Research Guides: LGBTQIA+ Health and Cultural Competency: Legislation

Anti-LGBTQIA+ Legislation

In the last few years, states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQIA+ rights. Many of these anti-LGBTQ+ bills restrict access to medically-necessary healthcare and insurance coverage for transgender people and attempt to ban and criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures (ACLU)
1. Use the map to learn more about anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
2. Choose a state on the map to show the different bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights in that state.
3. Use the Healthcare filter to view bills attempting to ban medically-necessary healthcare for trans people and gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Legislation affecting LGBT Rights Across the Country (ACLU) View state bills from 2018-2022.
Map: Attacks on Gender Affirming Care by State (HRC)
Trans Legislation Tracker Tracks legislation that seeks to block trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist.
Track Trans Legislation Tools to track the anti-trans legislation proposed in 2023.
Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups & Legislation (Southern Poverty Law Center)
New Poll Emphasizes Negative Impacts of Anti-LGBTQ Policies on LGBTQ Youth (Trevor Project) 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth say recent debates around anti-trans bills have negatively impacted their mental health; as a result of these policies and debates in the last year, 45% of trans youth experienced cyberbullying, and nearly 1 in 3 reported not feeling safe to go to the doctor or hospital when they were sick or injured.
Decoding the Misinformation-Legislation Pipeline: An Analysis of Florida Medicaid and the Current State of Transgender Healthcare Lockmiller, Catherine. (2023). Decoding the Misinformation-Legislation Pipeline: an analysis of Florida Medicaid and the current state of transgender healthcare. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 111. 750-761. 10.5195/jmla.2023.1724.

Take Action

State Action Center - National Center for Transgender Equality Click on a state to learn about how to contact your state legislators.
Act Now to Protect Trans Lives Contact your state representatives and voice your opposition to discriminatory anti-trans legislation. Includes sample script generator.
Find Your Legislators Look your state and federal legislators up by address or current location.
Legislative Broadcasts and Webcasts Live webcasts of legislative floor proceedings or archived recordings.

LGBTQIA+ Protections

42 C.F.R. § 482.13 Condition of participation: Patient's rights A hospital must protect and promote each patient's rights.
42 CFR § 485.635 Condition of participation: Provision of services Title 42 - Public Health, Chapter IV - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Standards and Certification, Part 485 - Conditions of Participation: Specialized Providers
Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics), in covered health programs or activities. 42 U.S.C. 18116.
California Gender Recognition Act (CA SB-179 Gender identity: female, male, or nonbinary) It is the policy of the State of California that every person deserves full legal recognition and equal treatment under the law and to ensure that intersex, transgender, and nonbinary people have state-issued identification documents that provide full legal recognition of their accurate gender identity.
Title IX, Education Amendments Act of 1972, United States Code at 20 U.S.C. §1681-§1688 No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
SB 1172, Lieu. Sexual orientation change efforts (California) Prohibits a mental health provider, as defined, from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts, as defined, with a patient under 18 years of age.
Protecting the Rights of LGBTQ+ People (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) Overview of LGBTQ+ protections, including information on gender-affirming care and healthcare.
Nondiscrimination Laws Protecting LGBTQ+ People (MAP) Click the housing, public accommodations, and credit tabs to view nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ+ people.
LGBT rights in the United States (Wikipedia) Can be a good starting point before identifying more authoritative or scholarly sources.
Fact sheet: Biden-⁠Harris administration announces new actions to protect LGBTQI+ communities
LGBTQ+ Donors (American Red Cross) On August 7, 2023, the American Red Cross implemented the FDA’s updated final guidance regarding an individual donor assessment for all blood donors regardless of gender or sexual orientation.