Anti-Transgender Bills skyrocket

Many of these bills are aimed at youth and student transgender rights

Serena Johnston, Photography Editor
June 28, 2021

Transgender people all over America are facing an increased number of anti-trans laws and legislation. Thirty-three states have introduced over 100 bills that are anti-transgender which, according to CNN, is” the highest number the organization has recorded since it began tracking anti-LGBTQ legislation more than 15 years ago.”

Gender identity is a hot topic in the media currently. Generally speaking, when people think of gender, they think of anatomy, but current definitions are changing. According to Medical News Today, sex a person’s anatomy at birth (reproductive organs.) Gender is a social and cultural role.

To be transgender means feeling like who you are does not match with the body that you were born with. There was a time, not too long ago, when the practice of getting surgeries, changing your name, and simply being transgender was illegal. Laws regarding the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community had come a long way, but there seems to be a trend of stepping backward in progress within the transgender community.

This is record-breaking year with the wave of anti-transgender legislation.

On June 1st, 2021 the first day of pride month Florida governor Ron DeSantis, announced that Florida would be following in the foot steps of several other states by signing a bill that puts restrictions on sports for students who are transgender. The law requires students to play the sport corresponding to their birth sex. NPR quotes him as saying, “in Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play boys sports.”

Transitioning, or moving from your birth sex to your preferred gender can be a complicated process. It usually starts with a social transition. Trangender individuals usually start with changing wardrobes, names, and preferred pronouns. But things get a little more complicated and expensive when it comes to getting hormones and gender affirming surgeries. New bills and legislation are making access to gender affirming surgeries more difficult to access.

In June of 2020, the Trump administration reversed Obama’s health protection for transgender people which allowed inturance companies to once again deny coverage for transitional services like hormones or gender affirming surgery. They justifyed this by arguing that Obama’s health protection allowed transgender people to force doctors to do a gender affirming surgry.

According to WBUR “The claim that doctors are being forced to perform [gender reassignment surgery] on trans people is just frankly ridiculous because it’s a highly specialized practice that maybe 50 or so surgeons in the country are trained to perform. Trans people aren’t going to random doctors demanding new genitals. That’s just not a thing.”

2017 Salem alum Spencer Pearson, who is in the process of transitioning, is appalled by the new legislation.

**Spencer Henry Pearson** graduated from Salem in 2017 and is currently a student at the Virginia Tech. (Facebook)

“Not only does it put most people in debt, because it’s a cosmetic surgery and not covered by most employer’s insurance, employers don’t have to approve time off or accommodations making it even harder for trans people to get life changing and gender affirming surgeries,” said Pearson.

Bathroom legislation has also been up this year.

“It is also a waste of time and resources to point the finger at trans women,” said Pearson, “because generally trans women are the target of harassment, rather than the harasser. In my experience, I was so anxious that I stopped drinking water to avoid using public bathrooms, leading to me developing a kidney stone.”

Most laws require transgender men and women to use the restroom for the sex they were at birth.

“These bills and policies show just how little trans people are regarded,” said Pearson.

Instead of being the year where more people show acceptance towards members of the LGBTQ+ and transgender community political leaders are taking ten steps back. Find more information here: