Greg Abbott responded negatively to a Joint Allegation Letter from the United Nations (UN) that outlines a "comprehensive assault on the rights of the queer community" in Texas.[138] Abbott only responded to the legal allegations by writing on X (formerly Twitter), "The UN can go pound sand."[139]
In February 2024, Nassau County prohibited transgender athletes from competing with cisgender athletic teams through an executive order signed by Bruce Blakeman.[140] In March, New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered the county to cease and desist from violating the New York State Human Rights Law.[141] Blakeman is seeking to overturn the ruling in order to continue to prohibit transgender athletes from equally using "more than 100 public venues" in the county.[141]
During elections in Ohio, several transgender candidates faced issues running for office due to their name changes.[142] In January 2024, Ohio ruled that due to a 1990s law about listing all names a candidate has used on petitions to run for office, the transgender candidates had violated the law.[142] Later, the county board of elections in Mercer County allowed the candidate to run "because no one knew about this obscure provision and because the board said she wasn't trying to mislead people," and Montgomery County followed suit.[142]Stark County, however, disqualified the transgender candidate on the ballot due to her name change.[143]
Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota warned the Board of Regents to stop allowing diversity initiatives in state Universities.[144] This affected several faculty members who used their pronouns and tribal affiliations in official communications, such as email.[144]
By the end of 2023, 22 states had passed bans on gender affirming care for minors.[145] In early 2024, 10 states were considering bills that would restrict transgender and non-binary individuals for using public services.[146]
In the spring of 2024, the Colorado Republican Party sent an email, listed as a "Call to Action," to members.[147] In the email, the party strongly recommended that parents take their children out of public schools in order to "save Colorado children from progressive Democrats who want to turn more kids trans by requiring teachers to use 'pronouns' that do not make any sense and cause gender confusion."[148][149] This campaign was started after a law passed in the state protecting transgender students' rights.[148]
Early in June 2024, two professors from the University of Texas filed a lawsuit against the federal government for protecting nonbinary students.[150] The professors claim that the guidance for Title IX does not cover the use of "they" as a singular pronoun.[150] A Texas judge, Reed O'Connor, blocked the Title IX protections by June 12 with an injunction, claiming that the Biden Administration "had overstepped its authority" in "requiring schools to respect trans and nonbinary students' pronouns and allow them access to the restrooms of their choice."[151] In late June of 2024, the Texas Republican party celebrated when the Texas Supreme Court upheld the state's ban on gender affirming care for minors.[152] The state representative who wrote the ban "called the win 'gratifying' and further proof that the state of Texas could continue to regulate medical practices."[152]
The 2024 Republican National Convention, held in mid July, was heavily anti-transgender.[153] During the convention, Republican members "verbally attacked transgender people multiple times."[154] Some speeches given at the convention openly mocked or ridiculed transgender and non-binary people.[154] These ideas are very much in line with Project 2025, supported by Donald Trump and far right politicians.[155] Project 2025 calls non-gender conforming ideas a "new woke gender ideology."[156] The Project 2025 blueprint also calls for the elimination of protections for LGBTQ+ individuals under nearly every aspect of the US Federal Government.[156]
In October of 2024, Odessa, Texas started placing a $10,000 bounty on any transgender person using a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in the city.[157] The bounty is in addition to criminal penalties for using a restroom that aligns with gender identity.[157] In November, the Odessa City Council overwhelmingly decided expand the law which allows any person (whether they are a citizen of Odessa or not) to sue for the $10,000 bounty.[158] Opponents of the bounty and the law say that Odessa is making life more dangerous for queer people and because the bounty is "per occurrence," the law could cause local businesses and residents to be subject to large fines and unnecessary lawsuits.[158]
During the 2024 Presidential election the Republican Party used transgender people as a "wedge issue," airing anti-transgender attack ads during "high-profile sports events."[159] Many of these ads contained misinformation and false claims.[159] The ads also used images of transgender people and drag performers without getting these individuals' consent.[160]
In November of 2024, Representative Nancy Mace introduced a bill to block transgender women from using Capitol Hill facilities that match their gender identity.[161] Mace once claimed she was "pro-transgender rights," but went on to post anti-transgender rhetoric on her social media that November..[162] The new rule was pushed by Mace after the first transgender member of Congress was elected to office in November of 2024.[163] The ban, announced by Speaker Mike Johnson, went into effect for Congress on Transgender Day of Remembrance.[164] Mace says she will file a bill keeping transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity on any federal property.[162]
Transphobia in US culture
In 2001, the Daily News ran a column by John Leo which complained about transgender people, suggesting that they had a mental disorder.[165] Leo argued against the idea that securing civil rights and gender-affirming care for transgender people was good for them. Instead he wanted them to get psychiatric treatment.[165] Leo called the word transphobia "a new word of indignant accusation."[165]
In 2019, Ditch the Label published an analysis of 10 million online social media and forum posts from a time period starting around 2016.[88] This analysis revealed a large amount of transphobic language and ideas being shared in the United States.[88] Many of the transphobic ideas and commentary have been shared on Facebook, which left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters called "one of the biggest bad actors" in this area.[166]The Daily Wire was also involved in spreading misinformation about transgender people online during this time, using transphobia to increase engagement with their website.[166][167]
Environmental group, Deep Green Resistance (DGR) has members with "a history of making disturbing transphobic statements."[170] Groups working with DGR in 2022 to halt mining in Nevada, specifically at the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine, severed their ties with them due to the rampant transphobia in the group.[170]
Dave Chappelle's 2021 Netflix special, The Closer, contained jokes that some considered transphobic.[171][172] Chappelle's live shows continue to receive protests from people who oppose the way he has talked about transgender people.[173] Netflix employees asked the company to recognize that "transphobic content causes harm."[174] The company's trans employee resource group sent demands to Netflix management and planned to organize a walkout in response to the continued support of Chappelle.[174] A protest was held on October 20, 2021 in Los Angeles where employees of Netflix supporting trans rights held a rally that included Joey Soloway as a speaker.[175] Chappelle fans also appeared at the protest, carrying their own signs supporting the comedian and his content.[175]
In March 2022, Senator Marsha Blackburn used the confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to bring up "transgender issues," asking whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in sports with cisgender women.[92]
When Jeopardy! champion, Amy Schneider, threw the first pitch at Oracle Park in June 2022, Fox Sports cut away from her and showed a first pitch from NASCAR driver Kurt Busch instead.[176] The cut from the first pitch was pointed out on Twitter where it was seen as transphobic.[177] Fox Sports says that "first pitches are never aired as part of their game broadcasts," and showing Busch was part of a "promotional package for an upcoming NASCAR race."[177]Sports Illustrated argued that no matter the reason for showing Busch instead of Schneider, the "optics" of the situation did not paint Fox Sports in a good light.[178] As more sports companies have shown support for transgender athletes, increases in "hate and transphobia" have been observed anecdotally by athletes such as skater, Jeffrey Cheung.[179]
In May 2022, State Farm faced attacks from conservative activists over their GenderCool Project which would donate children's books with LGBTQ themes to schools and libraries.[27] The project was meant to "raise awareness around what it means to be transgender, inclusive and nonbinary."[27] Due to the backlash, State Farm dropped the project.[27]
In September 2022, Matt Walsh made accusations against Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Tennessee, saying that doctors "drug," "castrate," and "mutilate" children.[184][185][186] Walsh also asserted that VUMC performed gender-affirming care because it is a "money-maker," threatened doctors who refused to perform the procedures with "consequences," and "enforced compliance" within patients hesitant with receiving the procedures.[185][186] Tennessee Republicans, including Governor Bill Lee, called for an immediate investigation of the clinic.[185][187] Walsh stated he was meeting with lawmakers to pass a bill that would shut the clinic down.[188] In response to the accusations, VUMC shut down the webpage for their transgender clinic and said that Walsh "misrepresent[ed] facts" about the care provided.[186] Later, VUMC was asked by Tennessee state investigators to turn over the patient healthcare documents of individuals "seeking transgender health care."[189] These reports, which were given to Tennessee State Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, contained "sensitive medical data."[189] A class-action lawsuit, filed in July 2023, describes how the state of Tennessee has been "negatively targeting the transgender community for years."[189] Skrmetti has publicly supported anti-transgender laws in other states and started targeting VUMC after Walsh criticized the organization in 2022.[189]
In Nashville, Tennessee on October 21, 2022, The Daily Wire organized a rally titled "The Rally to End Child Mutilation" in protest to gender-affirming care for minors. Between 1,500 and 3,000 people attended, which included supporters, protesters, and Tennessee senators and representatives.[190][191]
After the 2023 Nashville school shooting, perpetrated by a transgender shooter, there was an increase in transphobia on public platforms.[192] Transgender people in Tennessee faced backlash, though many pushed back, saying it is more important to restrict gun access.[193]
MMA fighter, Alana McLaughlin responded to the transphobic attacks made on transgender people by Jake Shields in April 2023.[194] Shields has said that allies of transgender people should "face public execution."[194] A law passed in North Dakota, banning gender affirming care for minors, went into effect in April 2023.[195] As of June 2024, the ban continues to be upheld for most minors in the state.[195]
In the lead up to Pride in April 2023 a commercial for Bud Light featuring the actress Dylan Mulvaney caused a boycott by transphobic conservatives against the company.[196] The week before Pride in late May 2023, Target released their Pride collection featuring products to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Subsequently, conservative anti-LGBTQ groups spread misinformation[197] about some of the products and after receiving threats against stores and employees from anti-LGBTQ groups, the company decided to remove some merchandise and move their Pride displays into the back of some stores, causing a heavy backlash by GLAAD and other LGBTQ advocacy groups requesting that Target return the merchandise and release a statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community.[198][199] In July 2023, former Levi's President and gymnast, Jennifer Sey, mocked Megan Rapinoe for supporting transgender athletes.[200] Rapinoe said out that women's sports are being "weaponized" by supposed transgender people taking advantage of the system.[200] Sey also criticized Bud Light for using Mulvaney in their ads.[200]
Sey created a line of athletic clothing in March 2024 called XX-XY Athletics which she says is intended "to help protect women and girls from being forced to compete and share locker rooms with transgender athletes."[201] A team of anti-transgender activists have joined her, including Chloe Cole, Adam Coleman, Riley Gaines, Tabia Lee, and Paula Scanlan.[201] Also in March 2024, conservative blogger, Michael Shellenberger and anti-transgender group, Genspect, leaked reports about transgender care that were taken out of context and some of which contained false claims.[202] Shellenberger believes that transgender people are mentally ill, unnatural and are part of "foundational woke ideologies."[202] His Substack "has increasingly focused on the supposed threats that trans people pose to society, including to women's sports, women in general, the family and Western civilization."[203] In May 2024, Gaines used social media to show her support of a crowd booing the win of a transgender athlete in the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) women's 200 meter run.[204] A Florida employee, and parent of a transgender athlete, at Monarch High School is still waiting as of June 2024 to find out if she will be suspended for a potential violation of the Fairness in Women's Sports Act.[205]
The Woman's Club of Fort Worth faced controversy when they accepted a transgender woman to the organization in November 2023.[206] This led to nine members resigning and the group stating that they are currently not prepared to "formally address the matter of admitting transgender women."[206]
In early 2024, Best Buy was contacted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative think tank, over donations the company had made to LGBTQ groups, such as The Trevor Project and GLAAD.[207] NCPPR accused Best Buy of donating to groups they believe are "seeking to mutilate the reproductive organs of children before they finish puberty," and that donations to LGBTQ groups was out of the scope of an electronics company.[207] After NCPPR went after Best Buy, the company agreed to "screen" their donations and their pages supporting LGBTQ people were taken down.[207] Because NCPPR is a shareholder of Best Buy, they were able to threaten monetary sanctions against the company and they filed a complaint with the SEC.[207]
Video game streamer, Nickmercs, has explicitly and publicly come out as anti-trans in 2024, saying "There's no such thing as trans people."[208] In April of 2024, police were called on a transgender high school student attending her high school prom in Jackson County, Alabama because she wore a dress and would not change into pants.[209] Also in April of 2024, anti-transgender activists claimed that transgender women have an advantage in darts, esports, hot dog eating contests, and poker.[210]
After Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election, Caitlyn Jenner lauded his win publicly on Twitter where she faced both agreement, and transphobic comments from other Twitter users.[211]
Violent incidents and threats
In October 2002, transgender teen, Gwen Araujo, was beaten and then strangled at a house party in Newark.[212] Her assault took place after she was discovered to be transgender and the men responsible used the "trans panic" defense in their murder trial.[212]Latisha King, a non-gender conforming student, aged 15, was shot twice by a 14 year old fellow student who felt that she had disrespected him.[213] King was "taunted and teased for the way she lived her gender, for its style."[214]
Kiwi Farms was created in 2013 in order to target people who are neurodivergent or members of the LGBTQ+ community.[217] Users of Kiwi Farms would find people on the internet to stalk, dox, and harass.[218][219] The "site has been blamed for the deaths of several victims," many of whom were transgender.[217][220]
In 2019, 25 transgender or gender nonconforming people died after they were subjected to acts of violence.[221] 2021 became one of the "deadliest on record in America," for transgender and gender nonconforming people in the United States with 29 deaths by June and at least 50 by the end of the year.[80][222] In February 2021, Alexus Braxton was brutally killed in her apartment in Miami.[223]
Children's Medical Center Dallas was forced to close their gender affirming program for trans children and teens in November 2021 after protests and harassment from anti-transgender activists.[224]
The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, an all-transgender farm in Colorado, faced alleged armed threats on March 6, 2021.[225] After this event, Kiwi Farms facilitated further harassment of the ranchers online.[225] In 2022, the Kiwi Farms forum had over 800 posts targeting the ranch.[225]
On March 24, 2022, former Mississippi legislator, Robert Foster, used Twitter to express his opinion that allies of transgender people should be "lined up against [a] wall before a firing squad to be sent to an early judgment."[92] Foster did not apologize for his tweet, instead saying that the law should be changed to allow such executions.[92] In June 2022, Mark Burns, a pastor and a candidate running in South Carolina, said that allies, teachers, and parents who support LGBTQ+ rights should be arrested and executed.[37]
In June 2022, a drag brunch in Arlington, Texas was targeted by alleged Proud Boys,[226] as was a California library that same month.[227] At the San Francisco Bay Area event, "The [Proud Boys] were described as extremely aggressive with a threatening violent demeanor causing people to fear for their safety."[227] The Proud Boys may have been tipped off by Libs of TikTok.[227]
In July 2022, a cafe in Chicago that was planning to host a drag performance was vandalized.[228] Libs of TikTok was also involved in a campaign to target Jewish summer camps in California that accepted transgender children.[229] The camps had to take additional "steps to ensure security."[229]
In the same month, 20-year-old transgender man Noah Ruiz was assaulted by three men while camping in Camden, Ohio. After being advised to use the women's restroom, despite identifying as male, he was angrily confronted by a woman in the bathroom before she stormed out. Upon exiting, he was approached by three men, who proceeded to beat him up while reportedly using homophobic slurs. When Preble County sheriff's deputies arrived, Ruiz was arrested for "disorderly conduct and obstructing official business"; The Preble Country Sheriff claimed they were not aware of the assault, and that Ruiz was highly intoxicated and belligerent. Ruiz was able to file an assault report with the sheriff's office, demanding the men to be held accountable.[230]
Boston Children's Hospital has been subject to violent threats due to false information pushed by Libs of TikTok.
Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) staff received "violent threats" in August 2022 after Libs of TikTok incorrectly claimed that children were receiving hysterectomies.[231][232] The Children's National Hospital was also targeted in late August by Libs of TikTok, which also falsely claimed the hospital was performing hysterectomies on children.[233] The National hospital received both bomb and death threats on social media.[233] Both Facebook and Twitter have not suspended Libs of TikTok, despite the large volume of harassment BCH has received because of the targeting.[234]Fox News and The Daily Caller both ran stories using the false information Libs of TikTok spread.[233] Children's hospitals in Pittsburgh and Phoenix were also targeted.[235] On August 30, a bomb threat caused the hospital to go into lockdown and another threat, phoned in on September 9, brought in the police to investigate.[236] A woman from Westfield, Massachusetts was arrested on September 15 for charges of making one of the bomb threats to BCH.[237] The FBI reported that there have been "well over a dozen" such threats made to BCH.[238] On September 18, 2022, "Billboard Chris," an anti-LGBT activist from Canada, organized a protest of the hospital's gender affirming care program outside of BCH.[239] Between 100 and 200 counter-protesters came to support the transgender care at the hospital, outnumbering the protesters.[240][241] The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Children's Hospital Association (CHA) have asked U.S. Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland to "investigate the organizations, individuals, and entities coordinating, provoking, and carrying out bomb threats and threats of personal violence against children's hospitals and physicians across the U.S."[242]
When Tucker Carlson on Fox News covered the accusations against Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he showcased photos of the doctors' faces along with their names. VUMC reported harassment against their doctors from far-right groups on Reddit and 4chan, calling for them to be either arrested or murdered. These groups also called for "Nazi-inspired intimidation tactics" such as book burnings.[186]
A cisgender woman named Jay was harassed in a Las Vegascasino bathroom in October 2022 by another woman who mistook her for being transgender due to her short haircut. The woman followed Jay into the bathroom and was "ranting about people's gender identities" for several minutes outside her stall. Upon exiting, the woman interrogated her about her gender identity and threatened to have police arrest her. The woman was kicked out of the casino, but no charges were pressed, and she was later allowed back in. Jay recorded the incident and uploaded it to TikTok, where it went viral. The video was later removed by the site for "grooming behavior," to which Jay contested. She commented on how no bystanders tried to help her, calling it "the most upsetting part" of the whole incident.[243][244]
On November 19, 2022, the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting took the lives of 5 people and injured 25 others.[245] The club was considered a safe place for transgender people in the city.[245] During the December 14, 2022, Congressional hearing, LGBTQ+ shooting survivors shared their fears about the "rising hate" towards their community, especially towards people who are transgender or who perform in drag.[246] In December 2022, a transgender teacher who had been a target of Fox News stories faced bomb threats.[247]
During the March 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, Daily Wire contributor Michael Knowles stated that “transgenderism should be eradicated from public life entirely.”[248] Knowles’ comments sparked outrage, and were characterized as genocidal by various media figures and outlets.[249] In August 2023, Libs of TikTok shared an edited video of a school librarian in Tulsa, Oklahoma which led to "several consecutive days of bomb threats to schools in the district."[250]
On February 3, 2024, Mark Robinson, current Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina and candidate for Governor, threatened trans women with arrest over bathroom use[251] and suggested that they "find a corner outside somewhere".[252]
On February 7, 2024, a sixteen-year-old non-binary student was beaten inside the girls' restroom at the Owasso High School.[253] The student, Nex Benedict, received "months of intensifying bullying" which started after Oklahoma passed legislation in 2023 that outlawed students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.[254] After being assaulted by three female students in the girls' restroom, a teacher intervened, but did not call an ambulance for Benedict.[254] Later that evening, Benedict's grandmother took them to the hospital where they died the next day from their injuries.[254]
In early June 2024, a Minnesota father of a transgender student called for criminal charges to be pressed on students that harassed and assaulted his daughter.[255] His daughter was using the bathroom where she was bullied and then sustained a compound fracture during the ensuing fight.[255] The school, Hopkins High, did not treat the incident "as an emergency," despite the injuries sustained by his daughter.[255]
In November of 2024, two transgender women were confronted and attacked by a transphobic group of people in Minneapolis.[256] The women sustained injuries from the group of attackers and activists in the area are worried about additional violence against transgender people.[256]
Effects
Compared to cisgender Americans, transgender people are up to 25 times more likely to face the risk of abuse, assault or suicide.[257] Transgender people are subject to minority stress.[258] This type of stress is created through stigma, prejudice, and discrimination.[258] Many transgender people face bullying and harassment in many different venues in their lives.[259] Transphobia is manifested through a "hostile political climate" and by marginalizing transgender individuals in society.[260] Stigma against transgender people can lead to increased depression and anxiety.[261] Chronic exposure to stressors can cause "biological weathering" that cause physical health issues.[261] Transgender people who testified against anti-transgender bills in the Texas Capitol found the long hearings "exhausting and upsetting."[262]
The legal actions and politics that have been passed against transgender youth have caused negative mental health outcomes for many young people and all transgender individuals.[31][261] This can include high rates of suicidal ideation.[32] Even if the bills do not pass, the stress of seeing the measures debated causes issues for many people.[262] Crisis calls to The Trevor Project have seen high rates in states like Texas in 2022.[262] In 2017, there was also an increase in calls to the crisis hotline after Texas considered a bathroom bill that year.[262] Some families are looking to move out of states that have passed transphobic legislation.[262] Some transgender people have to file lawsuits over laws, such as bathroom bills, which restrict their civil rights.[263]
A 2015 study found that 90 percent of young transgender people were rejected in some way by their families.[264] When their families are not supportive of them, "trans young people seek out alternative forms of support and affirmation."[264] When young trans people are allowed to socially transition, it eases both anxiety and depression for them.[265] Transphobia creates both "stigma and discrimination" which has a negative affect on transgender youth.[266] Around 78 percent of transgender students in grades K through 12 described various types of harassment from other students, teachers, or school staff.[78] Transgender youth who had gone through conversion therapy had a markedly increased rate of suicide attempts compared to LGBT youth who did not experience this type of abuse.[261]
Many transgender people have difficulty accessing health care. Transgender women "experience critical barriers to healthcare and significant health inequities due to their minoritized status."[267] According to a 2008 study conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, around 19 percent of the respondents reported being refused care by healthcare professionals because they were transgender.[268] A study in 2015 found that health insurance denied coverage of gender affirming surgery to 55% of transgender adults attempting to access that care.[52] During the COVID-19 pandemic, transgender people were left out demographically because public health organizations rarely collect data on sexual or gender minorities (SGM).[269]
Transgender and gender diverse people may also avoid accessing healthcare due to their "fear of mistreatment" and lack of provider knowledge.[270] In 2011, a study found that medical students only receive on average five hours of "LGBT-related content" during their years in school.[271] Transgender individuals accessing health care while in prison have "filed numerous lawsuits detailing substandard care and withholding of transition-related care."[272]Biases and lack of education on transgender topics by healthcare providers often leads to transgender women not seeking health care, even if they have insurance.[273] In other cases, family members have also blocked transgender individuals access to gender affirming care.[274] Many transgender children hide their gender identities from their families due to "parent adopting transphobic and cisnormative beliefs and actions."[275] Transgender patients may also avoid necessary health screenings because of their anxiety in dealing with reactions from healthcare providers who may be ignorant of transgender issues or may display transphobic tendencies.[276] Because of many of these factors, many transgender adults seek access to hormones from non-licensed sources.[277]
In some situations, transphobic campaigns can prevent anyone from accessing health care.[232] During a targeted campaign against Boston Children's Hospital, patients were unable to reach providers by phone.[232]
Transphobia in the United States can also lead to higher rates of unemployment and discrimination in the workplace.[278][279][280] Transgender and gender diverse people have twice the unemployment rates in the US when compared to the general population.[278] The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) found in a 2015 survey that the unemployment rate for transgender people in the US was three times the rate of cisgender people.[281] The same survey described that 15% of trans people who were employed faced various levels of harassment on the job, ranging from verbal to physical assault.[281] Because many transgender people face employment discrimination, they are more likely to experience insecurity in housing.[282] The NCTE survey found that almost 1/3 of transgender respondents experienced homelessness.[282]
Transgender athletes face the reality that from one day to the next they may be prohibited from participating in their chosen activity.[22] Ending a sports career can be damaging for an athlete's mental health.[22] Framing the issue of trans women in sports as "biological males competing against girls" is how opponents both misgender and "deny the humanity of transgender girls."[154]
Conservative American politicians have used transphobia to increase and mobilize their base of voters.[25][22] Transphobic rhetoric among politicians and in the media has been successful in causing Americans to lessen their support for transgender people.[2][154] After Donald Trump won the presidential race in November of 2024, it led to the Democratic Party to rethink their stance on transgender rights.[9] As moderate and centrist Democratic politicians evaluated the 2024 electoral races, many believed that Democratic support for transgender issues may have cost them the election.[283] Because the Republican Party ran so many anti-transgender attack ads, Democratic party supporters also blamed transgender people for their electoral losses in November of 2024.[159] Casting blame on transgender people for losing the election puts them in harms' way and also spreads misinformation.[284]
Effects on cisgender people
Cisgender people can experience the effects of transphobia. Human Rights Watch reported in 2001 that "many students are wrongly perceived as transgender, yet such persons are similarly subject to persecution."[285] In August 2022, a school investigated a girl who "outclassed" the rest of her peers in a high school sporting event.[286] The parents of the girls who placed second and third complained to the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) where they "questioned the winner's gender."[286] UHSAA investigated the girl, opening up her enrollment records back to kindergarten, all without informing the student or her family.[286] States that have passed anti-transgender laws find that many cisgender athletes often become wrongly accused of being transgender.[287]
In July 2023, a cisgender woman, Michelle Dionne Peacock, was allegedly murdered in Indiana by a transphobic man.[288] Her killer believed that Peacock was "a male acting like a woman," and despite complaints that she was being harassed, "nothing was done."[288] Cisgender women are at risk of transphobic violence if they do not conform to gender stereotypes.[289] In situations where people with disabilities need care from someone of the opposite gender, their lives can be complicated by bathroom bills.[158] In Odessa, Texas as of October 2024, any person who goes into a restroom that does not match their gender assigned at birth is subject to a $10,000 bounty, even if they are aiding a person with a disability.[158][157]
Effects of violence and intimidation
Recently, hate violence has increased in the United States.[290] The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) started to document acts of "fatal violence" against transgender and gender nonconforming people in the United States in 2013.[222] The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found in 2013 that 72% of "hate-crime murder victims were trans women, and almost all were women of color."[281] In 2015, 46% of transgender adults reported "oral harassment" and 9% reported that they had been assaulted.[279] Most of the victims of this transphobic violence are Black gender non-conforming and trans women.[291][47][279] Black transgender people are also more likely to face discrimination.[292] In Chicago, fewer deaths of transgender women than homicides overall are solved by police.[293] Transgender people are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime, as much as "four times more likely than cisgender people."[294][53] Trans women are twice as likely than other trans people to experience sexual assault than other victims of violence.[281]
Threats made against children's hospitals that provide gender affirming care affect a wide range of people.[295] During a 2022 lockdown due to transphobic threats, a mother was unable to visit her newborn in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).[295]
Hate crimes against LGBTQ students doubled across the country between 2015-2019 and again between 2021 and 2022.[296] Overall, since 2021, the rates of violent and deadly incidents for transgender people has increased since groups began to track the numbers.[80] In states that have passed anti-transgender legislation, the rise in hate crimes was even higher, according to The Washington Post.[296]
The data being used to track hate crimes against transgender and non-gender conforming people is not consistently reported due to differences in the way that some cities in the United States categorize victims of these crimes.[80] In addition, not every place reports hate crimes to the FBI.[53]
Students, ranging from elementary to college, are reporting a recent increase in bullying for being part of the LGBTQ community or for being non-gender conforming.[296] Young LGBTQ people face social stigma and often family rejection.[281]
Transgender people also face violence in encounters with law enforcement.[297] In a 2015 report, it was reported that in 58% of interactions between trans individuals and law enforcement there were various forms of harassment, ranging from misgendering, to violence or sexual assault.[297]
It is also possible to see how tactics that were historically used to spread antisemitism and hatred of Jews can also be applied to other groups, including transgender people.[298] Using rhetoric designed to both dehumanize and cause fear for a small population allows right wing politicians to use transgender people as a scapegoat for larger societal problems.[298]
In Canada and the United States in the early 2020s, several conservative and far-right media outlets and personalities promulgated the litter boxes in schools hoax, stating that some schools were providing litter boxes in bathrooms to students who identified as cats or furries, in response to several school districts enacting accommodations for transgender students. Many news outlets and academic researchers have debunked the litter box claims as false.[299][300][301]
There has also been a recent attempt "to shift the blame to the trans community itself for the violence" enacted against them and others.[59] Anti-transgender activists have also tried to claim that transgender people are becoming more violent because 10 mass shooters out of 4,400 in the last decade in the US have identified as transgender.[302]
Misinformation about transgender people has been deliberately spread by various people in order to create a "Misinformation-Legislation Pipeline."[303]Opinion pieces, and poorly researched and biased information are often used as the basis for targeted legislation banning gender-affirming care to transgender people.[304] This type of false information is used by politicians to ban this type of care for transgender people, despite the lack of medical science backing the claim.[305] Politicians are using any "currently available evidence" they can find to back their claims, despite lack of medical research behind the claims.[306] Media and news outlets that are not careful about vetting medical evidence can help spread medical misinformation to the public.[307]
Anti-transgender activists, such as Moms for Liberty, believe that schools and public institutions are actively indoctrinating minors to think they are transgender.[308] Many of these activists use "parents' rights" as a way to prevent gender affirming care for their own children and others' children.[308]
Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.
Matt Walsh is an American conservative political commentator and podcast host. He is the host of The Matt Walsh Show podcast and is a personality with the American conservative website The Daily Wire. He has authored four books and starred in The Daily Wire documentary films What Is a Woman? and Am I Racist?
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Utah have significantly evolved in the 21st century. Protective laws have become increasingly enacted since 2014, despite the state's reputation as socially conservative and highly religious. Utah's anti-sodomy law was invalidated in 2003 by Lawrence v. Texas, and fully repealed by the state legislature in 2019. Same-sex marriage has been legal since the state's ban was ruled unconstitutional by federal courts in 2014. In addition, statewide anti-discrimination laws now cover sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing, and the use of conversion therapy on minors is prohibited. In spite of this, there are still a few differences between the treatment of LGBTQ people and the rest of the population, and the rights of transgender youth are restricted.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the United States are among the most advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence changing significantly since the late 1980s.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Norway have the same legal rights as non-LGBTQ people. In 1981, Norway became one of the first countries in the world to enact an anti-discrimination law explicitly including sexual orientation. Same-sex marriage, adoption, and assisted insemination treatments for lesbian couples have been legal since 2009. In 2016, Norway became the fourth country in Europe to pass a law allowing the change of legal sex for transgender people based on self-determination. On 1 January 2024, conversion therapy became legally banned within Norway.
In the United States, the rights of transgender people vary considerably by jurisdiction. In recent decades, there has been an expansion of federal, state, and local laws and rulings to protect transgender Americans; however, many rights remain unprotected, and some rights are being eroded. Since 2020, there has been a national movement by conservative/right-wing politicians and organizations to target transgender rights. There has been a steady increase in the number of anti-transgender bills introduced each year, especially in Republican-led states.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Florida have federal protections, but many face legal difficulties on the state level that are not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law. Same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since January 6, 2015. Discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations is outlawed following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. In addition, several cities and counties, comprising about 55 percent of Florida's population, have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances. These include Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and West Palm Beach, among others. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities in the state, mainly in the Miami metropolitan area, but has been struck down by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In September 2023, Lake Worth Beach, Florida became an official "LGBT sanctuary city" to protect and defend LGBT rights.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Texas have some protections in state law but may face legal and social challenges not faced by others. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Texas in 2003 by the Lawrence v. Texas ruling. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Tennessee may experience some legal challenges that non-LGBTQ residents do not. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the state since 1996. Marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Tennessee since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Montana may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Montana since 1997. Same-sex couples and families headed by same-sex couples are eligible for all of the protections available to opposite-sex married couples, as same-sex marriage has been recognized since November 2014. State statutes do not address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal under federal law. A number of cities also provide protections in housing and public accommodations.
The Swedish Women's Lobby is a Swedish gender-critical organization that claims to work for "sex-based rights."
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time.
Arkansas House Bill 1570, also known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act or Act 626, is a 2021 law in the state of Arkansas that bans gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender people under 18, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex reassignment surgery. The law also bans the use of public funds for and prohibits insurance from covering gender transition procedures, while doctors who provide treatment in violation of the ban can be sued for damages or professionally sanctioned. The measure makes Arkansas the first U.S. state to make gender-affirming medical care illegal.
Amber Briggle is an American activist based in Denton, Texas and a founding member of the Human Rights Campaign Parents for Transgender Equality National Council.
Genspect is an international group founded in June 2021 by psychotherapist Stella O'Malley that has been described as gender-critical. Genspect opposes gender-affirming care, as well as social and medical transition for transgender people. Genspect opposes allowing transgender people under 25 years old to transition, and opposes laws that would ban conversion therapy on the basis of gender identity. Genspect also endorses the unproven concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), which proposes a subclass of gender dysphoria caused by peer influence and social contagion. ROGD has been rejected by major medical organisations due to its lack of evidence and likelihood to cause harm by stigmatizing gender-affirming care.
The Society For Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) is a non-profit organization that is known for its opposition to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and for engaging in political lobbying. The group routinely cites the unproven concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria and mistakenly claimed that conversion therapy techniques are only practiced on the basis of sexual orientation rather than gender identity. SEGM is often cited in anti-transgender legislation and court cases, sometimes filing court briefs.
The 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States is an ongoing political backlash from social conservatives against LGBTQ movements. It has included legislative proposals of bathroom use restrictions, bans on gender-affirming care, anti-LGBTQ curriculum laws, laws against drag performances, book bans, boycotts, and conspiracy theories around grooming. Between 2018 and 2023, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ laws were considered, with more than one hundred passed into law.
Transphobia in Norway has evolved over time. Since the late 20th century and into the early 21st century, acceptance of transgender people has greatly increased. Norway has made significant progress in transgender rights, with strong support from political parties ranging from the most left-wing to the Conservative Party. In the 2020s, Norway has seen an increase in the anti-gender movement, from both gender critical radical feminist groups and the far right. Recently, hate crimes against transgender people have increased, and several anti-trans groups campaign against transgender people. The 2024 Extremism Commission's report cited sources that pointed to "the connections between radical feminism and Christian conservatism" in relation to anti-trans activism, noting that "these are groups and individuals who use violent and dehumanizing language and are also threatening and extremely active."
The early 21st century has seen a rise in and increasing organisation around anti-transgender sentiments in the United Kingdom, the most common strain being that of gender-critical feminism. This has led to some referring to the United Kingdom by the nickname "TERF Island".
On November 18, 2024, Nancy Mace introduced an anti-transgender bathroom bill in the US House of Representatives to ban newly elected member Sarah McBride from using bathrooms other than those of her sex assigned at birth. Two days later, US House speaker Mike Johnson declared that Mace's ban was being ushered in.
↑ Forestiere, Annamarie (September 23, 2020). "America's War on Black Trans Women". Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Archived from the original on July 27, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
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