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by Wyatt Ronan •
LITTLE ROCK, AR — Today, Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed House Bill 1570, an anti-transgender bill that would have denied medical necessary, gender-affirming services to transgender youth. This bill would have been the first of its kind to be signed into law anywhere in the country. There are so far 192 anti-LGBTQ bills under consideration in state legislatures across the country. Of those, 93 directly target transgender people and 29 would, like HB 1570, deny medically necessary services and gender-affirming care to transgender youth. Such bills have proliferated in the last two years -- 57 bills of this kind -- even as they have been opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the National Association of Social Workers which have argued that this bill would only worsen the increased risk of anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation that transgender children face. These attacks on transgender youth are fueled by discrimination, not fact.
Wide range of business and advocacy groups, athletes oppose anti-trans legislation
A fight driven by national anti-LGBTQ groups, not local legislators or public concern
These bills come from the same forces that drove previous anti-equality fights by pushing copycat bills across state houses — dangerous, anti-LGBTQ organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom (designated by Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group), and Eagle Forum among others.
Trans equality is popular: Anti-transgender legislation is a low priority, even among Trump voters
In a 10-swing-state poll conducted by the Human Rights Campaign & Hart Research Group last fall:
Another more recent poll conducted by the Human Rights Campaign & Hart Research Group revealed that, with respect to transgender youth participation in sports, the public’s strong inclination is on the side of fairness and equality for transgender student athletes. 73% of voters agree that “sports are important in young people’s lives. Young transgender people should be allowed opportunities to participate in a way that is safe and comfortable for them.”
States that pass anti-transgender legislation suffer economic, legal, reputational harm
Analyses conducted in the aftermath of previous divisive anti-transgender bills across the country, like the bathroom bills introduced in Texas and North Carolina and an anti-transgender sports ban in Idaho, show that there would be or has been devastating fallout.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organizations working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
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