transgender

A bill in Kansas and similar legislation in at least seven other states have LGBTQ-rights advocates worrying about a sweeping Republican-led effort to erase the legal existence of transgender men and women. A Kansas Senate committee could vote next week on a measure that would define what it means to be male and female in state law, basing people's legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth. Critics say such measures could prevent transgender people from changing their driver's licenses and birth certificates so that they match their gender identities. Those behind the bills say they're responding to parents and others who are uncomfortable with "biological men" or "biological boys" sharing spaces meant for women and girls.

Republican state lawmakers are following up a midterm election and record flow of anti-transgender legislation last year by zeroing in on bodily autonomy with proposals to limit gender-affirming health care and abortion access. More than two dozen bills seeking to restrict transgender health care access have been pre-filed in 11 states. Other bills targeting transgender people are expected in several additional states with GOP majorities.

Many trans patients have trouble getting their insurers to cover gender-affirming care. One reason is transphobia within the U.S. health care system, but another involves how medical diagnoses and procedures are coded for insurance companies. Nationwide, health care providers use a list of diagnostic codes provided by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, or ICD-10. And many of those, advocates for transgender people say, haven’t caught up to the needs of patients.

The new law lets health care providers refuse nonemergency care that conflicts with their religious, moral or ethical beliefs. Supporters say it protects doctors, nurses and medical students from being forced to violate their conscience. However, critics call the law a license to discriminate, especially against LGBTQ people.

South Carolina's Republican governor has quietly signed into law a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls' or women's sports in public schools and colleges. Gov. Henry McMaster's signature Monday means South Carolina joins about a dozen other states that have passed similar laws requiring transgender students to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates. McMaster didn't issue a statement after signing the bill, but said earlier this month he thought "girls ought to play girls and the boys ought to play boys. That's the way we've always done it." Opponents of the law say it singles out students who aren't elite athletes but are just looking for a way to be a regular student.

The South Carolina Senate has approved a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls' or women's sports in public schools and colleges. The 30-10 vote Wednesday likely clears the way for South Carolina to join a dozen others with similar laws that sprung up in the past two years. The House will review changes made by senators. If that chamber approves the new version, the bill heads to the governor's desk. More than a dozen other conservative states in requiring transgender students to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates. Idaho passed the first ban in 2020. Its law and a similar law in West Virginia have been blocked by courts.

South Carolina Democrats lined up more than 1,000 amendments in a symbolic attempt to delay a vote on a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls' or women's sports in public schools and colleges. Between the four boxes of amendments and a tornado warning that evacuated the chamber, they stretched Tuesday's debate for nearly seven hours. But the Republican majority won, passing the bill on an 82-28 vote about 9:15 p.m. The legislation would require athletes to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates. About a dozen states have already passed similar legislation. The bill needs one more routine approval before heading to the state Senate.

fter nearly two years of work, supporters of a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls' and women's sports in South Carolina high schools and public colleges have gotten a proposal out of committee. But the bill as written — especially including colleges and private schools — didn't appear to have enthusiastic support among Republicans in the Senate Education Committee. Chairman Greg Hembree says e supports the general idea of the bill, but the proposal hasn't been thought out. Opponents say South Carolina college teams could end up being unable to play if other teams have a transgender athlete or protest a law.

A bill that would ban transgender student-athletes from competing in girls sports in South Carolina is is suddenly back in front of lawmakers. A similar proposal died in a House committee last spring even as nearly a dozen other states, all Republican-led, passed their own laws preventing transgender students from playing on girls sports teams. On Thursday, a House subcommittee heard testimony for an hour on the proposal. Next week, a Senate subcommittee will have its own public hearing. The bill says the gender of students on their birth certificates will determine whether they can play on a boys team or a girls team.