Anti-Trans Legislation: Feb 25-Mar 3 in Review
The following bills were introduced:
Two schooling bills, Florida S1320 and H1223, were pre-filed.
Georgia HB653, an under-18 healthcare ban, was introduced.
Iowa HSB208, a school-based bathroom bill, was introduced and passed in its subcommittee.
Iowa HB482, a school-based bathroom bill, was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Iowa HSB214, an under-18 healthcare ban, was introduced and had a House subcommittee hearing.
Iowa SSB1197, an under-18 healthcare ban, was introduced and had a subcommittee meeting.
Iowa HJR8 was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. This is a joint resolution attacking marriage.
Iowa HSB222, a schooling/parental rights bill, was introduced and referred to the House Education Committee yesterday.
Maine LD930, a sports ban bill that specifically targets trans girls, was introduced and referred to the Joint Judiciary Committee.
Missouri HB1332, a tax bill that would punish institutions for providing gender-affirming healthcare, was introduced and read.
Missouri HB1364, a drag ban bill, was introduced and read for a second time.
Ohio HB68, a "SAFE" act, was introduced and referred to the House Public Health Policy Committee.
Texas HB2862 and HB3147 were filed. These prison bills would prohibit incarcerated trans and gender diverse folks from being housed in facilities consistent with their gender identity.
The following bills progressed:
Bathroom bills: (A bathroom bill denies access to public restrooms by gender or trans identity. They increase danger without making anyone any safer and have even prompted attacks on cis and trans people alike. Many national health and anti-sexual assault organizations oppose these bills.)
Arizona SB1040, a school-based bathroom bill, passed in the Senate and crossed over to the House.
Arkansas SB270, which would make it “criminal indecency with a child” for trans folks to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, was re-referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Idaho SB1100, a school-based bathroom bill, had a second reading and was filed for a third reading.
Idaho S1016, which already passed in the Senate, had its first reading in the House and was scheduled for a second reading.
Iowa SF335, a school-based bathroom bill, passed committee and renumbered as SF482.
Heathcare bills: (Healthcare bills go against professional and scientific consensus that gender-affirming care saves lives. Denying access will cause harm. Providers are faced with criminal charges, parents are threatened with child abuse charges, and intersex children are typically exempted.)
Florida S0952, the “Reverse Woke Act,” was referred to the Senate Health Policy Committee.
Georgia SB140, an under-18 healthcare ban, had a second reading.
Indiana SB0480, an under-18 healthcare ban, passed in the Senate and crossed over to the House.
Kansas SB233, which already passed in the Senate, was referred to the House Health and Human Services Committee. This is also an under-18 healthcare ban.
Nebraska LB574, again an under-18 healthcare ban, was placed on general file, meaning it is now on the floor.
Oklahoma SB129 passed in committee and will head to the Senate floor. A reminder that this bill had an emergency added, so it would immediately go into effect if it passes.
Texas HB776, an abortion and under-18 healthcare ban, was referred to the House Public Health Committee.
Utah HB0132 returned to committee yesterday after it failed in committee in January. This is also an under-18 bill.
Public performance bills: (also known as "drag bans" restrict access for folks who are gender non-conforming in any way. They loosely define "drag" as any public performance with an “opposite gender expression,” as sexual in nature, and inappropriate for children. This also pushes trans individuals out of public spaces.)
Arizona SB1698 passed in committee and is headed to the Senate.
Arkansas SB43 was signed by the Governor. This is the drag ban bill that was largely amended to only cover public nudity.
Montana HB359, which already passed in the House, had its first reading in the Senate.
Oklahoma SB503, an obscenity bill, passed in committee.
South Dakota HB1116 an "obscenity bill" that prohibits "lewd or lascivious content," which already passed in the House, passed in committee.
Tennessee SB0841 had its action deferred until 3/14.
Texas HB708 was referred to the House State Affairs Committee.
Schooling bills: (Schooling, or so called “parental rights” bills force schools to misgender or deadname students, ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and make schools alert parents if they suspect a child is trans. They remove life-saving affirmation and support for trans youth.)
Arizona SB1001 passed in the Senate and was transmitted to the House.
Arkansas SB294 is headed to its final vote in the House.
Florida H1069 was sent to another education subcommittee in the House.
Indiana HB1608 passed in the House and crossed over to the Senate where its first reading is scheduled for Monday.
Iowa HSB222 passed in its subcommittee.
Missouri HB1258 had a second reading.
Oklahoma SB503 passed in committee this morning and is headed to the Senate floor.
Tennessee HB1269 was referred to the House Finance, Ways, & Means Committee.
Utah SB0283, an anti-DEI bill for higher education, passed in its Senate Revenue and Taxation Hearing and is now headed to its second committee.
Sex designation bills: (Sex designation bills make it harder for trans folks to have IDs, such as birth certificates, that match their gender identity. They can force a male or female designation based upon sex assigned at birth. Some ban a non-binary “X” marker or require surgery to qualify for ID updates.)
Montana SB458,passed in committee and will head to the Senate floor.
Tennessee SB1440 passed in committee and will head to the Senate floor.
Sports ban bills: (Most sports bills force schools to designate teams by sex assigned at birth. They are often one-sided and ban trans girls from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity. Some egregious bills even force invasive genital examinations on student athletes.)
Arkansas HB1156 was re-referred to the Senate Education Committee.
Florida H0999 was sent to another education subcommittee.
Wyoming SF0133, which already passed in the House, passed in the Senate and will now head to the Governor for signature.
Other anti-trans bills:
Kentucky HB470 passed in committee. This bill defies our categorization system; it's a healthcare bill, but also functions as a bathroom, sports, name change, and a sex designation bill; it packages anything attacking trans youth. A live-tweet of the hearing is here, as can the many Kentucky residents who testified against it.
West Virginia HB3042, a “religious freedom” bill, passed in the Senate and is headed to the Governor for signature.
Texas SB559, a “religious freedom” bill, passed in committee and will head to the Senate floor.
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Stating biological facts is not hate
By Genevieve Gluck. December 8, 2023
A Hobart City Council member is under investigation by the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for “inciting hatred” after declaring “trans women are men.” Louise Elliot is now facing a costly formal inquiry by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a case which has the potential to restrict freedom of speech. If the tribunal rules against Elliot, she may be ordered to publicly apologize and pay a fine of up to $4,000.
In March, Elliot attended a Let Women Speak demonstration organized by Standing for Women and led by British women’s rights campaigner Kellie Jay-Keen. The event was intended to provide women with a platform to express their concerns or criticisms of gender ideology.
As part of a prepared speech she gave during the event, Elliot stated that it was impossible to change sex, that “trans women are trans women and remain biological men.”
During her speech, Elliot also highlighted how gender ideology poses safeguarding risks, noting how such policies impact women and girls.
“While the majority of men are decent, kind and caring people, men present an inherent danger to women. The vast majority of sex offenders and violence perpetrators are men. It is completely understandable that women would want spaces for females only, especially vulnerable spaces like changerooms, toilets, and showers. It is absolute insanity that we have a law that allows a man to at 10am declare he’s a woman and by 11am be sharing changerooms and showers with young girls.”
On May 5, Elliot received a letter from the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner (ADC) informing her that they had received a complaint about her statements and had opened an investigation into her activities for “inciting hatred” under the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.
The complainant, who cannot be named during the ongoing investigation, also took issue with a statement made by Elliot in the context of male violence and the defense of women-only spaces, wherein she stated, “You cannot be raped with a penis if there is no penis present.”
In November, Tasmanian ADC Sarah Bolt ruled that Elliot’s case would proceed to a tribunal inquiry. In response, Elliot has been vocal about her situation on X (formerly Twitter), and has promised to appeal her case to the High Court should she be found guilty of inciting hatred.
“If it is found that I have incited hatred with these accurate, factual, accurate, and true statements, then I won’t be standing for that. And I know that the majority of Australians don’t believe the truth can be hate. So we will absolutely be taking it all the way to the High Court, because this is a massive overreach on our implied right to freedom of belief, freedom of expression, political communication, and we need to defend that,” Elliot told Ben Fordham Live.
Elliot also noted that the legal attack against her is being funded by taxpayers. “The threshold for inciting hatred needs to be really high. It can’t be just because someone is offended. What really gets me is that it’s our taxpayer money that is funding this attack on freedom of speech.”
However, Elliot is expected to pay her legal fees out of her own pocket, and is crowdfunding to cover costs. In the event of a ruling against her and an appeal to the High Court, Elliot has said she estimates the process to cost $100,000.
In addition to the litigation, Elliot says she’s also been experiencing harassment from her colleagues for criticizing gender identity ideology. In a video she shared to X in October, Elliot described how she had been singled out for her views.
“Over the past several months, I’ve been copping some pretty heavy bullying by some of the Hobart City Councllors, and collectively as a council. You hear the Hobart City Council talking a lot about inclusion, diversity, and being welcoming and kind… But inclusion is welcomed if you agree with their thinking. If you don’t agree, then you are heavily excluded and targeted and bullied,” she said.
Elliot went on to explain that she does not believe that humans can change sex, and that women and girls are entitled to single-sex spaces and sports.
During one meeting, the Deputy Lord Mayor Councilor Helen Burnet put forward a motion that the council write to three different organizations to complain about Elliot. The councilors wrote to the Integrity Commission, the Anti-Discrimination Commission, and local government officials to request action be taken against Elliot over a series of posts she made on X.
“We had a training session from a local organization, and I questioned some of the details that were in their fact sheet. Some of the details I found quite concerning, for example, statements that, ‘Trans women are not dominating women’s sport.’ I disagreed with that and tweeted some pictures of trans women playing in women’s soccer, and it’s happening globally,” Elliot said.
“In the fact sheet we had, they also tried to say that because black women are women, trans women are women. And I found that really quite a disturbing statement, quite racist and far from the truth.”
The fact sheet presented during the diversity training session, run in September by Working It Out Tasmania, also argued that trans-identified males do not pose a risk in female-only spaces.
“There is very little evidence of women’s spaces being secretly infiltrated by people with criminal motives, eg, sexual assault. Nearly every story that has emerged in the media or research regarding this has been disproven or discredited,” the document stated.
Elliot further revealed that she had been sent a letter by Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Helen Burnet chastising her for her views.
“You have consistently spoken out against transgender people and have on the public record refuted that transgender women are women,” the letter read. At Burnet’s request the city council asked the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner to consider that Elliot had, in their view, breached the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1998, which was amended in 2019 to include the subjective category of gender identity, but does not presently provide legal protections on the basis of biological sex.
Elliot has said she has received a flood of supportive messages from constituents. In September, a small demonstration was held outside of Hobart City Council Town Hall, wherein protesters called on the Deputy Mayor to “call off the witch hunt” against Elliot.
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