According to Branstetter, “What I think they’re hoping for is an effortless headline that says: Kansas state lawmaker moves ahead with ‘Children’s Bill of Rights.’ Most people might assume that a ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ includes, for example, protections against discrimination at work, equal pay, paid leave, access to care, or protection from violence. Of course, these bills do nothing of the sort. The same officials who are outlawing abortion and restricting access to contraception are also proposing and passing them.
Possible lawsuits against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation are unlikely to stop spinoffs from being introduced, despite efforts by organizations like the ACLU to protect the constitutionality of Kansas’s bills. At least six states imposed limitations on drag shows in public this season, and many of those initiatives were either temporarily halted or completely abandoned. However, Reed asserts that those bills “don’t actually have the deterrent effect that one might think” for the right. She asserts that the sponsor claimed his legislation was “different” from those bills, despite the fact that it isn’t, as the Ohio Legislature recently discussed its own drag ban.
Reed says, “I’ve read the bills.” “Almost all of them are the same.” If anything, the court’s rulings against these laws increase the likelihood that politicians will complete them. They are aware that they can succeed, so it won’t matter if a court overturns them. If they prevail in a courtroom case, the drag bans become effective.
Doubling Down
Overall, experts predict that right-wing legislators will double down on the same attacks they pushed in past years, including more restrictions on youth sports and more LGBTQ+ educational bans. Only eight states currently have ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws, and a few GOP-led states, such as Georgia and Nebraska, have not yet imposed restrictions on trans sports participation. At least 233 bills addressing education in schools were proposed in 2023, and some of them are likely to be revisited the following year, according to ACLU data.
Some worry that the community’s most vulnerable members will suffer the most as Democrat lawmakers continue to push legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people for harm. The GOP is expected to focus more on targeting trans people in 2024 who will be required to travel to affirming states in order to have their health needs met, according to observers. At least 14 states (including Washington, D.C.) have passed laws or executive orders preventing prosecutions against patients who cross the border for gender-affirming care as a result of the increase in restrictions on trans health treatments. Idaho has pushed a bill for the past two years that would make parents and guardians who leave the state to find transitional care for minors criminal in order to prevent states from providing that care.
