“We are seeing a coordinated effort from far-right organizations in the country who are pitching these kinds of bills.
It's why the language matches so similarly to other bills. It's why the openings of representatives who are pushing these anti-trans bills sound eerily similar to the openings of legislators in other areas.
It's why the same handful of, quote, ‘detransitioners’ are flying around the country to speak on these bills.
And I think what we saw that at the beginning, because it's important to remember that these anti-trans bills began initially with a failed attempt at bathroom bans, and then their second attempt to sort of find a way in, was in sports bans. But their goal was never to simply pass a sports ban.
The goal was, as was stated in one of the conservative conventions this year, the goal was the elimination of trans people from public life, entirely.
And we have seen that escalation of legislation over the past few years.
We have seen it go, and now we're seeing these healthcare bans beginning to take root. We're seeing healthcare bans not just for youth, but in Missouri, adult healthcare bans. And in Florida, we bills that make it so that a trans child could be taken away from their parents. And Florida just passed a bathroom ban that makes it incredibly difficult to be a trans person in public.
So we're seeing not only coordinated efforts from far-right groups in the country to pass anti-trans legislation, but we are seeing an escalation of those attacks with an ultimate goal of removing trans people from public life entirely.
And that is why trans people and our allies are standing in our communities and standing in our legislatures and bringing attention to the urgency of this situation.”
—ZOEY ZEPHYR, Montana’s first openly transgender representative, speaking about Montana’s Senate Bill 99, trans representation, and anti-LGBTQ legislation currently sweeping Republican states.
