EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
Republicans have put transgender issues at the center of their agenda in statehouse across the U.S., and some LGBTQ-rights advocates are worried about what they see as a new, sweeping effort to erase the legal existence of transgender men and women.
GOP state lawmakers already are pursuing dozens of proposals to restrict transgender athletes, gender-affirming care and drag shows. But in Kansas and at least seven other states, they're also pushing proposals that could prevent transgender men and women from changing their birth certificates and driver's licenses.
The Kansas measure would declare that legally, “sex” means “biological” sex, “either male or female, at birth.” It says females have a reproductive system “developed to produce ova,” while males have one “developed to fertilize the ova.” LGBTQ-rights advocates believe it would prevent transgender people from using restrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender identities.
The Kansas bill is similar to a Republican measure introduced in the U.S. House last year. Oklahoma’s Legislature is weighing a similar proposal, while North Dakota lawmakers are considering a resolution that would urge public schools and other “public entities” to distinguish “between the sexes according to biological sex at birth.” Mississippi lawmakers had three proposals like Kansas’, but none advanced this year.
New Hampshire, Tennessee and Texas also have proposals to define male and female in state law, and a Republican lawmaker in South Carolina has proposed an amendment to the state’s constitution to declare that legally, a person’s gender would be based on anatomy at birth, not a “psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.”
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READ AP’S STORY
States’ push to define sex decried as erasing trans people
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ADD LOCAL CONTEXT
— One key piece of information is how state lawmakers representing your city, county or area feel about the legislation. You can find the text of your state's measures, along with sponsors and the committees reviewing them, at your state government's free bill-tracking site, with a list of them here.
Here are the relevant measures in each state:
Kansas, Senate Bill 180
Mississippi, SB 2076, SB 2773, and House Bill 1144
New Hampshire, HB 396
North Dakota, House Concurrent Resolution 3010 and HB 2199
Oklahoma, SB 408
South Carolina, SB 0276
Tennessee, SB 1440 and HB 0239
Texas, HB 1952.
Last year's measure in Congress was House Resolution 1136.
— Interview people who are transgender, intersex and non-binary about their views on such legislation. LGBTQ-rights groups like PFLAG have local chapters that can help you get in contact with transgender, intersex or non-binary people, as can local or regional gay-straight or queer-straight alliances, with a list here.
— Reach out to your state's law schools and groups that deal with LGBTQ issues about how passage of the measures legally would affect the daily lives of not only transgender men and women but also intersex and non-binary people. Your local health systems also might have doctors or other medical personnel who have expertise in issues related issues involving gender.
— Your city, county and state might have a commission that either reviews complaints about discrimination in your community or advises local officials on combatting discrimination. Review your archives to see whether transgender rights have been the subject of protests or demonstrations in the past.
— Be aware that if you talk to faith leaders about transgender issues that their views are likely to vary widely based on the denomination or branch of their faith. For example, there is no single Christian or Jewish perspective.
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TAKING YOUR REPORTING FURTHER
Additional threads and questions to consider:
— How does your community, its businesses and its schools deal with issues surrounding transgender rights? Does it have a non-discrimination ordinance that covers LGBTQ people?
— Do your local schools and colleges have policies for deciding issues such as what facilities transgender students use? Do the operators of jails and domestic violence shelters?
— Have parent, student or business groups expressed views on transgender rights issues?
— Have their been legal challenges surrounding how schools or other taxpayer-funded or private entities deal with issues involving transgender rights?
— Have local officials, groups, churches or other entities testified before the Legislature on transgender issues? Are their leaders prominent in the debate?
