September 6, 2023

The year 2023 may still be in its third quarter, but it has already proven to be a devastating legislative year for transgender people in the United States. According to Trans Legislation Tracker, at least 566 bills intended to impact access to healthcare, education, and student athletics have been introduced in state legislatures this year. Many of these bills target transgender youth and procedures in K-12 schools. Take Arizona SB1001, which states that no school employee may refer to a student using a pronoun “that differs from the pronoun that aligns with a student’s biological sex” without written parental consent. Or consider Arizona HB1700 (What’s going on, Arizona?) which bans books from school classrooms and libraries that discuss gender fluidity or even explore the idea of using gendered pronouns—concepts its authors liken, bewilderingly, to “groom[ing] children into normalizing pedophilia.” Anyone who is paying attention knows it’s a dark time for trans youth.

Outside of legislative sessions, attacks on trans youth and those who support them are perpetuated in harmful, biased media reporting. In February of this year, close to 1,000 New York Times contributors signed