Referenews

In October, Lukas said her group’s proposal had been embraced by 10 state attorneys general and “will be advancing in state legislatures around the country in the next session.” One of the early signers of the initiative — which details the “unique and immutable biological differences” between “males and females” — includes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican. The
Bill of Rights website
still lists 30 U.S. House members and five senators as cosponsors.

“We’re proud to lead the pushback against those who seek to erase women as a matter of law and push us aside in our culture,” she said at the time, adding that the group has worked with “principle thought leaders on the left as well as the right” to develop the concept.

Beyond defining gender, there are signs that GOP lawmakers in Missouri and Indiana want to follow Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lead with copycat bills of Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, a measure dubbed “don’t say gay” by its critics. The law
bars educators from leading conversations
in public school classrooms about gender and sexuality for children in kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Other conservative fronts include banning books that discuss LGBTQ themes, as well as race or religion, and banning public drag shows.

One area poised to see greater attention next year is banning gender-affirming care for those under ages 18 or 21. While that care rarely includes surgery for minors, according to medical experts, conservative lawmakers in Texas, South Carolina, Missouri, Virginia and Oklahoma have already submitted bills that would prohibit those procedures and more common recommendations, such as hormone replacement therapy.

Some of the efforts to stop this care have been stuck in legal limbo. One law in Arkansas — the first in the country to ban hormone therapies and puberty blockers for minors — went to court this fall after it was enacted in April 2021 and is still being litigated. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson had criticized House Bill 1570 as a “vast government overreach,” but legislators overrode his veto.

Three other states have already enacted similar legislation, and Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olsen is among those who aim to bring the bans to more states next year. Olsen said he based his proposal, which would allow minors who received hormone therapies or puberty-blockers to bring a felony or civil suit against their physician, on
the Arkansas legislation
.

He’s bringing the measure next year because he sensed the atmosphere would be more “favorable,” Olsen said, though he is certain to face pushback from Democrats and transgender people in Oklahoma.

“A bill regarded as this controversial, you can guarantee it’s going to end up in the courts,” he said in an interview when asked about how the Arkansas case may affect his own legislation. “That’s just part of the deal. … You can hope the courts stay close to the Constitution and close to common sense.”

Christina Polizzi of the Democratic State Legislative Committee pointed to Michigan’s Legislature, where Republican lawmakers tried to pass bills related to transgender students in sports and restrictions on health care — none of which made it to the governor’s desk. And after making transgender proposals a part of their party platform, state Republicans failed to maintain their majorities, leading to a
Democratic trifecta
heading into next year.

“These pieces of legislation that Republicans are pushing are completely unpopular,” Polizzi told POLITICO. “[Despite] the fact that it was clearly unpopular in places like Michigan, I see no signs of Republicans slowing down. We can expect to see them double down on this rhetoric in their next sessions.”

Polizzi said there will likely be a wave of legislation from Democratic lawmakers aimed at promoting anti-discrimination policies or undoing laws enacted by Republican predecessors.

One is from Texas state Rep. Erin Zwiener. She leads the chamber’s LGBTQ Caucus and also pre-filed House Bill 970, a leftover proposal from the 2021 session that would repeal a “criminality of homosexual conduct” law that’s still on the books. Zwiener’s legislation also comes as the state GOP added the line, “Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,”
to their priorities list
this year.

Zwiener attributed some of the conservative proposals debated in the 2021 legislative session in Texas to GOP fears over redistricting and the looming election season, where candidates might have wanted to have an LGBTQ bill vote on their resume. With redistricting behind them and the GOP majority once again settled, Zwiener said she hopes the bills have lost their political luster.

“If the Texas GOP wants to stay in power in Texas, they should not pursue these bills,” Zwiener said. “Whether or not they can help themselves, I don’t know.”