Global Courant
The advocacy group identified Florida, Tennessee and Texas as states increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ community.
The largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the United States has declared the first national state of emergency, citing the proliferation of legislation in state houses across the country aimed at regulating the lives of queer people.
In a report on Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said more than 70 bills it says are anti-LGBTQ passed in state houses during this legislative session, double the previous record set last year.
About 525 bills have been introduced, virtually all of them by Republicans, including more than 220 that pertain to transgender people, according to HRC.
The number of such bills entered has steadily increased in recent years, from 115 in 2015, HRC said.
As a result, more families with LGBTQ members have been threatened, and some have chosen to move to safer places, HRC said, citing survey data and stories from parents.
The statement included a “know before you go” guide to help LGBTQ people navigate the growing state laws.
HRC President Kelley Robinson named Florida, Tennessee and Texas as the most hostile states and said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had “armed his position”.
“These laws are being fueled by an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican establishment — and coordinated, well-funded extremist groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, Heritage Foundation and the Family Policy Alliance — who are pushing to control our families and lives,” Robinson said in a statement. a thesis.
The Alliance Defending Freedom called the HRC statement “defamatory” and said it is committed to religious freedom, parental rights and the “sanctity of life”.
“No amount of false accusations will deter us from our mission,” Senior Vice President Jeremy Tedesco said in a statement.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis, was more blunt, saying, “This is a stunt.”
Proponents of transgender laws say they protect children from misguided parents and doctors, even as major medical associations endorse gender-affirming care as often necessary and sometimes life-saving.
Twenty states now ban gender-affirming care, and 32 have enacted such legislation this year, according to HRC.
HRC praised Michigan and Minnesota for expanding LGBTQ rights from 2022 to 2023.
