Politics
State legislatures wrap, leaving terror in their wake
‘It’s hard to not be alarmed about the direction that this is all heading’

Conservative state legislatures from Florida to Idaho, have finished or will soon finish their business, leaving transgender Americans and their loved ones reeling from the onslaught of attacks against them.
Between 400 and 600 bills were introduced since January that target LGBTQ folks, disproportionately transgender kids – a figure that has often been cited by LGBTQ groups and elected Democrats.
What is often lost in this accounting, however, is how harmful the legislation is (or will be, in the case of so many bills that have yet to take effect), because for those who are directly targeted by the ceaseless legislative and rhetorical attacks, they are hardly an abstraction.
On Monday, Oklahoma became the 16th state to ban guideline-directed best practices healthcare interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors and the fourth state to make it a felony for providers to administer that care to their patients.
Then, on Tuesday, Montana became the 17th state, having just evicted duly elected state Rep. Zooey Zephyr from the chamber because, in her words, “I dared to give voice to the values and needs of transgender people like myself.”
In March, Kentucky passed what was then deemed “the worst anti-trans bill in the nation,” a healthcare ban augmented by language pulled from Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which criminalizes discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.
The following month, just across the border, the torch was passed to Missouri, whose Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an emergency rule prohibiting gender affirming care for youth as well as adults and then published a form allowing citizens to formally record complaints about “a gender transition” they have “experienced or observed.”
Powerful conservative Christian advocacy groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom have lobbied for anti-LGBTQ bills and defended them from legal challenges. The organization has backed anti-trans measures from restrictions on access to gender affirming care to “Don’t Say Gay” laws.
For trans people, the prospect of having to flee their home states “doesn’t feel theoretical anymore,” Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director for Media Matters for America, told the Washington Blade.
“The thing is,” she said, “I feel like we got there a while ago, and I just kind of adjusted, and now it’s like this weird world where I have multiple adult friends who are leaving multiple states for their own safety.”
“It’s hard to keep perspective of just how bad it’s gotten and just how quickly,” Drennen said.
She added the recent polling data, which indicates “most voters do not think that this is a good use of the government’s time and energy” offers cold comfort because “when that doesn’t seem to stop them, it almost makes it scarier.”
Drennen said the reality for so many of these Republican legislators is “they are just so genuinely opposed to the existence of trans people” that they will continue apace with these legislative crusades, political consequences be damned.
Another concern, often overlooked, is the escalation of transphobic rhetoric that abets the work of anti-trans GOP legislatures and to some extent makes their goals more reachable.
“You can look at The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles giving his big speech at CPAC,” Drennen said, in which he argued “that transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
“Those were his exact words,” she said, and “what he’s saying there is that trans people should not be in public, really under any circumstances, and I think that’s where a lot of the right wing media has gotten.”
“This has escalated very quickly in a couple of years from, ‘oh, well, you know, we just have some concerns about the fairness of trans people who are competing in sports,’ to multiple states passing bathroom bills or considering bathroom bills, multiple states expanding what kinds of gender affirming care they’re considering trying to take off the table,” Drennen said.
“And it’s hard to not be alarmed about the direction that this is all heading,” she said.
At this juncture, according to the ACLU:
- Anti-LGBTQ bills can be divided into seven categories: Healthcare (e.g., bans on gender affirming care); public accommodations (e.g., laws prohibiting trans people from using restrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity); schools and education (e.g., “Don’t Say Gay” laws, bans prohibiting trans student athletes from competing in sports); free speech and expression (e.g., restrictions on drag performances, book bans); accurate IDs (e.g., laws prohibiting trans people from obtaining documents that reflect their gender identity); civil rights (e.g., measures to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people); and other (e.g., Alabama’s proposed bill to define “woman” based on sex characteristics at birth).
- Fifteen states have introduced more than 10 anti-LGBTQ bills: Arizona, North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.
- Four states and the District of Columbia have not introduced any anti-LGBTQ bills: Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
- 318 anti-LGBTQ bills are now advancing through state legislatures. Forty-five have been signed into law; 105 have been defeated.
Congress
Senate parliamentarian orders removal of gender-affirming care ban from GOP reconciliation bill
GOP Senate Leader John Thune (S.D.) hoped to pass the bill by end-of-week

Restrictions on the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care will be stripped from the Republican-led Senate reconciliation bill, following a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian on Tuesday that struck down a number of health related provisions.
The legislation banned coverage for transgender medical care through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, language that was also included in the House version of the bill passed on May 22 with a vote of 215-214.
The parliamentarian’s decision also rejected Republican proposals for a Medicaid provider tax framework, which allows states to charge health care providers and use the funds to support their programs, along with broader cuts to Medicaid.
Amid calls to override Tuesday’s ruling from Republicans like U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (Fla.), GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) told reporters “That would not be a good outcome for getting a bill done.”
He also acknowledged that the timing and schedule might have to be adjusted. Senate Republicans had hoped to pass the reconciliation bill by the end of this week, though this was not a legal or procedural deadline.
Dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill” by President Donald Trump, the legislation would extend tax breaks from 2017 that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations. To cover the cost, which is estimated to exceed $4 trillion over 10 years, the bill would make drastic cuts to social welfare programs, particularly Medicaid.
Democrats are not in a position to negotiate across the aisle with Republicans holding majorities in both chambers of Congress, but for months they have been calling attention to the effort by their GOP colleagues to strip Americans of their health insurance to pay for the tax breaks.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 10.9 million people would lose their coverage, either through Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Some Republicans like U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) are pushing back against the deep cuts to Medicaid, arguing they would be devastating for many of their constituents and also to hospitals, nursing homes, and community health care providers in rural areas.
In a statement emailed to the Washington Blade on Tuesday, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said, “Anti-trans extremists are attempting to use the full power of the government to hurt kids, and recent Supreme Court decisions in Skrmetti and Medina are enabling their quest.”
While today’s ruling by the Senate parliamentarian is a temporary win, I will keep pushing back on these shameful attempts to harm trans kids and their families for trying to live authentically,” said the senator, who also serves as ranking member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, also shared a statement with the Washington Blade addressing the parliamentarian’s ruling:
“This ruling by the Senate Parliamentarian is a win for the transgender people who rely on Medicaid and CHIP to access the healthcare they need to live fuller, happier, and healthier lives—but the fight is not over yet,” the congressman said.
“Republican Senators must abide by her ruling and remove the ban from the final version of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill,” he said. “Yet, even with this provision removed, this bill is terrible for the American people, including trans Americans. Every Equality Caucus member voted against it in the House and we’re ready to do so again if the Senate sends it back to the House.”
The Human Rights Campaign issued a press release with a statement from the organization’s vice president for government affairs, David Stacy:
“The fact remains that this bill belongs in the trash. It continues to include devastating cuts to health care programs — including Medicaid — that would disproportionately harm the LGBTQ+ community, all so the already rich can receive huge tax cuts,” Stacy said.
“While it comes as a relief that the Senate parliamentarian concluded that one provision in the nightmarish reconciliation bill that would have denied essential, best practice health care to transgender adults does not belong, we aren’t done fighting,” he said. “With attacks on our community coming from many directions, including the Supreme Court, we will work to defeat this bill with everything we’ve got.”
Congress
Murkowski, Shaheen reintroduce Global Respect Act
Bill would sanction foreign nationals who commit anti-LGBTQ human rights abuses

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) on Wednesday once again introduced a bill that would sanction foreign nationals who carry out human rights abuses against LGBTQ and intersex people.
The two senators have previously introduced the Global Respect Act. Co-sponsors include U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
“Around the world, individuals who are part of the LGBTQ+ community are in danger for simply existing,” said Murkowski in a press release. “Hate and violence cannot and should not be tolerated. I’m hopeful that this legislation will establish actionable consequences for these inexcusable human rights violations, and create a safer world for all people — regardless of who they are or who they love.”
Shaheen in the press release notes “the risk of personal harm for LGBTQI individuals for publicly identifying who they are or expressing who they love has tragically increased in recent years.”
“Human rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human rights, recognizes that global freedom, justice, and peace depend on ‘the inherent dignity’ and ‘the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family,” said the New Hampshire Democrat. “LBGTQI human rights are universal human rights. We must ensure that we hold all violators of those rights accountable.”
The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy.
The current White House has suspended most foreign aid. The elimination of these funds has left the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement reeling.
Congress
Garcia elected top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee
Gay Calif. lawmaker vows to hold Trump-Vance administration accountable

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Tuesday was elected top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee in a vote that signaled the conference’s overwhelming support for a newer voice on Capitol Hill who will play a key role taking on President Donald Trump.
With a margin of 150-63, the 47-year-old openly gay congressman defeated U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), alongside U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) who exited the race after the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee backed Garcia.
Serving only since 2023, the congressman has had a remarkably quick ascent leading up to his election this week as ranking member of one of the most powerful House committees, awarded a leadership position serving under House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) and selected as a co-chair of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Democratic members began jockeying for the top seat on the oversight committee this spring after the late-U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia stepped away amid news that his esophageal cancer had returned. He died in May.
Connolly last year fended off a challenge from one of the most well known House Democrats, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), though with a narrower margin that signaled intra-party tensions over whether leadership roles should still be awarded based on seniority.
Garcia positioned himself as a bridge between the two camps — a consensus candidate with executive managerial experience as the former mayor of Long Beach, Calif. At the same time, particularly since the start of Trump’s second term, the congressman has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the new Republican regime.
In a statement on X Tuesday, Garcia thanked his colleagues and promised to “hold Donald Trump and his administration accountable.”
I'm honored to have been elected by @HouseDemocrats to serve as Ranking Member on @OversightDems.
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) June 24, 2025
We will hold Donald Trump and his Administration accountable for their corruption – and work to make our government more effective for the American people.
Let's get to work.
If Democrats win control of the House next year, the oversight committee will be able to exercise powers that are now available only to Republicans under the chair, U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), which include the authority to investigate virtually any matter across the federal government, to issue subpoenas, and to compel testimony.
In the meantime, Garcia on Monday promised that Democrats on the committee would “vigorously fight” Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s (La.) plans “to dismantle the Government Accountability Office.”
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