Nearly half of transgender people in the U.S. are citing laws in their home state that could limit their access to gender-affirming health care, public restrooms, school sports, and more, according to a survey published Wednesday by a national newspaper. , is considering moving to another state. Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).
Of the more than 92,000 transgender and nonbinary people surveyed by NCTE, a nonprofit organization focused on transgender policy reform, about half, or 47 percent, said their state government had caused He said he considered moving to another state at some point. Has promoted or passed legislation targeting the transgender community.
About 5 percent of respondents (just over 4,500 people) said they had already moved because of anti-LGBTQ laws, according to Wednesday’s latest update of NCTE’s U.S. Transgender Survey. The report reflects responses collected by the group in late 2022 following the pandemic and outbreak. A series of organizational failures As a result, NCTE has postponed the original 2020 deadline.
Sandy James, the study’s lead researcher, said: “It’s hard to believe that people living in the United States at this time are having to think about leaving their homeland, let alone that so many have actually had to leave.” That’s really surprising,” he said on Tuesday. He held a Zoom call with reporters ahead of the report’s release.
In 2022, the year the study was conducted, more than 315 bills targeting LGBTQ rights, specifically transgender rights, will be on the books in the U.S., according to tallies kept by the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights organization. submitted to the state legislature. Anti-LGBTQ bills surged again in 2023, with at least 510 bills introduced in 46 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Over 80 has become law.
Already, 2024 is shaping up to be a new record-breaking year for state bills targeting the LGBTQ community, with nearly 400 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced or carried over from last year, according to the ACLU.
Bills that threaten LGBTQ rights, even if they fail, can increase hostility and make the states where they are introduced less safe for LGBTQ people. One-third of LGBTQ 13- to 24-year-olds surveyed last year by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization, said their mental health had worsened as a result of laws targeting their sexual orientation or gender identity. Ta.
Across the country, LGBTQ people are being forced to weigh the costs of uprooting their lives against the benefits of leaving for greener pastures. After the controversial Florida education bill (known to critics as the “Don’t Say I’m Gay” law because of its disparate impact on LGBTQ students and families) is enacted in 2022, LGBTQ More than half of parents said they are considering moving their family to Florida. Another state.
One parent said at the time: “It’s scary to think I have to leave home to protect my child and my partner, but I’m willing to do it.”
Laws banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors have likely pushed families of transgender children into an even smaller corner, with families in primarily Republican-led states forced to stay home or stay home. It is needed by all major health care providers who are faced with the choice of providing medically qualified care for children.
Twenty-three states have banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and the number continues to grow. In some cases, restrictions also apply to adults.
Wednesday’s NCTE survey found that the majority of respondents who moved to other states because of anti-LGBTQ laws came from Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. He was a native of Virginia. The report lists these states in alphabetical order and does not indicate the number of transgender people evacuated from each state. The report also does not indicate which states are most popular for relocation.
“It’s really surprising that this is spreading across the country, essentially in response to discrimination by state legislatures and governments,” NCTE Director-General Rodrigo Hen-Lehtinen told reporters on Tuesday. . “I think this is a great illustration of how pervasive and harmful discrimination is.”
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