Anti-LGBTQ+ Efforts Are On the Rise. Policymakers Have to Step Up.

By Anthony Covell

LGBTQ+ equality and civil rights have long been weaponized as wedge issues in politics. From the decades-long fight for marriage equality to laws targeting access to bathrooms and locker rooms, queer people have had their basic human rights politicized in an effort to motivate base voters and win elections. This year is no different. Since the start of 2022, an unprecedented avalanche of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been moving through state legislatures across the country.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has tracked anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures since 2018. According to its data, states filed 238 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the first three months of 2022. The bills in the current state legislative sessions across the country include issues such as: restricting access to healthcare for transgender youth (30 bills in 19 states), single-sex facility restrictions (7 bills in 5 states), excluding transgender youth from athletics (65 bills in 30 states), and other school or curriculum restrictions (41 bills in 17 states). In total, according to the ACLU, more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures that impact queer children — 92% of which are still active.

Governors in Iowa, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Arizona signed bills restricting transgender students from competing in athletics with their gender-affirming teams, and Utah’s legislature overruled a veto from the Governor to enact a similar bill. In Texas, the Governor and Attorney General are investigating gender-affirming care for transgender youth as child abuse per a directive issued by the Governor in March. In Florida, the Governor signed a bill to ban discussions relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms under the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and similar proposals are moving through multiple other state legislatures now.

These sorts of legislative moves to hinder and restrict the freedoms and wellbeing of queer students perpetuate trauma and create stress that dramatically impedes a child’s ability to learn. According to a Trevor Project’s 2022 survey, 93% of transgender youth reported that they worried about transgender people being denied access to gender-affirming medical care due to state or local laws. Moves like those in Texas send a clear signal to trans students that their identities are not recognized and that their elected officials do not support them.

More globally, according to the Trevor Project, queer children experience some of the highest incidences of trauma both at school and at home, where they often struggle for acceptance and respect for their identities from classmates and their families. Trans and queer youth experience some of the highest rates of suicide, homelessness, violence, and bullying — and when black and brown trans and queer youth experience this trauma compounded by systemic and institutionalized racism, the barriers to educational success and emotional wellbeing multiply.

At America Forward, we and the 100+ members of our Coalition know that students succeed when they feel safe, secure, affirmed, and supported. A welcoming and supportive school climate, strong relationships with peers and trusted adults, and freedom from fear is as important to learning and development as well-trained educators and a curriculum grounded in science. In fact, safe and welcoming school environments and healthy developmental relationships are the foundation upon which effective and enduring learning takes place.

Ensuring that every individual learner, from early childhood to post-secondary, thrives in school requires an education system that promotes safe, healthy environments that set the table for learning and give students the ability to overcome challenges they experience. Achieving that vision requires alignment of federal, state and local policies, resources, and tools.

In order to accomplish this, we must expand the adoption of evidence-based practices to improve school climate and ensure students feel the safety and security necessary for learning to occur.

• Embedding priorities for the creation of safe and healthy school climates and strong developmental relationships across funding streams;
• Connecting schools, districts, and states with high-quality partners working on innovative strategies to improve school safety;
• Incorporating effective, evidence-based measures of school safety and climate into accountability frameworks; and,
• Providing sufficient funding for trauma-informed practices and mental health supports, like those in America Forward’s RENEW Act, full service schools, after-school programs, and a sufficient number of mental health professionals in our schools.

So long as state legislatures strip educators of the tools and ability to affirm queer students and make them feel accepted and safe, queer children will continue to slip through the cracks in devastating ways. They will face higher barriers to success in the classroom, continue to attempt and die by suicide at the highest rates amongst their peers, and face undue trauma that produces negative effects later in their lives. We must and can do better as a nation.

Resources:

If you or a loved one are struggling with your mental health, please visit https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/ or call 1–866–488–7386 (Trevor Project Crisis Hotline) or 1–800–273–8255 (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline).

To read more about the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey, visit https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021.

Anthony Covell is the Advocacy Associate at America Forward.