2023 Anti-Trans Legislation and Community Resources for Strength and Joy

If you’ve been paying attention, you probably know that the 2023 State Legislative session has brought a lot of bills specifically targeting transgender and non-binary people across the United States this year. In total, over 220 have been introduced so far this year. Anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+ bills were at an all-time high across the country in 2023.

You can review the full list of passed bills (85 in total across 23 states) here.

If you are one of my trans siblings, I invite you to take whatever space you need to process, grieve, get angry, cry, distract, or however you need to express yourself given this heartbreaking reality. I also encourage you to protect yourself and take a break from reading this blog or other informational sources as needed. Yes, it’s important to be informed, AND preserving your energy and spending time focusing on your joy is equally important. 

If you are one of my cis siblings, I encourage you to learn about the harms trans folks are facing and advocate for their human rights. Find the ways that you can show up, whether it be joining coalitions, donating to orgs serving trans folks directly, making calls or signing petitions, joining in rallies, and so on.

2023 State Legislative Action

Communities across the country have been excluded from essential healthcare due to being queer and trans. Movement Advancement Project (MAP)’s map summarizes both private and state-issued insurance protections (or absence of protections) for LGBTQIA+ folks across the United States. Moving to access healthcare is hard and comes with many challenges, and just isn’t feasible for most. You can learn more about trans rights in insurance coverage here.

Per Human Rights Campaign: “More than 125 bills could prevent trans youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care, in addition to more than 45 bills banning transgender students from playing school sports and more than 30 ‘bathroom bills,’ a figure that exceeds the number bathroom bills filed in any previous year.” Check out MAP’s updated summary of states that ban best-practice medical healthcare for trans youth and which states protect access. 

Celebrate Trans Joy

In this midst of all of this hate, we can call our attention, energy, and care towards joy, especially trans joy. We must be in and with community, celebrating transness, and showing trans youth how incredible they are. Below are some suggestions for celebrating trans joy. Please add your own thoughts in the comments!

• Honor spaces that are only for trans folks. If you are trans, attend these spaces! If you are cis, find something else to do!

• Read, watch, listen to trans creators. Support trans artists across genres! Tell your friends and family about these artists, share about their work on social media, buy their stuff. 

• Show up for trans pride events. 

• Support trans-owned brands. Support small businesses and individuals, especially trans-owned, when you can.

• Refer to and hire trans providers and service providers.

• Offer acts of service post-op. When folks are having gender-affirming surgeries, sign up for meal trains, help pay for post-op doula services, and/or have before or after parties (as they wish/desire/need).

• Go with folks to government offices in support of name-change procedures.

Organizations Serving Trans Folks

There are organizations that have been on the ground working to protect trans folks, and I want to give a shout-out to a handful of them. (Note: These are US-focused.) There are also grassroots movements and mutual aid projects happening across the country, and I recommend searching for these in your local community. Again, if there are other resources you’d like to share with our community, please do so in the comments.

• Black Trans Liberation aims to end homelessness within the trans population by providing access and resources from community partners that empower and celebrate the TGNC community.

• The Trevor Project offers text, call, or chat options for LGBTQIA+ youth who need/want counseling or are in crisis.

• Elevated Access offers air transportation for passengers at no cost to access the healthcare they need.

• MyTransHealth is a free online directory that connects trans and gender non-conforming people with qualified, culturally competent healthcare providers. Their location-based search tool offers resources for medical and mental health services.

• Plume is a virtual healthcare hub for transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people. They offer a range of healthcare services, including prescriptions for estrogen or testosterone.

• Point of Pride provides financial aid and direct support to trans folks in need of health and wellness care. 

• Gender Justice is a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization that often represents individuals in legal cases brought under federal civil rights statutes.

• Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project is a new regional effort that provides rapid response support directly to the families of youth who are impacted by anti-transgender healthcare bans in the South.

Let’s Stay Together

The Birth Neoterist is a space for talking about liberation, and we will keep showing up and advocating for trans folks. Let’s stay together through this work! My liberation, your liberation, ur liberation leads to collective liberation at large.

Feel free to share other resources and trans joy in the comments below, and if you have any efforts you’d like to share with the community, please link them below.