Civil rights and equal protection
The protection of law extends equally to all persons regardless of race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or political belief. The state does not target, exclude, or disadvantage people on the basis of who they are or what they think. This ideal is also the substantive content of the Fourteenth Amendment's promise: equal protection is not a slogan but a constraint on what government is permitted to do.
The patterns tracked here include policy that disadvantages specific groups outside any lawful basis, enforcement and surveillance disproportionately directed at marginalized communities, voter-roll maintenance that disenfranchises eligible voters, and religious exemptions used to reopen discrimination against a different protected group. The publication does not treat membership in any group as a license to commit abuses, nor does it treat membership in a majority group as a defense against them.
Further reading: National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution — Fourteenth Amendment (Equal Protection), First Amendment (religion clauses).
2026 Events (235)
DOJ pressured Mount Sinai Health System into ending gender-affirming care for minors in fourth hospital settlement
On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System requiring the New York City hospital system to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors. Mount Sinai agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for patients DOJ said were harmed by the care, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement is the fourth it has reached with a hospital system over pediatric gender-affirming care, following Texas Children's Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Connecticut Children's Hospital.
Treasury and IRS proposed stripping tax-exempt status from 18,000 private schools over race-conscious policies
On September 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations (IR-2026-103) that would end Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status for private schools, colleges, and universities that adopt, maintain, or enforce race-conscious policies in admissions, scholarships, athletics, or other programs, including policies framed as diversity, equity, or inclusion. Treasury estimated the rule could affect as many as 18,000 institutions and cited Bob Jones University v. United States and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard as legal basis; the rule would take effect for taxable years beginning May 31, 2027 or later.
U.S. Department of Justice sued Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools over transgender-student privacy policy, first such suit filed nationally
On September 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, joined by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, filed a federal lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (USD 500), seeking an injunction against the district's internal guidance directing staff to help students socially transition at school without notifying or obtaining parental consent. DOJ called it the first such lawsuit it has filed nationally, following a July 2026 threat to sue and freeze the district's federal funding over the same policy. KCKPS said it is in full compliance with federal law and declined further comment given the pending litigation.
DOJ sued Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students, bringing its total to 21 states
On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed four separate lawsuits against Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, seeking to block each state's law granting in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented students. The complaints argue the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state, in violation of federal law. DOJ said the filings bring its litigation campaign to 21 states, following earlier suits that resulted in injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois.
DOJ, Education Department threatened enforcement action against two Kansas school districts over gender-identity privacy policies
The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced on August 25, 2026 that it would partner with the DOJ Civil Rights Division to pursue enforcement measures — including potential legal action and loss of federal funding — against Kansas's Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts after both refused to sign voluntary resolution agreements addressing an April 2026 finding that their gender-identity privacy policies violate FERPA. Topeka Public Schools, found to have the same violation, separately entered a resolution agreement the same day requiring it to end "gender support plans" and revise its guidance; Olathe and Shawnee Mission continue to dispute that their policies violate federal law.
DOJ sued Franklin County Municipal Court to strike down its ban on warrantless ICE arrests at the courthouse
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the Franklin County Municipal Court in Columbus, Ohio, naming Administrative and Presiding Judge Jessica D'Varga and the court's director of security, Enoch White, seeking to strike down the court's Rule 2.10 barring civil ICE arrests of people present for court proceedings or other lawful court business. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, argues the March 2026 rule violates the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin its enforcement. It is the latest in a Justice Department litigation campaign against local and state measures restricting ICE courthouse and field operations.
Injustice Watch investigation found Illinois police and sheriffs circumvented TRUST Act to help ICE detain, deport immigrants
Injustice Watch, in partnership with The Intercept, reported on 2026-08-25 that despite Illinois' 2017 TRUST Act barring local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement, officials at more than 75 agencies across over a third of the state's counties collaborated with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, and the U.S. Marshals Service during Trump's first 15 months back in office. The investigation, drawing on body-worn camera footage, nearly 400 records requests, and court filings, found the collaboration -- direct data-sharing, jail-to-ICE handovers, and at least one FBI-coached arrest workaround -- helped flag, detain, or deport at least 150 people.
AP investigation revealed State Department preparing to revoke B1/B2 visas of up to 200,000 asylum seekers
The Associated Press reported on August 24, 2026 that the State Department, coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, is preparing to revoke B1/B2 business and tourism visas from as many as 200,000 people who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott confirmed on the record that the department is working with DHS to identify and revoke visas from people who entered as short-term visitors and later filed for asylum. Officials said the action, targeting visas issued between 2016 and 2026 on a rolling basis, would be the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history.
Newsday reporting revealed HUD withdrew its own finding that Hempstead, NY housing authority discriminated against disabled, Black residents
Newsday reported on August 20, 2026, that HUD's director of compliance and disability rights, Andrew Hill, had notified the Town of Hempstead (NY) Housing Authority that HUD was withdrawing its own 2024 finding that the authority used an illegal point system to discriminate against disabled applicants and to "systematically" further racial segregation on its public-housing waitlist. The reversal came days after a Newsday investigation made the previously undisclosed finding public, without the housing authority requesting reversal and without HUD referring the matter to the Justice Department or withholding funding as it could have done instead.
U.S. Education Department opened Title VI investigation into Milwaukee schools over race-conscious discipline
On August 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights notified Milwaukee Public Schools that it is investigating whether the district's student-discipline practices improperly use race, one of two Title VI investigations the department opened that day. The department's statement, issued alongside new Title VI guidance barring race-conscious discipline, said Milwaukee education leaders had "derided facially neutral school policies as reflecting systemic 'whiteness,'" without specifying what triggered the probe.
Anne Arundel County, Maryland schools narrowed LGBTQ+ student confidentiality rule to open gender-identity records to parents after federal threat
On August 18, 2026, Anne Arundel County Public Schools revised Administrative Regulation JQ-RA, "Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ Students," adding language stating that nothing in the regulation limits parents' right under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to inspect their child's complete education record. Superintendent Mark Bedell told the school community the next day that the amended text reaches "any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns." The revision followed a July 27, 2026 joint enforcement action by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, which threatened the district with litigation or loss of federal funding over that same confidentiality provision.
Justice Department opened Title VI investigation into William & Mary's race-based scholarships
On August 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced it opened a Title VI compliance investigation into the College of William & Mary, a Virginia public university, over whether five scholarship and student-benefit programs use race-based criteria. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a DOJ statement that "the Department will not turn a blind eye to race-based preferences, however they are packaged or portrayed by universities."
NYPD specialized units conducted unconstitutional stops at far higher rates than patrol officers, federal monitor found
A federal court-appointed monitor's Thirty-First Report, filed August 17, 2026 in the Floyd v. City of New York stop-and-frisk case, found that NYPD's specialized units -- the Neighborhood Safety Teams, Community Response Teams, and now-disbanded Public Safety Teams -- made unlawful stops, frisks, and searches at far higher rates than officers on routine patrol, based on a sample of 603 stops in 2025. Unlawful stops occurred in 17% of specialized-unit encounters versus 6% for other officers, and 91% of the people stopped were Black or Hispanic. The units missed nearly every compliance benchmark the monitor had set for the fourth quarter of 2025.
ICE agents attempted warrantless search of Sacramento immigration law firm, threatened to break in
On August 14, 2026, armed agents identifying as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in Sacramento's North Natomas neighborhood, and demanded to search the office without producing a judicial warrant. Firm staff turned the agents away; one agent reportedly threatened to return at 3 a.m. and break windows to force entry. U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff announced they would investigate, and DHS confirmed on the record that agents approached the address believing it was a "target address" and departed once they learned it was a law office.
VP Vance and HHS Secretary Kennedy referred ~225 hospitals to DOJ, HHS IG over gender-affirming care billing
On August 13, 2026, Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a separate letter to HHS Inspector General Thomas March Bell, each referring hospitals, clinics, and pharmacy benefit managers for investigation of allegedly fraudulent insurance billing codes tied to pediatric gender-affirming care. The referrals followed release of an HHS-commissioned report, "Wolves in White Coats," which identified roughly 225 hospitals and health systems with pediatric gender programs and named specific organizations — including Boston Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Rady Children's Hospital, NYU Langone Hospitals, and several Planned Parenthood affiliates — in an appended referral list. As of this recording, DOJ has not confirmed opening a formal investigation.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt ordered state probe of CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood over unsubstantiated terrorism ties; urged federal terrorist designation
On August 12, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2026-29 directing the state Department of Public Safety and Office of Homeland Security to conduct an intelligence-based assessment of whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood pose terrorism threats in Oklahoma, and to advocate for federal designation of both as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. CAIR Oklahoma said the order relied on "debunked conspiracy theories," and University of Michigan political scientist Pauline Jones said no evidence ties CAIR to terrorism and called the order "political theater." Stitt is the third Republican governor in 2026 to order this kind of investigation into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, following two earlier actions by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DOJ sued Connecticut to block in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, one of three suits filed that day
On August 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut in federal court to strike down the state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing they unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to out-of-state U.S. citizens. The suit challenges Connecticut's 2011/2015 in-state tuition law, a 2018 institutional-aid law, Connecticut State Community College aid, the Roberta B. Willis need-based grant program, and the state's student-loan reimbursement program. It was filed the same day as companion suits against New York and Vermont, bringing DOJ's nationwide tally of such suits to 17.
DHS escalated deportation pursuit of noncitizens on voter rolls, including inadvertent, non-fraudulent registrants
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services intensified deportation pursuit of noncitizens found on voter rolls, The Seattle Times reported August 10, 2026, reopening closed voter-fraud cases, investigating voter-registration drives in major cities, and detaining suspected registrants at border checkpoints, even when registration was inadvertent and no ballot was cast. Washington state green-card holder Abdullah Emre Basar, registered without his knowledge after a 2014 motor-vehicle-office visit and who never voted, was denied citizenship and placed into removal proceedings in April 2026 after disclosing the registration at his USCIS interview.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found Duke Law School discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on August 7, 2026 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in admitting its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes, violating Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. It is the first law school, following prior findings against UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools, that the Civil Rights Division has found in violation of SFFA.
FTC ended disparate-impact credit-discrimination enforcement and retroactively softened three settlements
On August 7, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission voted 2-0 to adopt a policy statement declaring it will no longer pursue "disparate-impact" or "unfair discrimination" claims under any statute it enforces, including credit-discrimination cases under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Chairman Andrew Ferguson said disparate-impact liability "imposes liability for discrimination without any evidence that anyone intended to discriminate" and that the Commission "never had authority" to apply it. As part of the policy, the FTC reviewed and modified compliance obligations in three already-settled auto-dealer discrimination cases -- Napleton Inc. ($10 million), Passport Auto Group ($3.3 million), and an individual formerly of Coulter Motor Co. -- that had relied in part on statistical evidence of discriminatory effect.
Trump signed two new executive orders again restricting birthright citizenship after Supreme Court struck down his original order
On August 6, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders again seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Barbara (June 30, 2026) that his original January 2025 order denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants was unconstitutional. The first order lists categories of U.S.-born children -- including those of "alien enemies," foreign government lobbyists, and members of terrorist organizations -- that it deems ineligible for citizenship, while the second delegates authority to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to deny visas to and take enforcement action against travelers found to be engaged in "birth tourism."
State Department launched pilot bond program charging Dominican immigrant-visa applicants up to $250,000 to overcome public-charge denials
On August 5, 2026, the State Department, in coordination with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, launched a pilot program requiring certain immigrant-visa applicants from the Dominican Republic who had been denied on "public charge" grounds to post a bond — reported in individual cases at $100,000 to $250,000 — to overcome the denial. The pilot is separate from the department's existing nonimmigrant visitor-visa bond program, covering 50 countries at $10,000-$20,000, which became permanent August 3, 2026. Officials said the Dominican Republic was chosen first based on visa-processing volume and that the program could expand to other countries.
AP investigation reveals ICE detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty troops amid military-family policy rollback
An Associated Press investigation published August 5, 2026 found U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty U.S. service members since President Trump took office for a second term, under a Department of Homeland Security policy implemented in April 2025 that ended decades of bipartisan leniency for military families. At least six of those detained have been deported and one self-deported, and at least eight remained in federal immigration custody as of the report. AP identified the cases — the first such accounting, since the government does not track them — by analyzing federal court records, media coverage, and interviews with families and attorneys, and said the true number is likely higher than the 52 cases it found.
DOJ pressured Connecticut Children's Medical Center into ending gender-affirming care for minors in third hospital settlement
On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Connecticut Children's Medical Center requiring the hospital to stop providing gender-affirming care — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and related procedures — to minors. The hospital agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate an additional $500,000 to the care of patients DOJ says were harmed by the procedures, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement follows similar settlements it reached with Texas Children's Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
U.S. Department of Education demanded Washington and California revise transgender-student privacy policies, citing FERPA funding threat
On July 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office demanded that Washington's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and California's Department of Education immediately detail their plans to revise policies on disclosing student records, including a student's gender identity, to parents, citing Title IX, FERPA, and recent court rulings. The department's statement noted that FERPA violations can result in termination of federal funding, and the demand extends an existing federal civil-rights probe into Washington's superintendent's office. Washington Superintendent Chris Reykdal called the announcement a "sham" and "media stunt."
Scripps News investigation revealed ICE awarded contracts worth up to $358M to private firms for home visits to 350,000 immigrant children
Scripps News reported on July 30, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had awarded contracts to 18 private companies, worth as little as $1.2 million and as much as $358 million each, to conduct in-person home visits to roughly 100,000 current and 250,000 former unaccompanied immigrant children under a "Safety Verification Initiative." Twelve of the 18 contractors had no documented child-welfare experience, including a security firm awarded up to $358 million whose website advertises armed security and fugitive recovery rather than child services. DHS described the program as protecting children from abuse and exploitation, while immigration advocates said its real purpose is locating children and sponsor families for enforcement and collateral arrests.
Lawsuit revealed EEOC indefinitely suspended all federal-sector civil-rights class complaints
On July 28, 2026, a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees and two female federal prison employees revealed that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had secretly issued an agencywide order, dating to before December 2025, indefinitely suspending processing of all federal-sector class discrimination complaints, including disparate-impact cases. The suspension froze a certified class complaint alleging severe, ongoing sexual harassment of female corrections officers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock, Louisiana. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the EEOC and Chair Andrea Lucas, argues the suspension violates the agency's own regulations requiring prompt processing of complaints.
DHS and DOT's 'Operation Highway Shield' detained 51 immigrant truckers, arrested 86 drivers across 4 Midwest states
DHS and the U.S. Department of Transportation ran "Operation Highway Shield," a three-day joint immigration and trucking-enforcement sweep from July 28-30, 2026, across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. Federal agents detained 51 immigrants, including 21 holding non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses, placed 766 drivers and vehicles out of service, arrested 86 operators, and cited 36 drivers for failing English-language-proficiency tests. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the operation targeted "illegal aliens" and non-English-proficient truckers, the second wave of a program that began in Florida in March 2026.
Education Department and DOJ threatened Ann Arbor, Michigan schools with funding cutoff over transgender student privacy policy
On July 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced, in partnership with the Department of Justice, that it was taking enforcement action against Ann Arbor Public Schools over the district's policy of not disclosing a student's "transgender status" to parents without the student's consent, which it said likely violates FERPA. The department gave the district until August 10, 2026 to respond and justify its policy or face enforcement proceedings, including potential loss of federal funding.
Court filing revealed ICE, Border Patrol agents used racial slurs to target Latinos during Los Angeles immigration sweeps
Plaintiffs in Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on July 27, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, citing newly disclosed text messages and bodycam footage in which ICE and Border Patrol agents used slurs including "wet" and "tonks" to identify Latino people for stops during Los Angeles-area immigration sweeps. The filing alleges an "ongoing campaign of suspicionless and discriminatory detentive stops" that continued after the high-profile summer 2025 raids ended, with one ICE agent admitting in a deposition the agency was "still doing the same thing."
ICE launched targeted enforcement operation against Haitian migrants in Ohio as TPS expired, planning rapid deportation flights
On July 26, 2026, CBS News reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had developed and begun executing a targeted enforcement operation against Haitian migrants in Ohio, timed to expiration of Temporary Protected Status after the Supreme Court's certified judgment authorized TPS termination for Haitians and Syrians. Internal agency documents reviewed by CBS News and statements from ICE officials confirmed plans to concentrate operations on the Springfield, Ohio area and to rapidly deport Haitian migrants, with speed of removal designed to limit time available to seek legal counsel or contest removal orders.
ICE, Forest Service, and Caldwell County deputies arrested 13 people at a North Carolina national-forest recreation site
On July 26, 2026, ICE agents, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement, and Caldwell County, North Carolina sheriff's deputies arrested 13 people during an immigration operation at Wilson Creek, a popular swimming and recreation area in Pisgah National Forest -- the first time ICE has partnered with the Forest Service in North Carolina in recent memory. Those detained included a father taken into custody in front of his partner and their 4- and 10-year-old children. ICE said some of those arrested had criminal records but has not specified who or how many. Local Latino advocates, who had spent months volunteering to help the Hurricane Helene-damaged recreation area reopen, say the operation has left families in the area afraid to return.
Marshall Project investigation revealed Illinois DOC ignored fire hazards at Joliet mental health prison, killing two
A joint investigation by The Marshall Project, WBEZ, and the Chicago Sun-Times found that the Illinois Department of Corrections repeatedly failed to address fire hazards at the Joliet Treatment Center — a mental health prison — over more than three years, during which incarcerated men set themselves and their cells ablaze more than 70 times in desperate bids for medical attention. At least two men died: Jason Stephens in August 2024 after guards delayed ambulance access for 28 minutes following a July 27, 2024 cell fire, and Latrell Edwards in early 2025 after a November 2024 blaze. Government records reviewed by investigators showed inoperable fire alarms, missing sprinklers, absent evacuation plans, and repeated gate delays blocking emergency responders — all documented violations that IDOC failed to correct despite warnings from the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office.
Education Department rescinded disparate-impact standard under Title VI, ending federal scrutiny of racially disproportionate school discipline
On July 23, 2026, the Department of Education eliminated disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI civil-rights regulations, effective immediately and without public comment, requiring that school policies show intentional discrimination before federal civil-rights enforcement can apply. The rescission stripped the government's primary tool for addressing school- discipline disparities disproportionately affecting Black students, and was condemned by 60 civil-rights and educational advocacy organizations.
The Crimson White investigation reveals University of Alabama System quietly removed LGBTQ-inclusive language from non-discrimination policies
The Crimson White reported on July 22, 2026 that the University of Alabama System had quietly removed sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression from the protected-class language in its Harassment and Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination policies, based on Wayback Machine snapshots showing gender-identity references gone by September 2025 and sexual-orientation references gone by January 2026. UAB also removed a broader diversity and equal-opportunity overview page from its site the same way. University spokesperson Alex House called it an "administrative change" made to align with federal law and said enforcement was unchanged; the removal itself was never publicly announced.
DOJ and Department of Education threatened to sue Kansas City, Kansas school district and freeze federal funds over transgender student privacy policy
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint letter to Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) demanding the district revoke its internal "Transgender Guideline," which directed staff not to disclose transgender students' gender identity, preferred names, or pronouns to parents without the student's consent. The agencies threatened to file a civil lawsuit and freeze the district's federal funding if KCKPS did not comply within 14 days. The letter followed an April 2026 FERPA violation finding and the district's refusal to voluntarily resolve the matter with the Department of Education.
ICE arrested relatives presenting through ORR sponsorship process to claim migrant children from federal shelters
Beginning in early 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 100 undocumented relatives who came forward through the government's own sponsorship vetting process to take legal custody of unaccompanied migrant children held in federal Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters. ICE obtained the sponsors' personal information directly from HHS, as confirmed by arrest affidavits obtained by the Texas Tribune; at least one sponsor, documented to have no criminal history, was arrested in the Dallas-Fort Worth area after spending nearly a year complying with every step of the government's vetting requirements. The practice created a chilling effect that left children stranded in shelters for an average of 117 days in fiscal year 2025 — double the average during Trump's first term.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed executive order directing six agencies to investigate birth tourism hospitals, threatening license revocations
On July 21, 2026, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order directing six state agencies — including the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Medical Board, and the Texas Board of Nursing — to investigate and eliminate "birth tourism" schemes in the state's healthcare industry. The order authorizes enforcement actions including revoking or suspending provider licenses, prohibiting state contract participation, and denying state benefits to any licensed healthcare provider found to be participating in such schemes. The action was prompted by reports about marketing materials from Mission Regional Medical Center in the Rio Grande Valley, though that facility stated the materials in question were no longer in use.
DHS and USCIS revived the 'public charge' rule to deny green cards over immigrants' use of public benefits like SNAP and Medicaid
On July 16, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services filed a final rule reviving the "public charge" ground of inadmissibility, allowing officers to deny green cards to immigrants who have used public benefits such as food assistance, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. The rule, which appeared on public inspection in the Federal Register with formal publication set for July 20 and an effective date of September 18, rescinds a 2022 Biden-era policy and broadens the programs and personal characteristics officers may weigh. First implemented in February 2020, the policy was reversed under President Biden.
DHS finalized a rule capping foreign journalists' visas at 240 days, 90 days for Chinese nationals, ending open-ended F, J, and I admission
On July 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule replacing "duration of status" admission — under which F academic students, J exchange visitors, and I foreign-media nonimmigrants could remain for the length of their program or assignment — with fixed admission periods. Students and exchange visitors are capped at four years per admission, foreign journalists are limited to 240 days, and journalists holding passports issued by the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) to 90 days. The rule, issued as Federal Register document 2026-14439, takes effect 60 days after its scheduled July 17, 2026 publication and is subject to congressional review.
DOJ sued Maryland to block in-state tuition benefit for undocumented students, its 13th such suit against a state
On July 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Maryland in federal court to block the state's law granting in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented immigrant residents, arguing it unconstitutionally discriminates against U.S. citizens who are not offered the same reduced rates. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Maryland from administering the tuition benefit or related scholarship programs. Maryland is the 13th state DOJ has sued over similar in-state-tuition policies for undocumented residents.
U.S. 5th Circuit ended 1965 Concordia Parish school desegregation order, backing DOJ campaign to lift decrees
On July 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting in New Orleans, upheld the lifting of a 1965 federal desegregation consent decree governing Louisiana's Concordia Parish schools. The ruling backed a Justice Department campaign, carried out with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no proof segregation has ended, to terminate Civil Rights-era school desegregation orders. The decree, in place for more than 60 years, ended without an evidentiary finding that segregation had been eradicated.
New York Times: Hegseth blocked promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of them women or people of color, to two-star admiral
The New York Times reported on July 14, 2026, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had blocked the promotions of seven senior Navy officers — five of them women or people of color — to two-star admiral rank, overriding a promotion board of senior admirals that had recommended 22 officers. Among those removed was Rear Adm. Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Officials said the move means that, for the first time in more than a decade, no active-duty female Navy officer is likely to be promoted to admiral this year.
ICE and HSI encounter in St. Augustine drove Mexican tourist Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran into traffic; he died
On July 14, 2026, Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, a 28-year-old Mexican national visiting the United States on a valid tourist visa, was struck and killed by a semi-truck on State Road 16 near St. Augustine, Florida, after fleeing a traffic stop conducted by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents. He had been in the United States for three weeks, in Florida for only two days, and had already purchased a return flight to Mexico for that weekend. His wife and Mexican state officials confirmed his valid visa status; his death was reported as the third fatality arising from ICE encounters in a single week.
Fourth Circuit rules border agents may manually search phones without suspicion, joining all other circuits
On July 13, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in United States v. Belmonte Cardozo (No. 25-4239) that border agents may manually inspect travelers' cell phones without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing, classifying manual device searches as "routine" border searches exempt from the Fourth Amendment's warrant and probable cause requirements. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Marvin Quattlebaum joined the court in holding that the border search exception applies to manual phone inspections, while forensic searches still require at least reasonable suspicion. The ruling makes the Fourth Circuit the latest federal appeals court to adopt this position.
Justice Department sued Maryland to strike down the Community Trust Act limiting state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement
On July 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore seeking to strike down Maryland's Community Trust Act, a 2026 law that limits state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement by barring the honoring of ICE detainers and jail transfers to ICE custody. The suit alleges Maryland is engaged in an "active and deliberate effort" to obstruct immigration enforcement in violation of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. It is one in a series of DOJ suits pressuring states to abandon laws that constrain federal immigration operations.
ICE detained Fort Polk soldier's wife at Alabama green-card interview, enforcing a removal order she never received notice of
On July 8, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Maisa Lopes Eliaser, the Brazilian-born wife of 11-year Army veteran Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo, during what the family believed was a routine USCIS status interview in Montgomery, Alabama, separating her from her husband and their five-year-old son. Eliaser was taken into custody under an in-absentia removal order issued after she missed a biometrics appointment; her attorney says the notice was mailed to a prior address the family had already left when Jaramillo was transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana, and was never received. She remains detained at a Louisiana correctional facility while her appeal is pending.
New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte signed SB 430 compelling school staff to disclose students' gender identity to parents on request
On July 7, 2026, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed Senate Bill 430, requiring all school employees to answer parents' or guardians' written requests about their children "completely and honestly" — including a child's gender identity — generally within 10 business days. The law legislatively overrides the New Hampshire Supreme Court's 2024 "Jane Doe" decision, which held that parents have no fundamental right to dictate how schools handle such information, and effectively compels the disclosure of transgender and gender-nonconforming students to their parents. It provides narrow exceptions where disclosure is barred by other law or where a staff member makes a good-faith determination that it would place the student at imminent risk of abuse or neglect.
The New York Times reported federal civil-rights agencies abandoned active discrimination cases at Trump's direction
The New York Times reported that federal civil-rights enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have dropped or abandoned active discrimination cases brought on behalf of historically marginalized groups at President Trump's direction. Former officials described a systematic dismissal of pending matters and a redirection of enforcement resources away from traditional anti-discrimination mandates toward challenging diversity programs. The reported pattern spans multiple agencies acting under executive direction.
Texas Tribune reveals Trump administration asked Texas criminal-defense commission to take over immigrant children's deportation cases
In mid-June 2026, top officials working with the Trump administration — including James McHenry, the Justice Department's chief administrative hearing officer — asked the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, a state body the Legislature created solely for criminal defense, to take over legal representation of unaccompanied immigrant children in their deportation proceedings. The outreach, which the commission's director said fell outside its legal mandate, came as the administration moved to end the federally mandated legal-services contract held by the Acacia Center for Justice (set to expire July 31 with no required transition notice), stopped paying subcontractors, and sent federal agents to the offices of children's legal-aid nonprofits. Advocates and a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the request; critics said it was designed to concentrate unaccompanied children in a border state with higher asylum-denial rates to speed their removal.
Gallup-McKinley County Schools disproportionately disciplined Native American and Hispanic students, New Mexico DOJ investigation found
A New Mexico Department of Justice investigative report released July 2, 2026, found that Gallup-McKinley County Schools disciplines Native American and Hispanic students far more frequently and severely than white peers, with Native students losing eight to ten times as many instructional days to out-of-school suspension and Hispanic students losing three to four times as many. The three-year investigation, opened in 2023 after reporting on the district's outsized Native student expulsion rates, found district-wide suspension rates roughly double the statewide average despite comparable rates of infractions.
ICE detained as many as 100 people during week-long enforcement operations in Gallatin County, Montana
Over the week of roughly June 25 through July 2, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a series of enforcement operations across Gallatin County, Montana, detaining an estimated several dozen to more than 100 people, according to local immigrant-resource organizations. Community members reported people being pulled over in their vehicles and detained along with other occupants, including bystanders in the same vehicle, and agents knocking on doors in search of specific individuals. The largest single-day wave, more than 80 detentions, was reported on Wednesday, July 1.
Gov. Ron DeSantis designated CAIR Florida and the Muslim Brotherhood as domestic terrorist organizations under new state law
On July 1, 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Florida's first domestic terrorist designations under the newly effective House Bill 1471, naming the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa, along with more than 90 foreign terrorist organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The law authorizes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's chief to recommend designations that trigger criminal penalties for material support and exclusion from public funding. A federal court had blocked DeSantis's December 2025 executive order making the same CAIR designation, finding it violated the First Amendment; the legislature then enacted HB 1471 as a statutory vehicle to accomplish the same result.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 transgender athlete bans do not violate Equal Protection Clause
On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in West Virginia v. B.P.J. (No. 24-43) that state laws banning transgender women and girls from women's and girls' sports teams do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion; the Court also held unanimously that Title IX permits schools to maintain separate sports teams defined by biological sex. The ruling upholds athletic exclusion laws in West Virginia and Idaho and removes the primary federal constitutional protection that transgender athletes had used to challenge such laws nationwide.
Missouri Gov. Kehoe signed law cutting off gender-affirming care for trans inmates despite binding 2018 Eighth Amendment ruling
On June 30, 2026, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 2009, a Department of Corrections appropriations bill containing a rider barring state funds from paying for hormone therapy or gender transition surgery for incarcerated transgender people. The provision, inserted by state Rep. Dirk Deaton, took effect July 1-2 and immediately cut off ongoing hormone therapy for trans inmates with no tapering plan, despite a 2018 federal ruling, Hicklin v. Precythe, that found denying such care violates the Eighth Amendment. Deaton said on the House floor in March that he added the provision anticipating a more conservative Eighth Circuit would rule differently, even after Missouri Department of Corrections leadership warned legislators that the Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits have consistently found the care medically necessary.
Florida State Board of Education voted to bar undocumented students from state colleges and adult education programs
On June 30, 2026, the Florida State Board of Education voted to require all applicants to the state's 28 public colleges to prove U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status, effectively barring undocumented students from the Florida College System. At the same meeting, the board approved a Florida Department of Education rule banning undocumented immigrants from adult general education programs, including GED preparation. The Florida Legislature had declined to pass similar legislation during the 2026 session before the board and department pursued the same policy through administrative rulemaking.
DOJ sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island in federal court, seeking to block each state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state. The suits challenge Massachusetts' 2023 Tuition Equity Law and Rhode Island's in-state tuition policy, in place since 2011 and codified in 2021. DOJ said the filings brought its litigation campaign's total to 12 states, following earlier suits that resulted in permanent injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
ICE detained and handcuffed Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a Catholic nun, walking to Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas
On June 29, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Sister Leticia "Letty" Ugboaja, a 56-year-old Nigerian nun and member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, as she walked one block from her home to Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church for Sunday Mass. ICE transferred her to the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville and denied her access to medication. She was released the same evening after Reps. Monica De La Cruz and Henry Cuellar intervened with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
ICE contracted private prison firm LaSalle Corrections to build 528-bed Louisiana family/child holding facility, bypassing ORR custody
In late June 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed a contract to build a 528-bed holding facility for migrant families and unaccompanied children next to Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana. The facility, intended as a "staging area" for people awaiting deportation, will be operated by the LaSalle Family Foundation, a nonprofit arm of private prison contractor LaSalle Corrections, bypassing the Office of Refugee Resettlement's statutory custody role over unaccompanied children.
The Advocate reported EEOC investigators were directed to halt all transgender workplace discrimination investigations, defying Bostock ruling
On June 26, 2026, The Advocate published a documented EEOC investigator's written confirmation that the agency had been directed to halt all investigations into transgender workplace discrimination. The investigator told complainant Flint Del Sol—an educator whose Title VII case had been open for nearly three years—that the agency was "not permitted to conduct/continue any investigation regarding transgender cases, and that is coming from the chain of command." The directive applies to all such cases and conflicts directly with the Supreme Court's Bostock v. Clayton County ruling (2020), which held that Title VII covers discrimination based on gender identity.
Florida AG Uthmeier threatened legal action against Irish dance organizations to force exclusion of transgender girl from girls' competition
On June 26, 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter to An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) and the Irish Dance Teachers' Association of North America (IDTANA) threatening legal action unless the organizations excluded a transgender girl from girls' divisions at the upcoming North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando. Uthmeier cited Florida's public-accommodation sex-discrimination protections and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, demanding written compliance by June 30 or his office would take enforcement action. CLRG and IDTANA both permit competitors to enter divisions consistent with their gender identity.
Texas State Board of Education voted to mandate Bible passages as required K–12 reading for 5 million public school students
The Texas State Board of Education voted on June 26, 2026 to adopt a mandatory K–12 reading list that includes Bible passages—including New Testament stories about Jesus—alongside secular literary works, applying to roughly 5 million Texas public school students. The list is the first of its kind in the United States; no other state has a mandatory reading list that includes religious texts. Implementation is staggered, beginning with elementary students in 2030.
HHS/ORR compiled expedited removal list for 500+ unaccompanied migrant children, bypassing TVPRA individual case process
On June 25, 2026, the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of Refugee Resettlement, identified more than 500 unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody for expedited mass removal. Senator Ron Wyden publicly warned that the planned removal would bypass the individualized case management, legal referral, and sponsor-placement process that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act requires for each child. Multiple major outlets confirmed the list had been compiled and removal was imminent.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Trump has unreviewable power to terminate TPS for 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 25, 2026, that the Trump administration has virtually unreviewable power to terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals living legally in the United States. Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of presidential TPS decisions and rejected a constitutional racial-animus claim, despite Justice Elena Kagan's dissent quoting Trump's own statements describing Haitians in explicitly racist terms.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that CBP metering policy does not violate asylum law, eliminating asylum seekers' principal legal challenge avenue
On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "metering" policy — systematically turning asylum seekers away at ports of entry before they physically cross the border line — does not violate federal asylum law. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that noncitizens physically blocked at a port of entry have not "arrived in the United States" within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and therefore have no statutory right to apply for asylum. The decision forecloses the primary legal avenue that had permitted asylum seekers to challenge their systematic exclusion at the border.
HHS canceled Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants, redirected $67M to 'parental rights' and 'body literacy' competitions
The Department of Health and Human Services canceled most active grants under the congressionally funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program on June 24, 2026, and simultaneously published $71.7 million in new grant competitions requiring content aligned with "parental rights" and "body literacy" and explicitly excluding programs that "promote or advance gender ideology." An HHS official confirmed the reclaimed TPPP funds would be redirected to the new competitions. A federal court had previously vacated similar HHS guidance stripping gender-identity content from existing TPPP grantees; HHS achieved the same result by terminating and recompeting the grants.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that criminal suspicion alone justifies immigration parole of lawful permanent residents
On June 23, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, holding that an immigration officer's unverified allegation of criminal wrongdoing is sufficient to place a lawful permanent resident on immigration parole at a border crossing. The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, found that border officers need not establish criminal activity by clear and convincing evidence before restricting a green card holder's rights. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissent, joined by both other liberal justices, warned the ruling handed the government a "massive blank check" to weaken due-process protections for the approximately 13.5 million lawful permanent residents in the United States.
ICE detained Colombian asylum-seeker Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son at their Wisconsin Dells home, transferring them to a Texas facility
On June 23, 2026, ICE agents detained Diana Socha Torres, a 43-year-old Colombian asylum-seeker with a pending case, and her 8-year-old son at their Wisconsin Dells home after telling the family they were coming to change her ankle monitor. The pair were taken to ICE's Milwaukee office and, by the next morning, the online detainee locator listed Socha Torres at the Dilley immigration processing center in Texas. ICE cited an in-absentia removal order entered after she missed a hearing; she says she never received notice of it.
DOJ sued New York to block state law requiring ICE agents to unmask and display identification
On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, seeking to block a New York law requiring federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, to unmask during operations and display individual identifying information. The law, scheduled to take effect June 26, also bars 287(g) cooperative agreements in jurisdictions that maintain mask bans. DOJ argues the law violates the Supremacy Clause and poses officer safety risks; Hochul and James filed a countersuit the same day seeking to preserve the law.
Supreme Court 6-3 eliminated human rights claims under Alien Tort Statute in Cisco Systems v. Doe, overruling Sosa
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 23, 2026 in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe that federal courts may no longer hear any human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), categorically overruling Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (2004) and ending 46 years of ATS human rights litigation. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the conservative majority; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented. The ruling also held that aiding-and-abetting liability is not available under the Torture Victim Protection Act.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 prisoners cannot sue individual guards for money damages under RLUIPA, eliminating key religious-freedom remedy
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 23, 2026 that prisoners cannot sue individual prison guards for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), leaving only injunctive relief as a remedy for religious freedom violations by prison staff. The case arose from Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man whose dreadlocks were forcibly cut by Louisiana prison guards in 2020. The conservative majority held that individual guards did not consent to personal liability under RLUIPA, while the dissent warned the ruling leaves prisoners with "little reason to expect guards to abide by legal protections."
Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into Maryland state agency and three school districts over trans-inclusive policies
On June 23, 2026, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into the Maryland State Department of Education and three of the state's largest districts — Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Frederick County Public Schools — over guidance and policies that let transgender students use facilities and join athletic teams matching their gender identity. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey called gender-identity-based access "deeply troubling" and pledged to "take appropriate action to ensure compliance," announcing the probes on the fifty-fourth anniversary of Title IX. The investigations continued a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement against trans-inclusive school policies across multiple states.
Supreme Court declined to review 8th Circuit ruling barring private enforcement of VRA Section 208 in seven states
On June 22, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a 2025 8th Circuit ruling holding that private parties lack standing to sue to enforce Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees voters with disabilities or limited literacy the right to choose their own poll assistant. The brief, unsigned cert denial left in place the only federal appeals court ruling to eliminate private enforcement of Section 208, creating a two-tiered VRA enforcement landscape for voters in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Private enforcement — historically the primary driver of VRA litigation — is now unavailable in those seven states, leaving compliance dependent on Justice Department action.
Mother Jones report reveals Trump DOJ building case for forced psychiatric institutionalization, undermining Olmstead
On June 19, 2026, Mother Jones reported that the Trump administration's Department of Justice had issued a memo outlining legal arguments to justify forcing people with psychiatric disabilities into institutions, effectively reinterpreting the Olmstead mandate that guarantees community integration. Law professors characterized the memo as inconsistent with established precedent, and reports indicate the White House directed DOJ to produce the document as prelude to an executive order rolling back Olmstead enforcement.
Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts over trans-inclusive sports and locker room policies
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX civil rights investigations on June 19, 2026, into three Michigan school districts — Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools, and Chippewa Valley School District — for allowing transgender students to participate in sports and use locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The DOE framed the investigations as protecting "the rights of cisgender students," asserting that trans-inclusive policies violate Title IX as reinterpreted by the current administration. The action was part of a coordinated wave of federal enforcement targeting schools with trans-inclusive policies during Pride Month, following a similar investigation opened against a North Carolina district the prior day.
DOJ sues Philadelphia to block federal officer identification and local oversight requirements
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a 28-page lawsuit on June 18, 2026, against Philadelphia, challenging City Bill No. 260060, which requires federal law enforcement officers to display visible identification, use marked vehicles, and comply with local regulations during operations in the city. If successful, the suit would nullify a civil-rights protection that Philadelphia enacted to ensure accountability in immigration enforcement — reducing residents' ability to identify and report federal agents operating in their communities. DOJ argues that municipalities lack authority to regulate federal officers and claims the law threatens officer safety.
FTC sues WPATH, the leading transgender medical standards body, alleging 'deceptive claims' on youth care
The Federal Trade Commission filed suit on June 17, 2026, against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), alleging the organization made "deceptive claims" about gender-affirming care for minors and that its members profited from those claims. Four state attorneys general — Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas — joined the suit. The action came after a federal judge ruled in May 2026 that an earlier FTC investigation of WPATH likely violated the organization's First Amendment rights, and as the FTC conducted parallel investigations into two other major medical bodies — the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society — over their gender-affirming care guidelines.
Brian Kemp convened Georgia redistricting session under Trump pressure to reduce minority representation; legislature blocked it
Following the Supreme Court's June 2026 Louisiana v. Callais ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act's Section 2 protections, President Trump pressured Republican-led states to redraw electoral maps mid-decade to reduce minority representation. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp convened a special legislative session on June 17, 2026 to undertake redistricting; voting rights groups estimated ~26 legislative seats with large minority populations were at risk. House Speaker Jon Burns blocked the session before it could proceed, announcing the legislature would not take up redistricting without more public input and further court development of post-Callais doctrine.
DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, citing Equal Protection Clause
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program, the first such program in the United States, arguing it violates the Equal Protection Clause and constitutes racial discrimination. The program provides $25,000 housing grants to Black residents who meet eligibility criteria based on residency and documented exposure to housing discrimination, with more than $20 million allocated over 10 years.
DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, calling it 'racially discriminatory' under Equal Protection Clause
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge on June 16, 2026, seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's municipally-funded reparations program — the first such program in the United States — calling it "racially discriminatory" in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The program offers eligible Black residents $25,000 in housing grants to address documented housing discrimination and historical segregation. The DOJ intervention inverts the traditional role of the Civil Rights Division, which has historically used equal protection law to enforce civil rights rather than block local remedies for documented harm.
Education Dept. transfers Office for Civil Rights to DOJ and special education office to HHS
The U.S. Department of Education announced interagency agreements on June 16, 2026, transferring its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon, and its special education oversight office (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services. OCR handles discrimination complaints in K-12 and higher education; OSERS oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guaranteeing services for disabled students. Legal experts called the OCR move "illegal," saying DOJ lawyers lack specialized education-law expertise and the transfer will make it harder for students to secure relief from discrimination.
DOJ intervened to halt Evanston's reparations program, calling the nation's first such program unconstitutional
On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program — the first such program in the United States. The DOJ argued the program, which awards $25,000 housing grants to eligible Black residents to address documented historical housing discrimination, violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act. The intervention joined an existing suit filed in 2024 by non-Black descendants of Evanston residents excluded from the program.
ICE's HSI unit obtains individual voter files from Texas and North Carolina counties to investigate alleged noncitizen voting
Election officials in Webb County, Texas, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, turned over individual voter-file records — including registration history, addresses, dates of birth, driver's-license numbers, and voting histories — to agents of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged noncitizen voting, according to emails obtained by Democracy Forward and first reported by Axios on June 13, 2026. The requests reached Webb County in May 2026 and Forsyth County in November 2025, and on June 9 DHS General Counsel James Percival directed ICE to pursue stricter penalties, including deportation, for noncitizens found to have voted.
Arizona Legislature referred a constitutional measure restricting transgender athletes and bathroom access to the November 2026 ballot
On June 12, 2026, the Arizona Senate gave final passage to House Concurrent Resolution 2003, referring to the November 2026 general-election ballot a measure that would restrict K-12 and interscholastic athletic teams to students' biological sex as listed on their original birth certificate and separately limit access to restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas by the same standard. The House had passed the resolution 32-25 on February 23, 2026, and the Senate approved it 16-12; as a legislatively referred constitutional measure it required no governor's signature. If approved by voters, its provisions would take effect January 1, 2027.
Arizona Legislature referred HCR2044 to the ballot, a proposed constitutional ban on race- and sex-based preferences in public programs
On June 12, 2026, the Arizona Legislature gave final passage to House Concurrent Resolution 2044, referring a measure to the November 2026 ballot that would amend the state constitution to bar Arizona's government, universities, schools, and local bodies from granting preferences or discriminating based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting. The Senate passed it 16-13 after the House passed it 31-23, and as a legislatively referred constitutional measure it required no governor's signature.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found UC Davis Medical School discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on June 11, 2026 that the University of California, Davis School of Medicine discriminates based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said a six-month investigation found Davis Med used a "Davis Scale" ranking applicants on socioeconomic factors as a proxy for race after SFFA. UC Davis disputed the finding, calling its admissions process "rigorous, individualized, and merit-based."
U.S. Department of Transportation rescinds disparate-impact civil rights enforcement standard
On June 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation rescinded its disparate impact enforcement standard under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The standard had required recipients of federal transportation funding — states, cities, transit agencies — to avoid policies producing discriminatory effects on minority communities even without discriminatory intent. The rescission makes intentional discrimination the only enforceable basis for civil rights complaints at DOT, effectively removing federal scrutiny of transportation policies that disproportionately harm communities of color.
ICE arrested Cumberland County jail officer despite valid work authorization; third such detention in a year
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Bassikissa Bounguiena, a Cumberland County Jail corrections officer, in South Portland, Maine, on June 9, 2026, despite his holding work authorization valid through 2030 and no filed criminal charges. Cumberland County officials disputed ICE's description of him as a "criminal illegal alien," confirming only an unfiled 2019 domestic-violence arrest. Bounguiena is the third Cumberland County Jail corrections officer ICE has detained in about a year.
DOJ filed civil actions to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans in multiple federal courts
On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed civil denaturalization complaints against 17 naturalized citizens in federal district courts around the country, alleging offenses including sexual abuse of a minor, fraud, and drug distribution, or concealment of criminal history during naturalization. DOJ officials described it as the largest denaturalization effort in decades; fewer than 150 people were denaturalized between 1968 and 2013. Named defendants include Maria Lourdes Montoya of Commerce City, Colorado, whom the government alleges misrepresented her spouse's identity to obtain residency and citizenship.
Louisiana Gov. Landry signed Act 814 replacing 'gender' with 'sex' throughout state law and defining sex as binary and biological
On June 8, 2026, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB578, the "Restoring Biological Truth Act," into law as Act No. 814, replacing references to "gender" with "sex" throughout Louisiana statute and defining sex as a binary, immutable biological characteristic. The law, authored by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Pineville) and modeled on President Trump's federal executive order of the same name, provides that "gender identity and other subjective terms shall not be used as synonyms or substitutes for sex." Critics said the measure erases transgender and nonbinary people from state law and strips their legal recognition; the act takes effect August 1, 2026.
CBP deports more than 200 Filipino sailors on unproven child sexual abuse material accusations
An NPR investigation published June 6, 2026 documented that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deported more than 200 Filipino professional mariners since 2025 after accusing them — without charges, prosecutions, or presented evidence — of possessing child sexual abuse material. Agents board cruise and commercial ships in port, search crew members' phones, revoke their crew visas, and remove them to Manila within roughly 24 hours, with 10-year entry bans in at least some cases. The Pilipino Workers Center has tracked at least 212 such cases, all visa revocations with no criminal charges.
DHS denies World Cup referee Omar Artan entry at Miami airport under Somalia travel ban
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials denied entry to Omar Abdulkadir Artan, a Somali national and one of FIFA's 52 selected referees for the 2026 World Cup, when he arrived at Miami International Airport on June 6, 2026, despite his holding a valid U.S. visa. DHS said on June 8 that Artan was "determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns" — Somalia is among the countries named in the administration's June 2025 travel-ban proclamation — and FIFA confirmed he will be unable to train or officiate at the tournament.
Federal judge rules USCIS freeze on immigration processing for 39 travel-ban countries unlawful
U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island ruled on June 5, 2026 that USCIS unlawfully froze asylum claims and immigration-benefit adjudications — work permits, green cards, and citizenship — for nationals of the 39 countries under the administration's travel restrictions. The 135-page ruling found the freeze exceeded the agency's statutory authority, was arbitrary and capricious, and masked anti-immigrant animus behind pretextual national-security claims, and ordered processing resumed.
404 Media FOIA report reveals ICE plan to give facial recognition app to 1,300+ local police agencies to verify immigration status
On June 5, 2026, 404 Media published an internal DHS document obtained via FOIA revealing ICE's plan to distribute a facial recognition app to more than 1,000 local police agencies deputized under the 287(g) program, enabling officers to scan faces against hundreds of millions of government records to verify immigration status. The app, already in partial use by ICE and CBP, has produced false matches and has been used against American citizens. Follow-up reporting by NPR in June 2026 confirmed that approximately 1,300 agencies had already received access.
Canyon County, Idaho probation office compiled 82-name foreign-born list, disclosed it to ICE for enforcement targeting
On June 5, 2026, Jeff Breach, director of Canyon County, Idaho's Misdemeanor Probation Department, directed staff to review their caseloads and compile a list of probationers born outside the United States for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Boise field office. Over 140 emails obtained by InvestigateWest show the resulting 82-name list swept in people with no evidence of immigration violations -- more than half on probation for DUI and only seven with an existing ICE hold -- while officers separately coordinated ICE arrests staged at probationers' scheduled appointments.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opens 15 new race-discrimination probes into medical school admissions
On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced it had opened 15 new investigations into U.S. medical schools over alleged race discrimination in admissions, expanding a campaign that had already produced adverse findings against the medical schools of Yale University and UCLA. The Division said it would examine whether the schools — each a recipient of millions of dollars in federal funding — comply with Title VI as interpreted by the Supreme Court's 2023 decision restricting race-conscious admissions. The schools under investigation were not publicly named.
DOJ launched $300M Model Cities Initiative conditioning police grants on immigration enforcement cooperation and surveillance
On June 3, 2026, the Justice Department announced the Model Cities Initiative, directing nearly $300 million in federal grants to two to four cities to implement a "whole-of-city" policing strategy modeled on the Memphis federal surge. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the program would "leverage every authority" to extend the administration's enforcement model, conditioning grants on cities' cooperation with federal immigration enforcement operations and purchase of a prescribed surveillance technology package including AI systems, license plate readers, and drone systems. Applications from cities with populations over 100,000 are due September 1, 2026.
CMS published Medicaid work-requirement rule with surprise medical-frailty certification mandate, blindsiding states
On June 3, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published an interim final rule in the Federal Register implementing the Medicaid community engagement requirement under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including a medical-frailty certification provision — requiring healthcare-worker certification rather than self-attestation for individuals with serious health conditions — that state officials said had never been raised in prior federal-state consultations. A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities official reported that CMS staff attributed the provision to the White House. On June 29, officials from 25 states and Washington, D.C. sued HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, alleging the medical-frailty provision exceeds the statute's authorization.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened Title VI investigation into DEI programs at Arizona State University
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division on June 3, 2026 opened a Title VI investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at Arizona State University, citing undercover videos from a conservative advocacy group as the basis for the probe. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is examining whether ASU's DEI policies in admissions, scholarships, and educational support constitute unlawful discrimination.
Supreme Court lets Alabama use GOP-drawn map eliminating a majority-Black district
On June 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Alabama's emergency request to use its Republican-drawn congressional map for the November 2026 midterms, a map with a majority-Black population in only one of the state's seven districts. The unsigned emergency-docket order, decided 6-3 along ideological lines, overrode a three-judge federal panel that had found the map intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and displaced the court-drawn districts used in 2024. The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sotomayor warning that the decision "disregards both democratic values and the rule of law."
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed SF473 barring the state from rejecting foster or adoptive applicants over religious objections to LGBTQ policies
On June 2, 2026, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 473, which amends state law to bar the Department of Health and Human Services from disqualifying prospective foster or adoptive parents because of sincerely held religious or moral beliefs about sexual orientation or gender identity. The law also prohibits requiring applicants to affirm, accept, or support LGBTQ-related policies that conflict with those beliefs and shields religious organizations that contract with the state from providing services against their beliefs. Advocates warned the measure could disadvantage LGBTQ youth in state care and prospective LGBTQ foster and adoptive parents.
HUD conditioned $1.3B in FY2026 homelessness grants on immigration-enforcement cooperation and anti-DEI/anti-trans compliance
On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published its Fiscal Year 2026 Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Opportunity, redirecting roughly $1.3 billion of the program's nearly $4 billion away from "Housing First" permanent supportive housing toward transitional housing and "self-sufficiency" projects. The notice requires grantees to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, comply with executive orders eliminating DEI activities and recognizing only male/female gender identities, bars applicants operating safe-consumption sites, and rewards jurisdictions that cooperate with encampment clearing.
Tennessee Health Dept. threatened to report disabled immigrant children to state immigration-enforcement division
The Tennessee Department of Health, under Interim Commissioner John Dunn, sent letters dated June 1, 2026, to roughly 400 families enrolled in the Children's Special Services program — which covers children with disabilities and chronic or critical illnesses, including some on ventilators, feeding tubes, or chemotherapy — warning that continued enrollment after June 30, 2026, would result in the department reporting each child's immigration status to the state's Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division. The department cited a new Tennessee law requiring reporting of immigrants without legal status who receive public benefits, though the law's text limits that requirement to applicants 18 or older. Legal advocates and pediatricians warned the directive could force families to forgo life-sustaining care to avoid being reported.
Louisiana Gov. Landry signed Act 579 barring employers from requiring use of pronouns inconsistent with a person's sex
On May 29, 2026, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed HB1137 into law as Act 579, barring employers from requiring an employee, as a condition of employment, to address another person by a name other than their legal name or to use pronouns, salutations, titles, or honorifics inconsistent with that person's sex. Authored by Representative Raymond Crews with language developed with the conservative Liberty Counsel, the act shields workplace refusal to use transgender and nonbinary people's names and pronouns from being treated as discrimination. It takes effect August 1, 2026.
White House launched "Aliens.gov" ICE portal urging public to report "suspicious aliens"
On May 28, 2026, the White House launched Aliens.gov, a UFO-themed immigration enforcement website pairing a searchable ICE arrest database with a tip line urging visitors to report "suspicious aliens." The site displays arrest locations, detainees' countries of origin, alleged criminal charges and gang affiliations, alongside a running "encounters" counter exceeding 3.1 million.
Federal panel blocks Alabama's GOP congressional map as intentional racial discrimination
On May 26, 2026, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama from using its new Republican-drawn congressional map in the November 2026 midterms, finding the lines "intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution." The map, enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais decision that the state read as loosening race-conscious districting requirements, would have eliminated one of Alabama's two majority-Black districts and positioned the GOP to gain a U.S. House seat. The same panel previously found in 2023 that Alabama's map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters; Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.
South Carolina Senate blocks Trump-pressured mid-decade gerrymander of Clyburn's district
On May 26, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate blocked a Trump-pressured mid-decade redistricting bill that would have redrawn the state's seven congressional districts to dismantle its only majority-Black and only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James "Jim" Clyburn, and position Republicans to win all seven seats. Twelve Republicans joined twelve Democrats on a procedural vote to deny the 26 votes needed to end debate, killing the map for the cycle. It is the first state in President Trump's national mid-decade redistricting drive where the legislative push has collapsed.
South Carolina Senate advances congressional map dismantling its only majority-minority district
On May 23, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate advanced a new congressional redistricting map on a 27-17 second-reading vote, after invoking cloture earlier in the day to cap each member's floor debate at one hour and abandoning a planned overnight session to move ahead of schedule. The map redraws the state's seven U.S. House districts to break up the 6th Congressional District -- South Carolina's only majority-minority district and its only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James Clyburn -- positioning Republicans to win all seven seats. The bill also delays the state's congressional primary from June 9 to August 18; a decisive third-reading vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.
Hegseth strikes nine officers, including all three women, from Navy one-star admiral promotion list
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth struck nine of the 31 officers a Navy promotion board had selected for promotion from captain to one-star rear admiral — including all three women and two Black men — before the Pentagon released the amended list on May 22, 2026. The full slate had already been approved by then-Navy Secretary John Phelan, Navy leadership, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine; the Pentagon has offered no rationale for the removals, which sources say targeted officers for participation in DEI initiatives. As a result, the Navy will promote no women to one-star admiral this year.
DHS awards $25M no-bid contract to BI2 for 1,500+ iris scanners to identify immigrants
On May 22, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security awarded BI2 Technologies a $25.1 million no-bid contract for more than 1,500 iris-scanning devices and continuous access to BI2's biometric database of more than five million booking records — roughly five times the value and nearly eight times the device count of DHS's prior September 2025 contract with the Massachusetts firm. The procurement did not require the system to clear FedRAMP, the federal cloud-security review for systems handling sensitive data, and the award documents described no independent audit, no congressional notification, and no outside review of how scans would be retained, shared, or matched. ICE plans to deploy the devices to Enforcement and Removal Operations agents for field use by late June.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed SB1665, extending pronoun-refusal immunity law to honorifics
On May 22, 2026, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1665 into law as Public Chapter 1076, effective immediately. The act extends the state's existing pronoun-refusal law — which shields students, teachers, state employees, and state contractors from being required to use a person's preferred name or pronoun — so that the same immunity from civil liability and disciplinary action now also covers refusal to use honorifics such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms. that are inconsistent with a person's sex.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the Women's Safety and Protection Act, barring gender-identity recognition in sex-segregated facilities
On May 22, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0468/HB0571, the "Women's Safety and Protection Act," which requires sex-segregated spaces — domestic-violence shelters, correctional and juvenile-detention facilities, public higher-education housing, and public-school overnight lodging and changing rooms — to be designated by biological sex "as observed or clinically verified at birth" and states that the terms do not include gender identity. The law, effective July 1, 2026, ends legal recognition of transgender people's gender identity in those state-regulated settings and creates a private cause of action allowing individuals to sue non-complying facilities.
Louisiana House committee advances congressional map eliminating a majority-Black district
On May 21, 2026, the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 10-7 along party lines to advance Senate Bill 121, a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan, to the full House, adopting an amendment by Rep. Dixon McMakin. The map dismantles the majority-Black 6th District held by Rep. Cleo Fields, reducing Louisiana's majority-Black congressional districts from two to one, and is projected to give Republicans a 5-1 advantage in the state's six-seat U.S. House delegation. The redraw follows the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29, 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down the state's two-majority-Black-district map and weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
ICE detained Nashville nursing mother in violation of its own postpartum-detention policy
On May 19, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a Guatemalan-born nursing mother, identified by advocates only as Maria Perez, at her Nashville home while serving a federal warrant naming the father of her children, separating her from her breastfeeding 10-month-old and a 2-year-old with Down syndrome. Advocates say the detention violates ICE's own directive barring detention of pregnant, postpartum, or nursing people absent exceptional circumstances; as of late July 2026 she remained held in Louisiana, roughly 700 miles from her children, and had not seen them since her arrest.
Trump signs executive order treating immigration status as a financial-risk factor
On May 19, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, "Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System," directing the Treasury Department and federal bank regulators to treat customers' immigration status as a financial-risk factor. The order tells Treasury to issue an advisory flagging "red flags" tied to non-work authorized populations -- including the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and foreign consular identification cards -- and directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider treating "potential deportation and loss of wages" as factors weighing against a borrower's ability to repay. It stops short of an earlier-reported plan to mandate citizenship collection, but legal experts warned it could push undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens out of the banking system.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into Washington state's policy of housing transgender women in women's prisons
On May 19, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon notified Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division would open a federal civil-rights investigation, under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, into the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor over the state's policy of housing some transgender women in women's prisons. DOJ said it would examine whether the state failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, citing potential Eighth Amendment violations. The action was the third such state probe of 2026, after DOJ notified California and Maine of similar investigations in March.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF571 letting doctors, hospitals, and insurers refuse care on conscience grounds
On May 19, 2026, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed House File 571, the "Medical Ethics Defense Act," which lets medical practitioners, health care institutions, and health care payors decline to participate in health care services on the basis of conscience, ethical, moral, or religious objection and shields them from liability for those refusals. Reporting and opponents, including physician-legislator Rep. Austin Baeth, said the law's conscience exemption reaches gender-transition procedures and abortion and provides no standard to separate conscience from discrimination, allowing patients — including LGBTQ+ Iowans — to be denied care. The law took effect July 1, 2026.
ICE agents enter Tucson home without judicial warrant and arrest DACA recipient Karla Toledo
On the morning of May 18, 2026, federal immigration agents arrested Karla Toledo, a 31-year-old longtime Tucson, Arizona resident and DACA recipient, at her home. Video shared by her family shows occupants repeatedly asking agents to produce a warrant, and her family and attorney say no judicial warrant was presented before agents entered. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Toledo was taken in a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" and, with the Department of Homeland Security, asserted that DACA confers no legal status, that she entered the country unlawfully in October 2024, and that she assaulted an agent — claims her attorney disputes, citing surveillance footage. Toledo was moved to ICE detention in Eloy, Arizona, where her bond was set at $1,500 and her attorney expected her release within days.
Trump administration proposes reserving 10,000 added refugee slots for white South Africans
On May 18, 2026, the State Department sent Congress an emergency determination proposing to raise the fiscal-year 2026 refugee admissions ceiling from 7,500 -- the lowest in U.S. history -- to 17,500, with all 10,000 additional slots reserved for white South African Afrikaners. The department justified the carve-out by citing an "emergency refugee situation" of race-based persecution, a characterization the South African government rejects. The expansion advances while U.S. refugee admissions from other countries remain effectively frozen: of the 6,069 refugees resettled between October 2025 and the end of April 2026, 6,066 were South African.
Supreme Court declines to resolve VRA Section 2 private-right-of-action question, leaving private enforcement in circuit-split limbo
On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two brief, unsigned grant-vacate-and-remand orders in Bd. of Election Comm'rs v. NAACP (5th Cir.) and Turtle Mountain Band v. Howe (8th Cir.), sending both cases back to lower courts "in light of" the Court's April 29, 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Both cases had squarely presented the question of whether private parties — voters and civil-rights organizations — retain a right to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. By declining to resolve that question, the Court leaves in place a circuit split: in the 5th Circuit private suits are allowed, in the 8th they are not. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from both orders, writing that she would have decided the cases on the merits to confirm a private right of action.
DOJ and Texas AG Paxton secured $10M settlement forcing Texas Children's Hospital to end transgender youth care, create detransition clinic
On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a joint settlement with Texas Children's Hospital in Houston resolving a healthcare-fraud investigation into the hospital's billing for pediatric gender-affirming care. The hospital agreed to stop performing puberty-blocker and cross-sex-hormone procedures on minors, pay over $10 million in damages and civil penalties, terminate five physicians, and establish what DOJ and Paxton's office both called the nation's first dedicated "detransition clinic" funding care for patients who discontinue gender transition.
South Carolina enacted a law barring transgender students from school restrooms matching their gender identity
On May 15, 2026, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed H4756, the "South Carolina Student Physical Privacy Act" (Act No. 152), requiring that multi-occupancy restrooms and changing facilities in public K-12 schools and higher-education institutions be designated for use by one biological sex, defined as sex assigned at birth. The law effectively bars transgender students from facilities matching their gender identity and threatens noncompliant districts and colleges with the loss of up to 25 percent of state funding. It took effect the same day.
Florida Legislature, FDLE steered $6M budget earmark and $16M in grants to Peregrine Technologies without competitive bidding
On May 15, 2026, the Florida House Justice Budget Conference Committee inserted a $6 million appropriation for a law-enforcement data-integration platform into state budget negotiations, wording that mirrored FDLE's own January 2026 budget request naming Peregrine Technologies directly. Peregrine's head of business development, Matthew Melton, is married to Rep. Fiona McFarland, a member of the conference committee that added the funding, and the company's lobbying firm donated $225,000 to Republican leadership PACs in the months before. FDLE's State Board of Immigration Enforcement separately granted more than $16 million from a $250 million immigration-enforcement trust fund to over two dozen local agencies earmarked to buy the same Peregrine software.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed HB0754 requiring providers to report transgender patients' data to the state
On May 15, 2026, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB0754 into law as Public Chapter 932, requiring healthcare providers and insurers that receive state funds to report data on patients who receive gender-affirming care — including treatment type, sex assigned at birth, age, county, and provider information — to the state health department. Providers who fail to comply face license suspension of at least six months and fines of up to $150,000, and the law also requires people seeking insurance coverage for gender-affirming care to purchase detransition coverage. Critics describe the reporting regime as a surveillance registry of transgender Tennesseans.
ICE moves forward with Hagerstown warehouse-detention construction in defiance of Baltimore federal judge's injunction
On May 14, 2026, The Washington Post reported, citing an internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo, that ICE staffers were "exploring what work can be done" at a Hagerstown, Maryland warehouse being converted into a 1,500-person ICE detention facility despite a Baltimore federal judge's standing temporary injunction blocking the project. The Baltimore judge had found the building's four toilets and two water fountains insufficient for the planned capacity. The Hagerstown build-out and operations contract was awarded in March 2026 to KVG LLC, a Pennsylvania-based defense contractor with no prior experience operating detention facilities, with a $113 million base and a $642 million three-year ceiling.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found Yale School of Medicine discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 14, 2026 that it had determined Yale University's School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said Yale's leadership intentionally selected applicants by race and studied racial proxies to circumvent that ruling, citing data showing Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with lower academic qualifications than White and Asian applicants. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Yale "continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate."
DHS Inspector General opens audit of ICE warehouse-detention buys made about 13% above market value across multiple states
On May 14, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General announced an audit of whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acquired warehouse properties — being converted into detention facilities under a multibillion-dollar program launched by then-Secretary Kristi Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski — "in a cost-effective manner." Real-estate data tracker CoStar found DHS paid an average of about 13% above market value for warehouses across multiple states; aggregate spending on the warehouse program has been reported at about $1 billion across eight states. The OIG also opened a separate investigation of Mr. Lewandowski's role as a special government employee.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB904 barring Medicaid and public funds for gender-transition procedures
On May 12, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 904, prohibiting the state Medicaid program from reimbursing gender-transition procedures and barring the use of any public funds, state property, or state facilities for such procedures for transgender residents of any age. The law carries an emergency clause taking effect immediately on signing and creates a criminal penalty for violations. It cleared the state Senate 39-8 in March 2026 and the House 77-14 in May before reaching the governor's desk.
DOJ served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital seeking transgender minors' medical records
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, demanding the identities, diagnoses, treatment histories, and parental consent forms of patients who received gender-affirming care as minors. Prosecutors obtained the subpoena in the Northern District of Texas, a venue with no connection to the California hospital, patients, or care, after at least eight courts had quashed the department's earlier administrative subpoenas for the same records. Affected families were given no notice.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed HB 3586 shielding refusal to affirm a child's gender transition in adoption and foster placements
On May 7, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 3586, the "Parents Protection Act of 2026," which bars the state from denying or delaying an adoption or foster placement because a prospective parent declines to support a child's gender transition, and provides that raising a child consistent with their biological sex does not constitute child abuse or neglect. The measure amends the Oklahoma Children's Code and adoption statutes and takes effect November 1, 2026.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed HB 1225 requiring birth certificates to list sex assigned at birth and barring gender-identity amendments
On May 7, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 1225, which requires state birth certificates to record a person's biological sex as male or female as identified at birth and prohibits amending that designation to reflect gender identity, a nonbinary status, or an "X" marker. The law amends Oklahoma's vital-records statutes governing birth-certificate filing, amendments, and post-adoption certificates, and carried an emergency clause making it effective on approval.
Tennessee enacted HB1271, requiring state and local governments to define sex by birth anatomy over gender identity
On May 7, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1271 (Public Chapter 938) into law, amending Titles 1 through 8 of the Tennessee Code relative to "biological sex." The law requires every governmental entity in the state — including local governments — to revise its ordinances, resolutions, rules, policies, and procedures so that any reference to sex or gender is defined as the immutable characteristics of a person's reproductive system as determined by anatomy and genetics at birth, overriding local recognition of gender identity. The House passed the bill 72-16 on March 30 and the Senate 24-6 on April 22, 2026, and it took effect on signing.
Tennessee enacts mid-decade congressional map eliminating Memphis majority-Black 9th district
On May 7, 2026, the Tennessee General Assembly passed and Governor Bill Lee signed a new congressional district map that splits Memphis — the population core of Tennessee's only majority-Black, Democratic-held U.S. House district — among three Republican-leaning districts. The action followed by eight days the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29, 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and removed a key legal constraint on mid-decade racial-vote-dilution maps.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found UCLA medical school discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 6, 2026 that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA intentionally discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said its investigation found admitted Black and Hispanic applicants had consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts, and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the school focused on "racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence." The finding was part of a broader Civil Rights Division campaign targeting medical-school admissions that also produced actions against Yale and UC Davis.
Monroe County pulled tourism funding from Key West Pride events, citing Florida's DEI law before its effective date
On May 6, 2026, Monroe County, Florida withdrew roughly $200,000 in annual tourism funding, including about $75,000 in marketing support for Key West Pride, from LGBTQ events organized through the Key West Business Guild. A senior assistant county attorney's letter to the Guild cited Senate Bill 1134, the state law barring local governments from funding or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion activity, as the basis, even though that law does not take effect until January 1, 2027.
EEOC sued The New York Times, alleging its DEI practices discriminated against a white male employee
On May 5, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against The New York Times, alleging the newspaper discriminated against a white male employee passed over for promotion as part of its diversity practices. EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas publicly framed the case as challenging DEI "on behalf of white workers" and as a reorientation of civil-rights enforcement. The action deployed federal legal power against a news organization the administration regularly criticizes.
Department of Education opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College over its transgender admissions policy
On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College, a private all-women's college in Massachusetts, over its policy of admitting transgender women. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said "an all-women's college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males," asserting that Title IX's single-sex exception applies on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity. The probe extended a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement using federal civil-rights machinery to pressure institutions over trans-inclusive policies.
DOJ issues criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health for private trans youth medical records
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas issued a criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health, one of New York City's largest hospital systems, demanding private medical records of transgender minors who received gender-affirming care from 2020 onward — including patient identities, provider information, and whether the hospital codes gender-affirming procedures under alternative names — despite HIPAA protections. Three trans minors and two trans adults who were minors during their care, represented by the ACLU, NYCLU, and Lambda Legal, filed suit to block the disclosure; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Law Department filed an amicus brief in their support on June 13, 2026. The subpoena is part of a coordinated multi-state DOJ effort targeting more than 20 hospital systems; federal courts in Rhode Island, Maryland, and California have already blocked similar demands. On June 24, 2026, a federal judge granted a classwide temporary restraining order blocking the DOJ from seeking or obtaining the records.
DOJ anti-Christian bias task force published report urging federal realignment toward Christian religious-liberty claims
On April 30, 2026, the Presidential Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, created by Executive Order 14202 and chaired by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, published its report asserting that the prior administration's prosecutions, policies, and practices were pervasively anti-Christian. The report documents claimed bias across seventeen federal agencies and endorses realigning federal enforcement, hiring, and civil-rights priorities toward claims framed as Christian religious liberty. It cites steps already taken, including rescinding a Biden-era school-board memo and withdrawing prior interpretations of employment-discrimination law.
Louisiana governor suspends U.S. House primaries by executive order, voiding ~42,000 cast ballots
On April 30, 2026, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued Executive Order 26-038 suspending only the state's U.S. House primary elections in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down the state's congressional map. The Secretary of State certified the order; the U.S. House races remained printed on the May 16 primary ballot, but votes cast in those races were not counted, after roughly 42,000 absentee ballots had already been returned by early May. Other contests on the May 16 ballot, including the U.S. Senate primary, proceeded as scheduled.
Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted Voting Rights Act minority-district protections, enabling states to eliminate minority seats
On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana's court-ordered second majority-Black congressional district was itself an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the conservative majority, substantially reworked the 40-year-old Thornburg v. Gingles framework, holding that Section 2 claims succeed only when evidence supports a "strong inference" that a state intentionally drew districts to deny minority voters equal opportunity — replacing the prior effects-based standard with a heightened intent requirement. Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, said the ruling would "eviscerate" the Voting Rights Act and warned the consequences would be "far-reaching and grave."
State Department orders consular officers to deny visas to applicants who fear returning home
On April 28, 2026, the U.S. State Department sent a worldwide diplomatic cable ordering consular officers to ask every nonimmigrant visa applicant two new verbal questions -- whether they have suffered harm or mistreatment at home and whether they fear harm if returned -- and to deny the visa to anyone who answers "yes" or refuses to answer. The directive, which covers tourist, student, and temporary-worker visas, converts an expression of protection-need into an automatic disqualifier and is part of a broader effort to screen out applicants who might later seek asylum.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1989 shielding "biological sex" parenting from abuse findings and custody loss
On April 27, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1989 (Public Chapter 846), which provides that a parent or guardian raising a child "in a manner consistent with the child's biological sex" cannot be a basis for a court finding of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment, and must not be considered a negative factor in a custody determination. The Senate passed the bill 27-6 on March 12 and the House 79-16 on April 14, and the law took effect the day it was signed.
DHS training tells USCIS officers to weigh flag-burning, criticism of Israel, and pro-Palestinian protest against green-card applicants
On April 25, 2026, The New York Times reported the existence of internal Department of Homeland Security training materials — not previously published by DHS or USCIS — instructing officers to treat protected political speech as a discretionary negative factor in green-card and other immigration-benefit adjudications. The training names flag-burning, criticism of the state of Israel, and pro-Palestinian campus protest activity as triggers, and directs officers to escalate cases involving "potential anti-American and/or antisemitic conduct or ideology" to USCIS managers and the agency's general counsel's office.
DOJ announced a rule barring federal capital inmates from filing clemency petitions until direct appeals and a first collateral attack are final
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule prohibiting capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney from considering them, until the inmate's direct appeal and first collateral attack are final. The rule, within DOJ's claimed rulemaking authority, would for the first time foreclose for years at a time a clemency remedy that historically has run in parallel with — not after — judicial review.
BIA precedent narrows DACA-based termination of removal in Matter of Santiago-Santiago
On April 24, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative appellate tribunal within the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — issued a precedent decision, Matter of Santiago-Santiago, 29 I&N Dec. 589 (BIA 2026), holding that an immigration judge "erred" by terminating removal proceedings solely because the respondent, DACA recipient Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago, held active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, without weighing the Department of Homeland Security's reasons for opposing termination. The three-judge appellate panel sustained DHS's appeal, vacated the immigration judge's termination, and remanded the case to a different immigration judge. The ruling is binding on immigration judges nationwide and narrows what had operated as a de facto class-wide protection for the roughly 500,000 active DACA recipients, without any statutory or formal regulatory change to the DACA program itself.
ORR blocked a physician-lawmaker's oversight visit to pregnant migrant minors held in an abortion-restricted Texas shelter
When Rep. Maxine Dexter — a physician serving in Congress — made an oversight visit to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter in San Benito, Texas on April 24, 2026, officials blocked her from speaking with the pregnant migrant minors held there and would not say where detainees who had left the facility had been transferred or what continuity of care they received. The minors — some as young as 13, at least half of whom became pregnant as a result of rape — had been concentrated at the single facility since a July 22, 2025 directive by ORR Acting Director Angie Salazar, in a state that bans abortion and over the objections of the agency's own health officials. Nearly 50 members of Congress demanded answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Salazar; HHS says its placement decisions follow child-welfare best practices.
HUD proposed a rule rescinding gender-identity protections across nearly 50 housing regulations, restricting shelters to biological sex
On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a proposed rule that would remove gender-identity and sexual-orientation protections from nearly 50 housing regulations and revise its 2016 Equal Access Rule. The proposal would define sex by biological classification across HUD programs and permit operators of single-sex facilities, including emergency shelters, to require "reasonable assurances and evidence" of a person's sex, effectively barring transgender people from shelters that match their gender identity. HUD Secretary Scott Turner framed the proposal as implementing President Trump's January 2025 executive order to restore "biological truth" to the federal government.
DOJ refers 384 naturalized Americans for denaturalization in record-volume push
On April 23, 2026, The New York Times first reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had identified 384 foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens as a "first wave" of denaturalization targets, with cases being distributed to federal prosecutors in 39 U.S. Attorney's offices across the country. A DOJ spokesperson, citing the leadership of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, called it "the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history." The push follows a June 2025 directive from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate ordering the Civil Division to "prioritize and maximally pursue" denaturalization, with an internal cadence of roughly 100–200 referrals per month — against a 1990–2017 baseline of about 11 cases per year and a total of 120 cases attempted between 2017 and the end of 2025.
Dallas and Austin police rolled back ICE-detention limits under Gov. Abbott's funding threat
Dallas police revised their general orders on April 23, 2026, dropping a rule barring officers from prolonging detentions to investigate someone's immigration status or hold them for ICE; Austin's police department followed a day later, adding language letting officers extend a stop to contact ICE about administrative warrants. Both changes came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office threatened to withhold state public-safety grants -- more than $32 million from Dallas plus over $55 million in World Cup security funding, and $2.5 million from Austin -- unless the cities reversed policies limiting ICE cooperation.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2031 exposing gender-affirming care providers to decades-long civil liability
On April 23, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2031 (Public Chapter 794), creating a private civil cause of action that lets patients sue healthcare providers over medical care intended to help a person live consistent with a gender identity different from their sex. The law carries a statute of limitations reported at up to 30 years and no statutory definition of "coercion," and took effect on signing. It cleared the Republican-controlled General Assembly along largely party lines, passing the Senate 24-5 and the House 72-19.
State Department pressured stranded Afghan wartime allies in Qatar to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan
On April 22, 2026, officials running Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, told roughly 1,100 stranded Afghan evacuees that no third country had been secured for resettlement while continuing to press them to accept free airfare and cash stipends to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The camp holds former interpreters, Afghan special-operations personnel, and relatives of U.S. service members whom the Trump administration left stranded after freezing the Afghan special immigrant visa program in November 2025 and moving to close the camp. More than 200 residents had already returned to Afghanistan under the incentive program, where many face a credible risk of Taliban reprisal.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida SB 1134 barring local governments from DEI and Pride-related activity
On April 22, 2026, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/SB 1134, barring counties and municipalities from funding, promoting, or taking official action related to diversity, equity, and inclusion — including activity referencing sexual orientation and gender identity, such as funding Pride events, displaying Pride flags, or issuing Pride Month proclamations. The law voids conflicting local ordinances, resolutions, and policies, and provides that a local official who violates it commits misfeasance or malfeasance in office, the constitutional standard under which the governor may suspend elected officials without a court hearing. It takes effect January 1, 2027.
Houston City Council rolled back ICE-detention limits under Gov. Abbott's funding threat
Houston's City Council voted 13-4 on April 22, 2026, to amend a police ordinance it had passed two weeks earlier, striking language that had limited how long officers could detain someone solely over a civil ICE administrative warrant. The vote followed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's threat to withhold roughly $114 million in public-safety grants unless Houston reversed the original ordinance; Mayor John Whitmire, who had voted for that ordinance, pushed the reversal through over the city attorney's own acknowledgment that little would change in practice.
ICE detained two Congolese teenage brothers on lawful student visas outside their Mississippi home
On April 21, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained brothers Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, nationals of the Republic of Congo, as the teenagers left their guardians' home in Diamondhead, Mississippi to catch the school bus. The brothers held F-1 student visas that had lapsed after they transferred from a private boarding school to a public high school that could not host visa holders; agents dismissed their guardians' court-granted guardianship papers and moved the teenagers to separate detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas. The Department of Homeland Security said the brothers had violated their visas by failing to attend classes at their original school.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB2498, barring TennCare from covering gender-affirming care
On April 16, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB2498/SB2118 (Public Chapter 765) into law, prohibiting the state Medicaid program, TennCare, from covering or reimbursing any procedure intended to help a person live consistently with a gender identity inconsistent with their sex. The measure passed the House 73-14 and the Senate 27-6 and takes effect July 1, 2026, cutting off public-insurance funding for gender-affirming care for TennCare enrollees of all ages. Treatment for congenital defects, precocious puberty, disease, or physical injury remains covered, and enrollees already in treatment may continue through March 31, 2027.
Tennessee enacted HB1665, barring healthcare providers from asking minor patients about gender identity
On April 13, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1665 (companion SB1664), enacted as Public Chapter 748, which prohibits healthcare providers from knowingly or willfully asking a minor gender-identity-related questions and bars health insurers, managed-care organizations, and reimbursement entities from requiring or requesting that providers ask such questions. The House passed the bill 72-21 on March 16, 2026, and the Senate 27-6 on March 19; the law takes effect October 1, 2026. Advocates and public-health groups have described it as an "anti-trans medical censorship" measure that discourages clinicians from discussing gender identity with minor patients.
Border Patrol detained physician Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar and her US-citizen daughter at McAllen airport
On April 11, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, a Venezuelan-born emergency-room physician with a pending asylum claim, and her 5-year-old U.S.-citizen daughter at McAllen International Airport as they traveled to a scheduled asylum interview in California. Bolivar was transferred to ICE custody the next day and held for weeks; ICE said she had overstayed a 2016 visitor visa, while her family, employer, and medical advocacy groups said she held a valid work-authorization card tied to her and her husband's pending asylum and green-card applications.
DOJ sued Washtenaw County, Michigan to strike down ICE non-cooperation policies, invoking the Supremacy Clause
On April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Washtenaw County, challenging three county policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The suit, authorized by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, invokes the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin the county from enforcing the policies. Washtenaw County said it would vigorously defend its positions in court.
USCIS rescinded automatic deferred-action protection for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status youth a second time via Policy Memorandum PM-602-0198
On April 10, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0198, again eliminating automatic deferred-action consideration for youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) who cannot yet obtain a green card because of the visa backlog — five months after a federal court stayed the agency's first attempt to end the same policy. The rescission, effective May 10, 2026, requires SIJS-approved youth to affirmatively request deferred action rather than receive it automatically, with USCIS evaluating each request case-by-case without treating SIJS approval as a strong positive factor.
DOJ implements $68M Colony Ridge settlement without court approval after judge rejects deal
At an April 10, 2026 hearing in Houston, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett refused to approve the Justice Department's proposed $68 million settlement with land developer Colony Ridge — sued in 2023 for deceiving tens of thousands of Hispanic buyers into predatory high-interest loans — because it contained no compensation for victims while earmarking more than $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement. When Bennett offered revisions to win his approval, DOJ refused, dismissed the case with prejudice, and implemented the settlement out of court, leaving no judicial supervision of compliance and extinguishing the victims' claims.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 822 requiring schools and doctors to report minors' social transitions to parents
On April 10, 2026, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 822, the "Pediatric Secretive Transitions Parental Rights Act," which requires schools, healthcare providers, and childcare entities to notify a minor's parents within three days of any request by the minor to use a different name, pronouns, restroom, or sports team consistent with a gender identity different from their biological sex, and bars those entities from facilitating a social transition without written parental consent. Violations carry civil fines of up to $100,000 enforced by the attorney general, along with exposure to damages and adverse licensure action. The law took effect July 1, 2026.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2114 directing state police to compile a registry of undocumented residents and criminalizing unlawful presence
On April 8, 2026, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2114, which directs the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to determine on an ongoing two-year basis the number and identities of all undocumented residents in the state, collecting names, addresses, country of origin, minor status, criminal history, and deportation-proceeding status. The law also criminalizes unlawful presence as a state offense, carrying a six-month minimum with felony enhancements, and requires state and county agencies to seek 287(g) cooperation agreements with ICE. Civil-rights groups warned the registry invites racial profiling and echoes historical list-making against disfavored groups.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2322 requiring driver's licenses to show sex assigned at birth and nullifying court-ordered gender changes
On April 8, 2026, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2322, which requires the sex designation on every Mississippi driver's license to reflect the holder's sex as determined at birth and provides that a court order recognizing a change of gender "shall have no effect" on the sex indicated on a license. The law permits changes only for a scrivener's error or a verified disorder of sex development, barring transgender residents from obtaining or renewing a license that matches their gender identity. The measure took effect July 1, 2026.
CBP detained Venezuelan physician Dr. Ezequiel Veliz at Texas checkpoint over disputed status
On April 6, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained Dr. Ezequiel Veliz, a Venezuelan-born family-medicine resident physician at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, at the Sarita Border Patrol checkpoint in South Texas while he and his husband, Joseph Williams, drove from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston. Veliz had lived in the U.S. for about nine years and lost his work authorization in late 2025 when the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals, though he had a pending green card application based on his marriage to Williams, a U.S. citizen; agents took him to a migrant detention facility in McAllen to await an immigration court hearing.
Education Department terminates six civil-rights agreements protecting transgender students
On April 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had terminated six civil-rights resolution agreements — reached with five school districts and one college under the Obama and Biden administrations — that protected transgender students from discrimination. The terminations end federal enforcement of obligations such as staff training on students' names and pronouns and access to facilities matching gender identity; in one case the department went further, requiring Delaware Valley School District (PA) to affirmatively roll back its antidiscrimination protections, which its board did in late March.
HHS conditioned FY2027 Title X family-planning grants on anti-DEI, anti-contraception, and anti-trans compliance, risking total funding loss
On April 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity for fiscal year 2027 Title X family-planning grants requiring applicants to align with department priorities -- including ending diversity and inclusion practices, excluding transgender-specific care, and discouraging contraception -- with noncompliance risking total loss of funding. Family-planning provider organizations sued over the notice in June 2026, and HHS issued a revised version of the notice on July 9, 2026. On August 27, 2026, a 23-state coalition led by New York Attorney General Letitia James sued in federal court in Maryland, arguing the conditions were imposed arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
State Dept revokes Iranian asylees' green cards on debunked Soleimani-relation claim
On April 3, 2026, ICE arrested Iranian asylees Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her adult daughter Sarina Hosseiny outside Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in a public statement identifying them as the niece and grandniece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. A subsequent Drop Site News investigation reviewing Iranian birth records, identification papers, and family wills found no familial connection to the late general — a finding corroborated by Soleimani's own surviving daughters in Iran. The women remain held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio pending removal to Iran, where Hamideh, who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia, is reportedly being denied the transfusion treatment her condition requires.
ICE detained 85-year-old French widow of U.S. Army veteran for two weeks over visa overstay
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Marie-Therese Ross, an 85-year-old French national and widow of a U.S. Army veteran, at her home in Calhoun County, Alabama, on April 1, 2026, over a 90-day visa overstay. She was held roughly two weeks at a federal detention facility in Louisiana before returning to France on April 17, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said some of ICE's methods in the case were "not in line" with French standards.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 561, fining cities $2,000 a day for displaying an LGBTQ+ pride flag on government property
On March 31, 2026, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 561, which restricts flags on state and local government property to a pre-approved list and authorizes $2,000-per-day fines, enforced by the attorney general, against cities that display non-approved flags. The bill's House sponsor acknowledged the measure was aimed at Boise, which had flown an LGBTQ+ pride flag at City Hall. The city removed the flag at noon the same day, minutes after the signing.
DOJ sues Minnesota to force transgender athletes out of girls' sports
The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging that the state's trans-inclusive athletics policies violate Title IX by allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports and use girls' locker rooms and bathrooms. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring transgender girls from female-designated sports, sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms, compensation for female athletes, and "correction" of past athletic records — with roughly $2.98 billion in annual federal education funding at stake.
ICE stationed at Parris Island gates to screen Marine recruits' families during graduation week
The Marine Corps confirmed that ICE agents would be stationed at access points of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island during recruit family days and graduation week to conduct "enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries" on visiting families of graduating Marines — by the depot's own account, the first time federal law enforcement has supported base access operations there in this capacity. After NBC News reported the notice, DHS denied that arrests would occur, defense officials blamed an internal communications failure, and the depot's guidance was revised — though the updated rules still bar visitors without legal status from the installation entirely.
South Dakota Gov. Rhoden signed HB1184 codifying binary sex definitions and ending state recognition of transgender people
On March 30, 2026, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden signed HB1184, "Define man and woman throughout the state," into law after the Legislature passed it by votes of 57-9 in the House and 30-4 in the Senate. The law establishes binary statutory definitions of "man," "woman," "male," and "female" based on reproductive biology at birth throughout South Dakota code and prohibits the use of state funds for anything contrary to those definitions. It removes legal recognition of transgender and nonbinary people across state government.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 752, nation's strictest criminal transgender bathroom ban
On March 30, 2026, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 752, making Idaho the first state with a criminal bathroom ban extending to private businesses and imposing the steepest penalties nationally. The law makes it a misdemeanor (up to one year in prison) and repeat felony (up to five years) to use bathrooms not matching one's "biological sex" in any government or private facility open to the public. On June 16, 2026, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement, finding the law likely unconstitutional due to vagueness.
Hegseth struck two Black men and two women from Army one-star general promotion list
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unilaterally struck four Army colonels — two Black men and two women — from a roughly three-dozen-name list recommended for promotion to brigadier general, removals revealed March 27, 2026 by the New York Times; the majority of the remaining names are white men. Army leadership, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, had refused Hegseth's requests for months before he crossed the names off himself earlier in March, and it is unclear he has legal authority to do so. Neither the Pentagon nor the White House has offered any performance-based rationale for the removals.
Trump signs EO 14398 exposing federal contractors' DEI programs to False Claims Act liability
On March 26, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14398, "Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors," directing agencies to insert a mandatory clause — flowing down to subcontractors at every tier — that bars "racially discriminatory" diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and makes compliance material to government payment decisions, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability and to cancellation, suspension, or debarment. The order directs the Attorney General to prioritize False Claims Act enforcement against violators and defines covered "program participation" expansively to include training, mentoring, leadership-development programs, clubs, and associations. A legal challenge was filed within days, and the new clause was set to take effect April 24, 2026.
DOJ opened civil-rights investigations into California and Maine for housing transgender women with female inmates
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on March 26, 2026 that it is investigating whether California and Maine violate female inmates' constitutional rights by housing transgender women with them at three correctional facilities. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon framed the action as protecting incarcerated women, while Maine's governor's spokesman called it "a politically motivated, predetermined investigation designed to target states that stand up to the Trump Administration."
DOJ opens Title VI probes into Stanford, Ohio State, and UC San Diego medical schools
On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened Title VI compliance-review investigations into the medical schools of Stanford University, the Ohio State University, and the University of California, San Diego, over alleged race discrimination in admissions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the probes, and the Division sent letters demanding seven years of applicant data — MCAT scores, GPAs, ZIP codes, family ties to alumni or donors, internal DEI communications, and correspondence with pharmaceutical companies — by an April 24, 2026 deadline, citing the schools' federal funding.
DOJ opened civil-rights investigation into LAUSD's gender-identity disclosure policy for transgender students
On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Los Angeles Unified School District opening a civil-rights investigation into the district's gender-identity disclosure policy, which gives school staff discretion on whether to inform parents about a student's gender identity. The probe was authorized by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who framed the action around what she called parents' fundamental rights to direct their children's upbringing and education. The investigation was connected in part to a lawsuit from parents who allege LAUSD's policy contributed to the suicide of their transgender child.
Utah Gov. Cox signed S.B. 174, letting health care providers refuse treatment on religious or moral grounds
On March 25, 2026, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 174, the "Exercise of Religious Beliefs and Conscience Amendments," sponsored by Sen. Keven Stratton (R-Orem). The law permits health care providers to decline non-emergency treatments or services that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, requiring them only to notify the Utah Department of Health and Human Services and post notice. Public-health groups and LGBTQ advocates warned it could create barriers to vaccine, reproductive, and LGBTQ-related care.
HUD launched a Fair Housing investigation into Washington's Covenant Homeownership Program for communities excluded by racially restrictive covenants
On March 24, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity launched a Fair Housing Act investigation into Washington State's Covenant Homeownership Program, a down-payment and closing-cost assistance initiative created by bipartisan 2023 state legislation to address documented racially restrictive housing covenants that had historically excluded Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous homebuyers. HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the investigation stating "DEI is dead at HUD," asserting that a preliminary review "strongly suggests" the program violates the Fair Housing Act; a final determination remained pending. A federal judge had denied a legal challenge to the program in February 2026, finding that Washington had a compelling interest in addressing racial disparities in homeownership. Washington became the third state or local government targeted by HUD for such investigations, following prior probes into Minneapolis and Boston housing programs.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB 437 redefining sex as a fixed binary across state law, overriding transgender and intersex recognition
On March 24, 2026, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 437, which defines "sex" as a binary — male or female — based on reproductive anatomy across more than 60 provisions of state law and treats "gender" as a synonym for that biological definition rather than gender identity. The law requires transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and Two Spirit people to be designated by their sex assigned at birth on state documents such as driver's and marriage licenses. Sponsored by Sen. Carl Glimm, the measure had passed the Senate in April 2025 but sat unsigned for nearly a year before Gianforte and House Speaker Brandon Ler signed it the same day.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB404 letting landlords bar transgender renters from sex-designated housing
On March 23, 2026, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed HB404, the Sex-Designated Housing Amendments, into law. The measure adds an exemption to the Utah Fair Housing Act allowing landlords to designate shared-occupancy housing as single-sex based on biological sex and to restrict occupancy accordingly, permitting the exclusion of transgender renters based on birth sex rather than gender identity.
ICE detained breastfeeding Nashville mother with valid work permit, denied her release
On March 20, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Misslenys Hernandez Zabala, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a valid work permit and Social Security number, in Nashville, Tennessee, moments after she dropped off her breastfeeding 10-month-old son with a nanny on her way to work. Despite pleas from immigrant-rights advocates citing her nursing infant and a pending court date not scheduled until 2028, ICE declined to release her.
State Department adds 12 countries to $15,000 visa-bond program
On March 18, 2026, the State Department added 12 countries — Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia — to its visa-bond program, requiring B-1/B-2 visitor-visa applicants from those nations to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of issuance, effective April 2, 2026. The addition brings the program to 50 countries, predominantly lower-income states; bonded travelers may enter only through commercial airports and are barred from land, sea, charter, and general-aviation ports of entry.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB 174, permanently banning hormone therapy for transgender minors
On March 18, 2026, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed House Bill 174, the "Sex Characteristic Change Treatment Amendments," converting the state's temporary 2023 moratorium on hormone therapy for transgender minors into a permanent ban. The law bars new hormone treatment for minors and requires most minors already receiving care to taper off within roughly six months of the law's May 2026 effective date, with a narrow exception for certain older adolescents. It passed both chambers by wide margins over the objections of civil-liberties groups.
DHS letter disclosed ICE detained 265, deported 132 abuse-survivor immigrant youths after ending SIJS deferred-action protections
A DHS letter to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, obtained exclusively by NBC News, disclosed that ICE detained 265 and deported 132 young immigrants holding Special Immigrant Juvenile Status between January 20 and December 22, 2025. The administration ended the deferred-action policy that had generally protected SIJS recipients from deportation since 2022, and DHS did not disclose whether any of the 132 deported had criminal charges or convictions, while characterizing SIJS status as "infected with fraud."
Education Department found Colorado's Jefferson County schools violated Title IX, threatened funding over trans-inclusive policies
On March 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado violated Title IX by letting students access overnight accommodations, facilities, and sports teams based on gender identity rather than biological sex. OCR gave the district 10 days to sign a resolution agreement adopting biology-based eligibility rules or face enforcement, a finding Jeffco disputed as resting on a data error mistaking coaches, trainers, and mascots for male athletes on girls' teams.
Texas Supreme Court ordered PFLAG to turn over internal transgender-youth records in Paxton probe on a mere-belief standard
On March 13, 2026, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a Travis County judge's limits and ordered PFLAG, an LGBTQ family-advocacy organization, to turn over internal communications and provider-referral records to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office as part of his investigation into whether medical providers are circumventing the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors through deceptive billing. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock held that the AG's civil-investigative-demand authority is triggered by "mere belief," not proof, and that courts should not second-guess the AG's investigatory decisions. The AG's office agreed to redactions protecting the identities of the families and children named in the records.
ICE detained 14-year-old Brazilian girl in parked car in Marlboro, Mass.; held overnight without guardian
ICE agents detained a 14-year-old Brazilian girl with an expired visitor visa in a parked car in Marlboro, Massachusetts on March 11, 2026, holding her roughly 10 hours before transporting her overnight to a New York detention facility with no appropriate guardian present. U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin ordered her immediate return the next day, and she was reunited with her U.S.-citizen aunt on March 13.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed SF579 barring local civil-rights protections broader than state law
On March 10, 2026, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 579, amending the Iowa Civil Rights Act so that cities and counties may no longer enact anti-discrimination protections broader than or different from state law. Because Iowa statute does not include gender identity, the law nullifies local ordinances in roughly 14 cities and Johnson County — including Iowa City and Des Moines — that had extended protections to transgender residents in housing, employment, and public accommodations. It also ends the requirement that larger cities maintain independent local civil-rights agencies, routing complaints to the state.
Montana AG Knudsen issued a cease-and-desist ordering Helena to rescind its sanctuary-city resolution under state grant-funding threat
On March 10, 2026, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent Helena a cease-and-desist letter declaring the city's January 26 sanctuary-city resolution a "blatant violation" of the state's 2021 ban on sanctuary jurisdictions and demanding the commission rescind or amend it within 15 days. The letter warned that continued non-compliance could trigger $10,000 fines for every five days out of compliance and the withholding of state grant funds, placing approximately $14 million in annual state and federal funding at risk. Facing that financial pressure, Helena's city commission voted 4–1 to rescind the resolution entirely at a six-hour special meeting on March 26, 2026.
Federal judge found ICE, Border Patrol made warrantless, race-based stops of Somali, Latino Minnesotans
U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud ruled on March 9, 2026 that ICE and Border Patrol agents violated the Fourth Amendment by stopping and detaining Somali and Latino Minnesotans based solely on race or ethnicity during a January-February 2026 immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities. Of 33 witnesses examined in an ACLU class-action suit, Tostrud found 23 were subjected to stops lacking reasonable suspicion, and 17 were stopped based solely on race or ethnicity; he denied a preliminary injunction and class certification, citing the surge's wind-down.
ICE and CoreCivic detained trans asylum seeker Karla Saenz in Eloy's men's unit, denied her hormone care, and held her in solitary
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender asylum seeker and Trans Queer Pueblo organizer, during a March 9, 2026 check-in at USCIS offices in Phoenix, and held her for 44 days at CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She said she was held in solitary confinement for five days, denied hormone treatment and chronic-illness medication for weeks, housed in the facility's men's unit and misgendered by staff, and pressured more than ten times to sign a voluntary-departure form before a federal judge ordered her release on April 21. ICE disputed her account, calling the mistreatment allegations "entirely false."
Wyoming enacted a 2026 budget footnote barring public funds, including Medicaid, from gender-affirming care
On March 9, 2026, Wyoming enacted Senate File 0001, its 2026 biennial general-government appropriations act, which Gov. Mark Gordon signed after line-item vetoing roughly two dozen other items and footnotes. A Department of Health footnote (Section 048, Footnote 1) bars the department from expending any general, federal, or other funds under its control to pay for "an elective abortion or a gender transition procedure," or for facilities, equipment, or training used to carry them out, through June 30, 2028. Because the department administers Wyoming Medicaid, the footnote cuts off public coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender residents.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 122 barring the state's rural health transformation funds from gender-affirming care
On March 6, 2026, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 122, the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Program act (enrolled as HEA 21), which governs how the state spends roughly $205 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program money. The law's Section 35-25-708(a) bars any of those funds from being spent on abortions or on "sex-trait modification procedures" as defined in 45 C.F.R. § 156.400 — categorically excluding gender-affirming care from a major public health funding stream.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed HJR1032, repealing the only rule letting transgender residents change the sex marker on state IDs
On March 3, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt approved House Joint Resolution 1032, which repealed the Service Oklahoma administrative rules that had allowed residents to change the sex marker on their driver's licenses and state identification cards. The prior rules required a court order and a notarized physician's statement; their repeal eliminates the only administrative pathway for transgender Oklahomans to correct the sex designation on state ID. Licenses already amended before the repeal remain valid, but no further changes will be processed.
Mohave County supervisors rejected 36 library books, bypassing formal review to target LGBTQ+ content
The Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on March 2, 2026 to reject a slate of already-cataloged donated library books, objected to by Supervisor Ron Gould primarily for LGBTQ+ content, by invoking the board's authority over donations rather than the library district's established formal reconsideration process. Library Director Jake Barillaro confirmed that process was not used; because the books were reclassified as rejected donations, 36 physical books across 20 titles were removed from county library collections, more than the 13 the public was told about at the meeting.
EPA illegally terminates $2.8B Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program
The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and acting on Trump executive orders issued January 20, 2025, terminated the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program — a $2.8 billion program established by the Inflation Reduction Act to fund pollution reduction and climate readiness in underserved communities — and directed grantees to close their projects. On June 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel (D. South Carolina) ruled the termination "illegal" and voided the action, finding the EPA violated the Inflation Reduction Act. Gergel declined to issue a permanent injunction requiring reinstatement, noting that rehiring the fired program staff appeared "impractical," leaving hundreds of community projects in limbo.
ICE agents stopped and arrested Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school in Brentwood, New York
On February 26, 2026, ICE agents in Brentwood, New York, stopped Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school, demanding to know where he was going before arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant. Benitez was released the same day after his attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
Kansas invalidates driver's licenses and birth certificates of 1,000+ transgender residents
On February 26, 2026, Kansas invalidated the driver's licenses and birth certificates of more than 1,000 transgender residents who had previously corrected the sex marker on those documents, acting under a new state law that requires records to reflect sex assigned at birth. The same law bars transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity in government-owned or -leased buildings. Affected residents were directed to obtain replacement documents with no grace period.
Puerto Rico enacted a law barring transgender people from government restrooms matching their gender identity
On February 25, 2026, Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón signed House Bill 165, the "Public Government Restroom Facilities Regulation Act" (Law 26-2026), requiring multi-occupancy restrooms in government buildings — including the University of Puerto Rico — to be segregated by sex assigned at birth. The law bars transgender and nonbinary people from facilities matching their gender identity, prohibits designating any government restroom as inclusive or neutral, and imposes fines of up to $15,000 per violation. Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to enact a transgender bathroom ban.
ICE agents stopped and arrested A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building in Brooklyn, New York
On February 24, 2026, ICE agents in Brooklyn, New York, stopped a woman identified in court filings as A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for seven days. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
ICE agents detained Brooklyn man for 7 days after warrantless arrest outside his apartment building
On February 24, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained A.M.C., a 36-year-old Brooklyn resident, without a judicial warrant as he was entering his apartment building on Wyckoff Avenue in Bushwick. ICE agents approached him based on his appearance; he was held in immigration custody for seven days before being released.
Memphis Police coordinated with ICE to detain 18-year-old soccer player during traffic stop, contradicting mayor's account
On February 20, 2026, the Memphis Police Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol coordinated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to the two-month immigration detention of 18-year-old high school soccer player Yasser Lopez Soza. Video obtained by MLK50 through public-records requests shows an HSI agent riding along in the MPD cruiser that made the stop, contradicting Memphis Mayor Paul Young's public account that federal immigration officials had arrived only after independently monitoring police radio. A federal judge ordered Lopez Soza's immediate release in April 2026, finding the Department of Homeland Security had failed to provide bond as required by law.
U.S. Department of Education pressured 31 universities to end partnerships with minority doctoral-support nonprofit PhD Project
On February 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced that its Title VI investigation into the PhD Project — a nonprofit that helps racial minorities earn doctoral degrees — had led 31 universities, including Arizona State, Ohio State, Michigan, Yale, Duke, and MIT, to sign resolution agreements ending their partnerships with the group, with 14 more schools in negotiations. OCR opened the investigation in March 2025, asserting that PhD Project membership "unlawfully limits eligibility based on the race of participants" and warning participating schools they risked losing federal funding. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called the agreements "the Trump effect in action."
ICE detained DACA recipient Juan Chavez Velasco despite his active legal status
ICE agents detained Juan Chavez Velasco, a DACA recipient who had held continuous status for 13 years, outside his Weslaco, Texas neighborhood on February 18, 2026, as he drove breast milk to his premature newborn daughter in a hospital NICU. He told agents he had active DACA status; they told him it didn't matter, and DHS later said DACA does not confer legal status or protection from deportation. He was held for nearly three months at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, developing kidney stones and lacking adequate food and clean water, before being released to his family in May 2026.
USCIS and ICE directed agents to detain refugees who miss one-year green-card deadline
On February 18, 2026, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons issued a joint memo directing immigration agents to arrest and detain refugees who have not obtained a green card within one year of admission to the United States, rescinding 2010 ICE guidance under which that delay was not grounds for detention. The memo, disclosed in a federal court filing tied to refugee detentions in Minnesota, lets agents hold affected refugees in immigration detention while their green-card applications are pending.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened investigations into three Michigan school districts over gender-identity curriculum
On February 18, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced investigations into the Lansing, Detroit, and Godfrey-Lee public school districts in Michigan, covering roughly 64,000 students, examining whether the districts taught sexual-orientation and gender-identity content without notifying parents of an opt-out right and whether they restricted bathrooms and locker rooms by biological sex. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is "fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education." The department declined to explain why these three districts, of Michigan's more than 800, were selected.
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly's veto to enact SB244 restricting transgender facility access and invalidating ID changes
On February 18, 2026, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Laura Kelly's veto of House Substitute for SB244, enacting a law that requires multiple-occupancy facilities in government-owned or -leased buildings to be designated by sex assigned at birth and requires driver's licenses and birth certificates to reflect sex assigned at birth, invalidating documents previously amended by transgender residents. The House voted 87-37 to override, a day after the Senate voted 31-9. The law creates a private right of action with liquidated damages of at least $1,000 and directs the state attorney general to enforce compliance by non-complying agencies.
U.S. House passes SAVE America Act (H.R. 22) requiring documentary proof of citizenship for federal voter registration
On February 11, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, H.R. 22 of the 119th Congress, on a near-party-line vote. The bill would require every American to produce documentary proof of U.S. citizenship — typically a birth certificate or passport — in order to register to vote or update voter registration information for federal elections. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU, more than 21 million eligible American voters do not currently have ready access to the required documents. The bill is now in the Senate.
Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed all 4,000 Operation Metro Surge arrests were dangerous criminals
On February 4, 2026, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a public statement claiming that ICE had arrested "more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens" in Minnesota since the start of Operation Metro Surge. An Intercept analysis of ICE arrest data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Deportation Data Project, published March 30, 2026, found that 63 percent of the 4,030 people arrested had no criminal convictions or pending charges, directly contradicting Leavitt's characterization. ICE possessed the underlying data at the time of Leavitt's statement.
ICE agents stopped and arrested H.L.A.O. while he was waiting for the Shelter Island ferry in Greenport, New York
On February 4, 2026, ICE agents in Greenport, New York, stopped a man identified in court filings as H.L.A.O. while he was waiting for the Shelter Island ferry, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for 22 days. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
ICE agents detained Long Island man for 22 days after warrantless arrest at Greenport ferry stop
On February 4, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained H.L.A.O., a 46-year-old Long Island resident, at the Shelter Island ferry stop in Greenport, New York, without a judicial warrant. ICE agents approached him based on his appearance and the language he spoke; he was held in immigration custody for 22 days before being released.
Education Department found San Jose State violated Title IX over transgender volleyball player, threatened funding
On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that San Jose State University violated Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to compete on its women's volleyball team and by allegedly retaliating against players who objected. The department offered SJSU a settlement requiring it to adopt binary definitions of sex, restore athletic records and titles it said were misappropriated, and send personalized apologies to every woman on the 2022-2024 indoor volleyball roster and the 2023 beach volleyball team, warning that rejection could bring a Justice Department lawsuit and the loss of federal funding.
ICE agents stopped and arrested F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; his wife was arrested in the same incident
On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a man identified in court filings as F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for 25 days. His wife was arrested in the same incident. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
ICE agents stopped and arrested R.C.R. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; her husband was arrested in the same incident
On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a woman identified in court filings as R.C.R. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for 26 days. Her husband was arrested in the same incident. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
DHS immigration agents arrested F.R.P. and his wife without a warrant in a Cheektowaga Walmart parking lot, complaint alleges
On January 24, 2026, DHS immigration officers stopped and arrested F.R.P., a 63-year-old Latino resident of Buffalo with a pending asylum application and employment authorization, along with his wife R.C.R., without a warrant in the parking lot of a Walmart in Cheektowaga, New York. F.R.P. was released on bond on February 18, 2026; R.C.R. was released on bond on February 19. The arrest is among eight incidents documented in a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleging that DHS agencies ICE and CBP engage in a systematic policy of racial profiling and warrantless immigration arrests targeting Latino New Yorkers.
Immigration officer detained Cheektowaga woman with pending asylum claim for 26 days after warrantless arrest
On January 24, 2026, a federal immigration officer detained R.C.R., a 55-year-old Cheektowaga resident, without a judicial warrant while she was in a Walmart parking lot with her husband. R.C.R. had a pending asylum application and employment authorization at the time; she was held for 26 days and released on bond on February 19, 2026.
EEOC's Republican majority rescinded its 2024 workplace harassment guidance, including transgender protections
On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Republican-appointed majority — Chair Andrea Lucas and Commissioner Brittany Panuccio — voted 2-1 to rescind its 2024 enforcement guidance on workplace harassment, skipping the standard notice-and-comment process. The 190-page guidance, adopted under President Biden following the Supreme Court's Bostock ruling, included examples of unlawful harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation; a federal court in Texas had already vacated that specific section in May 2025 for exceeding EEOC's authority, but the January 2026 vote eliminated the remainder of the document, covering harassment standards for race, sex, religion, age, and disability as well. The commission's lone Democrat, Kalpana Kotagal, voted against the rescission, calling it "throwing out the baby with the bathwater."
Education Dept. found Connetquot school district violated Title VI by dropping its Native American mascot to comply with state law
On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Connetquot Central School District on Long Island, New York, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by renaming its "Thunderbirds" mascot to "T-Birds" under a settlement complying with a 2023 New York State Education Department regulation banning Native American mascots and imagery in public schools. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the district "engaged in race- and national-origin-based discrimination" by abandoning the name and ordered it to revert to "Thunderbirds" and all associated logos; New York's Education Department called the finding "a mockery of our nation's civil rights laws."
ICE secretly deported eight shackled Palestinians from Phoenix to the occupied West Bank
On January 20, 2026, ICE flew eight Palestinian men - shackled at the wrists and ankles for the entire journey - out of a Phoenix deportation hub on a private jet bearing the emblem of Dezer Development, the company run by Trump donor Gil Dezer, with refueling stops in New Jersey, Ireland, and Bulgaria. The men landed at Ben Gurion Airport and were released by Israeli authorities at a military checkpoint near Ni'lin in the occupied West Bank, in an operation coordinated with Israel and approved by the Shin Bet. A joint +972 Magazine and Guardian investigation found the flight was one of at least two such secret removals in early 2026, carried out with little or no due process.
ICE and DHS launched 'Operation Catch of the Day,' a Maine immigration surge aimed at the state's Somali community
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched "Operation Catch of the Day" in Maine on January 20, 2026, an enforcement surge explicitly aimed at the state's Somali immigrant community and centered on Lewiston and Portland. DHS said the operation targeted "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens" but disclosed criminal histories for only 4 of the roughly 50 people arrested in the operation's first days, while ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said the agency had compiled a target list of 1,400 people statewide. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline, and Portland Mayor Mark Dion publicly objected to the deployment.
Brooklyn Park police chief revealed ICE agents drew guns on an off-duty officer and knocked her phone from her hand
Brooklyn Park (Minn.) Police Chief Mark Bruley said at a January 20, 2026 news conference that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled over one of his off-duty officers, boxed in her car, demanded her paperwork despite her being a U.S. citizen, and had their guns drawn; when she tried to record the stop, an agent knocked the phone from her hand. Bruley and other Minnesota police leaders alleged that officers and residents have been stopped by federal agents "solely because of the color of their skin," while DHS said it could find no record of the stop and could not verify the claim without a name.
St. Paul officials disclosed ICE detained a legally authorized snowplow driver, saying he was targeted over his national origin
On January 17, 2026, St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw publicly disclosed that ICE had detained a department snowplow driver despite the man's federal work authorization, valid commercial driver's license, and a clean background check the city itself had run, and transferred him to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas. Kershaw said the detention was based "purely on his country of origin" and called it "a detention that never should have happened." The exact date ICE detained the man was not established in reporting, and the man has a serious medical condition requiring specific medication and diet.
ICE agents stopped and arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano and his 16-year-old brother at a gas station in Brentwood, New York
On January 17, 2026, ICE agents stopped Darwin Garcia Medrano and his 16-year-old brother at a gas station in Brentwood, New York, arresting both without a judicial warrant. Darwin, who had a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile status application, was detained for five days. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
ICE arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano without a warrant while he pumped gas in Brentwood, New York, detaining him for five days
On January 17, 2026, ICE agents stopped and arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano, a 19-year-old Latino resident of Brentwood, New York who holds Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, without a warrant while he pumped gas, along with his 16-year-old brother and a friend, according to a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Garcia Medrano spent five days in ICE detention before being released without explanation. The complaint, filed by the Legal Aid Society, NYCLU, Make the Road New York, and Covington and Burling, alleges ICE and CBP systematically target Latino New Yorkers for suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment and federal immigration law.
FTC issued Civil Investigative Demands to Endocrine Society and AAP for records on pediatric gender-affirming care guidelines
On January 15, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission issued Civil Investigative Demands to the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, demanding years of internal records on their pediatric gender dysphoria clinical guidelines under the theory the organizations may have engaged in "false advertising or unfair practices." The medical societies sued in federal court, arguing the demands were First Amendment retaliation targeting their scientific positions rather than genuine consumer protection enforcement. On May 8, 2026, Chief Judge James Boasberg granted a preliminary injunction blocking FTC enforcement, finding "extensive evidence of animus" and "wafer-thin justifications" for the investigation.
State Department suspended immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries citing "public charge" concerns
On January 14, 2026, the State Department announced it would suspend immigrant-visa processing for citizens of 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, and Somalia, effective January 21, citing a policy of vetting applicants for the likelihood they would rely on public assistance once admitted. The suspension, which builds on a November 2025 directive tightening "public charge" vetting, does not apply to nonimmigrant tourist or business visas.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, stripping deportation protection from about 2,500 Somalis
On January 14, 2026, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, effective March 17, 2026, stating that "country conditions in Somalia have improved" and that continued protection was "contrary to our national interests." The termination affects approximately 2,500 Somali nationals — 1,082 people enrolled in TPS as of December 8, 2025, plus 1,383 pending applicants — making them eligible for deportation. The announcement came amid an ongoing ICE enforcement surge in Minneapolis, home to the nation's largest Somali-American community, and after President Trump had made repeated derogatory public statements about Somali immigrants.
Education Department opened 18 Title IX investigations into schools and colleges across 10 states over transgender-athlete policies
On January 14, 2026 — the day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on state laws barring transgender athletes from women's sports — the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into 18 K-12 school districts, colleges, and one state education department across ten states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington. The investigations targeted policies letting students compete in school sports according to their gender identity rather than sex. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said OCR was "aggressively pursuing" the entities and would "leave no stone unturned."
DHS launched Operation PARRIS, and ICE detained up to 150 Minnesota refugees without due process
On January 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched "Operation PARRIS," directing USCIS to reexamine the immigration status of 5,600 Minnesota refugees who have not yet received green cards, as part of the administration's broader Minnesota fraud investigation. In the weeks that followed, ICE agents in plain clothes and masks arrived at refugees' homes and workplaces across Minnesota with drawn weapons, told families it was "just paperwork," and detained roughly 100 to 150 people, transporting most within about 24 hours to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling and then to detention facilities in Texas without access to an attorney or a stated legal basis for their detention.
U.S. District Court dismissed DeSoto Parish's 1967 school desegregation order at DOJ, Louisiana AG's request, without a desegregation finding
On January 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. granted a joint motion by the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office to dismiss a 1967 federal desegregation order governing the roughly 5,000-student DeSoto Parish School Board in northwest Louisiana. It was the second Louisiana desegregation decree the Trump administration and Murrill's office have had dismissed through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no finding that a district actually ended segregation, following an earlier dismissal of a 1966 Plaquemines Parish order. Murrill said the ruling gives DeSoto Parish "its school system back"; no independent finding that segregation had been eliminated in the district was reported.
ICE agents stopped and arrested Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza while he was walking to the LIRR in Hempstead, New York
On January 3, 2026, ICE agents in Hempstead, New York, stopped Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza while he was walking to the Long Island Rail Road. ICE revoked his deferred action status and work permit before arresting him, despite his pending Special Immigrant Juvenile status application. On March 3, 2026, Judge Michael Brown of the Eastern District of New York granted Garcia Lanza's habeas corpus petition, vacated ICE's revocation of his deferred action, and ordered his work permit returned, finding ICE had engaged in a pretextual abuse of power. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS.
ICE agents detained Hempstead man with valid immigration status for 2 days after warrantless arrest near LIRR
On January 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza, a 24-year-old Hempstead resident, without a judicial warrant while he was walking to the LIRR Hempstead station. Garcia Lanza held Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and deferred action; he was held for two days before being released.
2025 Events (155)
HHS freezes all federal child-care (CCDF) funding nationwide, citing amplified fraud claims
On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) money to every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories "effective immediately," saying it would release the funds only after each state supplied unspecified "administrative data." The freeze followed a Dec. 30 announcement by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill and was publicly justified by unverified fraud allegations amplified from a Dec. 26 viral video targeting Somali-American-run day cares in Minnesota. Child-care advocates noted that states already run longstanding, annually updated anti-fraud controls and warned that even a month without funding could force thin-margin providers to close, harming families regardless of whether they receive subsidies.
HHS freezes all federal child-care payments to Minnesota over anti-Somali fraud claims
On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal child-care funding to Minnesota, with Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill announcing the move on X and crediting a viral video by conservative activist Nick Shirley that alleged fraud at Somali-run day-care centers. HHS — which sends roughly $185 million a year in child-care funds to the state, supporting day care for tens of thousands of children from low-income families — simultaneously imposed a new nationwide condition requiring states to submit a justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before receiving Administration for Children and Families payments. The freeze landed amid the administration's Operation Metro Surge ICE deployment targeting Minnesota's Somali community and was expanded the next day into a freeze of child-care funding to all 50 states.
ICE agents detained at least 92 people across California's Central Coast in unannounced holiday sweeps
Between December 27 and 29, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, joined by agents from the Camarillo and Los Angeles field offices, detained at least 92 people across Santa Maria, Lompoc, San Luis Obispo, Nipomo, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, California, apprehending people at homes, workplaces, parking lots and shopping areas starting as early as 4 a.m., and in one case taking a man into custody from the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby upon his release without presenting a warrant. At a January 2, 2026 press conference, Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto said local advocacy groups had documented roughly 150 detentions since the sweep began, about 87 of them in Santa Maria, and 805 UndocuFund characterized the operation as indiscriminate racial profiling of working-class Latino communities.
HHS referred Seattle Children's Hospital to Inspector General over gender-affirming care for trans youth
On December 26, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' General Counsel referred Seattle Children's Hospital to the HHS Office of Inspector General for investigation, citing the hospital's provision of gender-affirming care to transgender minors. The referral -- the first enforcement action against a specifically named hospital following HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s December 18, 2025 declaration that such care is unsafe -- could result in the hospital losing federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general has separately sued to block the underlying declaration, arguing HHS lacks authority to redefine medical standards by fiat.
HHS proposed barring Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors
On December 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published proposed rules that would bar Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to patients under 18, using hospitals' conditions of participation to put their entire federal reimbursement eligibility at risk. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration asserting a federal standard of care for transgender youth. The proposals drew more than 30,000 public comments, including opposition from the American Medical Association and the Children's Hospital Association.
President Trump signed the FY2026 NDAA, barring transgender athletes at military academies and ending Pentagon DEI offices
On December 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed S.1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (Public Law 119-60), into law. The act bars individuals whose sex is male from competing on female-designated teams at the U.S. military service academies and prohibits the Department of Defense from maintaining any diversity, equity, and inclusion office or plan or recognizing employee resource groups organized around characteristics including sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate passed the conference version 75-22 and the House 312-112.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, stripping about 5,000 Ethiopians of protection
On December 15, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a Federal Register notice terminating Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, effective February 13, 2026, stripping protected status from roughly 5,000 Ethiopian nationals. DHS said country conditions in Ethiopia had sufficiently improved, a rationale the State Department's own concurrent Level 3 "reconsider travel" advisory -- citing active armed conflict, crime, kidnapping, and terrorism -- contradicted. A federal judge initially postponed the termination as likely arbitrary and pretextual before ultimately allowing it to take effect in August 2026.
USCIS froze asylum applications and immigration benefits for 19 travel-ban countries, ordered green-card review
On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications and freezing adjudication of immigration benefits—including green cards, work permits, and naturalization—for nationals of 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban, while also ordering a review of every green card already issued to people from those countries. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and a November 26 shooting near the White House as justification and stated the freeze would remain until lifted by a future directive. On June 5, 2026, a federal court vacated the policies as contrary to law and pretextual.
Acting Texas Comptroller Hancock used emergency rule to strip minority- and women-owned firms from HUB contracting program
On December 2, 2025, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock invoked emergency rulemaking power to restructure the state's Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program, removing eligibility for minority- and women-owned businesses and limiting participation to service-disabled veteran-owned firms, shrinking certified participants from over 15,000 to under 500. Four business owners and a minority-contractor trade association sued March 2, 2026, arguing Hancock exceeded his statutory authority and rewrote a legislatively-created program without legislative approval.
Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton ordered AI-screened review of course content on race, sex and gender identity
On December 1, 2025, Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton issued a memorandum requiring faculty across the system's five universities to disclose course materials touching on race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity for mandatory Board of Regents review, with some professors reporting the system used an AI tool to prescreen syllabi and reading lists for flagged content before any human review took place. Creighton, who became chancellor in November 2025 after spending nearly two decades in the Texas Senate pushing similar restrictions, built the review process using new curriculum-oversight authority regents gained under a 2025 Texas law he authored.
State Department cable halted all Afghan visa processing worldwide, including SIVs for wartime allies
On November 29, 2025, the State Department sent a cable to every U.S. diplomatic post ordering consular officers to stop processing and refuse all visa applications from Afghan nationals — immigrant, non-immigrant, and Special Immigrant Visas — effective immediately. The cable also instructed officers to cancel any authorized-but-unprinted visas and to destroy already-printed ones, while Secretary of State Rubio publicly confirmed the halt. The directive was triggered by the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national, and applied collectively to all Afghans regardless of individual circumstances or prior approval status.
USCIS indefinitely halted all Afghan immigration requests—asylum, green cards, SIVs—hours after D.C. shooting
On November 26, 2025, USCIS announced it was immediately and indefinitely pausing processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals, covering asylum seekers, green-card applicants, work-permit renewals, family petitions, and Special Immigrant Visa applicants, many of whom aided U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan. The agency imposed the halt by announcement with no rulemaking, no end date, and no individualized review, citing security-vetting concerns in the hours following an alleged shooting by an Afghan national near the White House.
Texas Gov. Abbott directed state police to launch criminal investigations into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood
On November 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to launch criminal investigations into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood, two days after designating both as foreign terrorist organizations. Abbott's directive, addressed to DPS Director Colonel Freeman Martin, ordered DPS Special Agents assigned to FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate the groups for alleged Sharia-law violations and potential financial crimes, without disclosing evidence of criminal conduct by either organization.
HHS's Office of Head Start instructed a grantee to strip nearly 200 words, including 'disability' and 'tribal,' from funding applications
On November 19, 2025, HHS's Office of Head Start sent a Wisconsin Head Start program director two emails instructing her to remove specific words from a funding application and then providing a list of nearly 200 words and phrases "to limit or avoid," including "disability," "women," "Black," "Native American," and "tribal." The list surfaced publicly in December 2025 through a declaration filed in an ongoing multi-state lawsuit against HHS and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and several of the banned terms describe categories the Head Start Act itself requires programs to serve and report on, including disability status and Tribal consultation. A federal judge temporarily blocked the practice on January 7, 2026.
EEOC filed court action demanding University of Pennsylvania produce names and contact information of Jewish employees
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an administrative subpoena to the University of Pennsylvania in July 2025 demanding the personal contact information and identifying details of Jewish employees as part of an antisemitism investigation; Penn refused full compliance. On November 18, 2025, the EEOC filed a federal enforcement action seeking a court order compelling disclosure. A district court ordered enforcement in March 2026, but the EEOC withdrew the subpoena in July 2026 after Penn appealed to the Third Circuit, ending the legal battle without any of the demanded identifying information being disclosed.
Education Department issued rule stripping PSLF eligibility from organizations supporting immigrant rights and transgender healthcare
On October 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education published a final rule amending Public Service Loan Forgiveness regulations to exclude employers deemed to have a "substantial illegal purpose," defined to include organizations that aid undocumented immigrants, support transgender healthcare for minors, or engage in certain diversity activities. The rule implemented a March 2025 Trump executive order directing the department to redefine "public service" to exclude organizations that "undermine national security and American values." Congress enacted PSLF in 2007 with statutory employer eligibility criteria the rule effectively rewrites through administrative action.
DHS began offering unaccompanied immigrant children cash and detention threats to induce 'self-deportation'
Starting in September 2025 and formalized in an October 3, 2025 nationwide memo, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services began pressuring unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody — offering some children 14 and older $2,500 to leave voluntarily — to waive their right to a hearing before an immigration judge. A written "advisal" DHS had used since September 2025 told children that refusing to self-deport meant prolonged detention, transfer to ICE upon turning 18, and possible arrest and prosecution of their U.S. sponsors. Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups, including the National Immigration Law Center and Public Counsel, said the program stripped away statutory safeguards for one of the most vulnerable populations in the immigration system.
Texas enacted SB 8 requiring birth-sex use of restrooms in government buildings, schools, and prisons
On September 22, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8, the "Texas Women's Privacy Act," passed during the 89th Legislature's second special session. The law requires people to use restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-designated spaces in government buildings — including K-12 schools, public universities, and prisons and jails — according to the sex on their birth certificate, bars transgender inmates from being housed by gender identity, and creates civil penalties of $25,000 for a first violation and $125,000 for subsequent ones, enforceable through complaints to the Texas Attorney General. The measure took effect December 4, 2025.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated 2021 TPS designation for Venezuela, stripping deportation protection from ~250,000 Venezuelans
On September 3, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the 2021 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela, affecting approximately 250,000 Venezuelans enrolled under the Biden-era grant. Noem cited "national interest" and determined Venezuela no longer met TPS statutory requirements, setting an effective end date of November 7, 2025. A federal court blocked the termination within three days on September 6, 2025, finding the administration likely lacked statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
DHS opened 'Camp 57' ICE detention unit inside Angola prison's former solitary-confinement wing for civil immigration detainees
On September 3, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the opening of "Camp 57," an ICE detention facility inside Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), occupying the facility's former Camp J solitary-confinement wing — a section shuttered approximately seven years earlier after cell locks malfunctioned, dozens of weapons were found, and more than 80 staff resigned or were fired for misconduct. The facility opened with 51 civil immigration detainees and a stated capacity of 416; courts later ordered four detainees released citing conditions.
Rubio halted all new worker visas for commercial truck drivers via social media post, citing undocumented driver accident
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on August 21, 2025, via a post on X that the State Department was immediately pausing all new worker visa issuances for commercial truck drivers across all nationalities and visa categories, including H-2B, E-2, and EB-3. Rubio cited the August 12 fatal crash on Florida's Turnpike, in which the driver accused of causing three deaths was identified as undocumented — not a visa holder — as justification for suspending the legal immigration pathway. The pause was announced with no advance notice, no rulemaking, and no defined end date, affecting an industry already experiencing a significant labor shortage.
USCIS added undefined 'anti-Americanism' as disqualifying factor in all immigration benefit adjudications
On August 19, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its Policy Manual via Policy Alert PA-2025-16, designating "anti-Americanism" and "antisemitic activity" as "overwhelmingly negative" discretionary factors in every category of immigration benefit adjudication — green cards, work visas, naturalization, and humanitarian protections. The term "anti-Americanism" was left undefined in the update, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and any accompanying officer guidance, granting adjudicators unbounded discretion to deny immigration benefits based on applicants' perceived political speech, beliefs, or associations.
OPM directed federal health carriers to exclude gender-affirming care from FEHB, PSHB coverage
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued FEHB Program Carrier Letter 2025-01b on August 15, 2025, directing all Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits carriers to exclude coverage for hormone treatments and surgical procedures tied to gender transition, effective Plan Year 2026. On August 3, 2026, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and federal employees filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the exclusion violates Title VII's sex-discrimination protections.
Air Force stripped transgender troops' separation boards of discretion, barred recording of proceedings
On August 12, 2025, the Air Force issued a memo -- announced August 15 -- directing that transgender service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria must be recommended for separation by administrative boards, eliminating the boards' prior discretion to retain them based on fitness and performance. The memo also barred recording of the separation-board proceedings, preventing an independent transcript. A New York Times investigation published August 3, 2026 found the closed-door process has resulted in near-uniform separation recommendations, with one military lawyer who has represented 28 transgender troops saying she had lost 27 of the 28 cases.
New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte signed HB377 banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors
On August 1, 2025, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 377 into law, prohibiting healthcare providers from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender minors under 18, with an exception for minors already receiving such treatment. The New Hampshire General Court passed the bill 202-161 in the House and 16-8 in the Senate on the conference report. The law took effect January 1, 2026, making New Hampshire the first state in New England to ban this category of gender-affirming care for minors.
New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte signed HB712 banning gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors
On August 1, 2025, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 712 into law, banning gender-affirming chest surgeries for transgender minors under 18, with an exception allowing minors already receiving care to continue. The law was signed alongside companion bill HB377, a puberty-blocker and hormone-therapy ban, together making New Hampshire the first state in New England to ban gender-affirming care for minors. It took effect January 1, 2026, and authorizes board-of-medicine discipline and civil suits by affected minors against providers.
AG Pamela Bondi issued guidance classifying DEI programs as unlawful discrimination, threatening federal grant revocation
On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a formal DOJ guidance memorandum directing all recipients of federal funds — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — to treat diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as potentially unlawful under federal antidiscrimination statutes. The guidance defined prohibited practices including race-based scholarships, DEI training programs, and mentorship programs limited to specific groups, with violations subject to grant revocation and False Claims Act liability. The DOJ simultaneously activated its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative to prosecute non-compliant funding recipients.
North Carolina General Assembly overrode veto to enact law restricting transgender medical care and birth certificates
On July 29, 2025, the North Carolina General Assembly overrode Gov. Josh Stein's veto of House Bill 805, enacting a package of anti-transgender provisions by votes of 72-48 in the House and 30-19 in the Senate. The law bars state funds, including for state prisoners, from covering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-transition surgery; requires that birth certificates reflecting a changed sex designation be issued only linked to the original certificate; extends the medical-malpractice statute of limitations to ten years for gender-transition claims; and requires students on school overnight trips to room according to sex assigned at birth. Stein, who supported other provisions of the broader bill, called the transgender-related sections "mean-spirited" before the legislature overrode his veto.
Trump signed EO 14321 directing DOJ to dismantle ADA Olmstead protections and expand forced civil commitment of homeless people with disabilities
On July 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14321, directing the Attorney General to seek reversal of federal and state judicial precedents — including Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) consent decrees — and expand civil commitment of homeless people with mental illness or substance use disorders. The order terminates federal support for housing-first programs and conditions discretionary grants on states enforcing bans on urban camping, loitering, and squatting.
CMS secretly gave ICE access to personal data of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees for immigration enforcement
On July 18, 2025, CNN reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had established a secret Information Exchange Agreement giving ICE access to names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, and racial and ethnic information for all 79 million Medicaid enrollees to identify and locate immigrants for enforcement. The agreement was not made public and was disclosed only after AP obtained it. A coalition of 22 states later filed suit and a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the data sharing in August 2025.
Puerto Rico Gov. González-Colón signed PS 350 criminalizing gender-affirming care for people under 21
On July 16, 2025, Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón signed PS 350 into law, criminalizing hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery for transgender people under 21. The law threatens medical providers with up to 15 years in prison, a $50,000 fine, and revocation of their professional licenses, and it bars the use of public funds for such care. It is among the most sweeping bans on gender-affirming care enacted in the United States.
Five federal agencies simultaneously stripped immigrant access to life-safety benefit programs, revoking 24 years of DOJ guidance
On July 10-11, 2025, five federal departments — Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, and Labor — simultaneously issued notices rescinding decades-old guidance that had protected immigrant access to federal benefit programs under the "necessary to protect life or safety" exception in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The DOJ withdrew its 2001 Attorney General interpretation identifying which programs qualified, effective August 15, 2025; HHS rescinded a 1998 policy keeping Head Start, community health clinics, and Title X accessible; the Department of Education revoked its 1997 guidance covering adult education and postsecondary programs. Multiple states sued immediately.
DOJ subpoenaed six years of records on every minor treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital
On July 9, 2025, the Justice Department served an administrative subpoena on Rhode Island Hospital demanding roughly six years of records — identities, addresses, diagnoses, treatments, and parents' names — for every minor treated there for gender dysphoria. The subpoena was one strand of a nationwide DOJ campaign that came to target more than 20 doctors and hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors. The hospital did not comply; nearly ten months later a federal judge quashed the demand, holding it "lacks a congressionally authorized purpose" and was "issued in bad faith for an improper purpose," and tying it directly to White House policy direction. DOJ has appealed.
CBP directed airlines to drop X gender markers from pre-departure passenger data, barring non-binary designation for international travelers
On July 7, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a Carrier Liaison Program Bulletin directing all airlines operating international flights to or from the United States to submit only "M" or "F" in the sex field of Advanced Passenger Information System pre-departure data, effectively erasing X gender markers for nonbinary and transgender travelers. Airlines submitting an X in place of a binary marker were required to resubmit, while carriers that substituted M or F for a traveler's actual X passport marker would face no penalty. CBP began enforcing the binary-only requirement on October 14, 2025, after a 90-day informed compliance period.
North Carolina Gov. Stein signed SB 442, shielding foster/adoptive parents who refuse to affirm a transgender child's gender identity
On July 3, 2025, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed Senate Bill 442, the "Parents Protection Act," into law. The measure bars the state from bringing child-abuse or neglect findings against foster or adoptive parents solely for raising a transgender child according to the child's sex assigned at birth, including using birth-assigned pronouns and making medical decisions on that basis, and bars adoption/foster agencies from disqualifying prospective parents solely for declining to affirm a child's gender transition.
U.S. Army removed its webpage honoring civil rights pioneer Sarah Keys Evans under the Pentagon's DEI content purge
In July 2025, the U.S. Army removed from its official website a 2014 article honoring Sarah Keys Evans, a Black Women's Army Corps veteran whose 1952 arrest for refusing to give up a bus seat helped desegregate interstate travel. The removal was carried out under a February 2025 Defense Department directive, issued at the direction of Secretary Pete Hegseth, ordering military websites scrubbed of content framed as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. An Army spokesperson said the material was "temporarily unpublished" pending review; it remained unavailable as of July 2026.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection revoked security clearances from immigrant airport workers, costing dozens their jobs
Beginning shortly after the January 2025 inauguration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection revoked or denied "customs seal" security-clearance renewals for immigrant airport workers holding valid green cards, asylum status, or Temporary Protected Status, despite no change in their immigration status. On June 30, 2025, CBP revoked the seal of Logan International Airport cabin cleaner Saint Paul Paul, a Haitian Temporary Protected Status holder, telling him he posed an "unacceptable risk." At least 80 workers at Logan alone, and hundreds more nationwide, lost their jobs; SEIU Local 32BJ and four affected workers sued the Trump administration over the policy on March 13, 2026.
Missouri Gov. Kehoe signed HB3 budget rider conditioning college funding on eliminating DEI programs
On June 30, 2025, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 3, the state's Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development appropriations bill, as part of the FY2026 budget. House Budget Chair Rep. Dirk Deaton had added budget language conditioning state funding for Missouri's public colleges and universities on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Deaton said the language meant institutions will have to comport with it in order to receive state tax dollars.
Ohio Gov. DeWine signed HB96, barring Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care and enacting two-sexes policy
On June 30, 2025, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 96, the state's FY2026-27 operating budget, into law. The budget bars Ohio's Medicaid program from covering gender-affirming mental health care for transgender adults, bans menstrual products in men's restrooms of public buildings, and declares a state policy that only two "unchangeable" sexes exist. DeWine used his line-item veto to strike three related provisions from the bill, including restrictions on LGBTQ-themed library materials and a ban on Pride flag displays on state property.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 district courts cannot issue nationwide injunctions, eliminating key civil rights enforcement tool
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 27, 2025, in Trump v. CASA, Inc. that federal district courts lack authority to issue nationwide injunctions protecting people beyond named parties in a case. The majority opinion, written by Justice Barrett, held that the Judiciary Act of 1789 authorizes only injunctions necessary to provide complete relief to named plaintiffs. The ruling immediately allowed Trump's birthright citizenship executive order to partially take effect against non-parties in states that had not filed suit, while courts continued finding the order unconstitutional.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Medicaid patients cannot sue to enforce free-choice-of-provider, clearing path to exclude Planned Parenthood
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 26, 2025, in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic that Medicaid enrollees cannot use 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce the program's free-choice-of-provider provision in federal court. Justice Gorsuch's majority opinion held the provision imposes duties on states without conferring individual rights that § 1983 protects, allowing South Carolina's exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid to stand. At least 14 other states had enacted or attempted similar exclusions, each now free of judicial check by patients through this mechanism.
Supreme Court 6-3 stayed order requiring torture screening before third-country deportations, enabling removals to South Sudan and Libya
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 23, 2025, to stay a federal district court order that had required the Trump administration to provide immigrants a meaningful opportunity to contest removal to dangerous third countries before deportation. The stay immediately allowed the administration to resume removals to South Sudan, Libya, and El Salvador under bilateral agreements, without any screening for Convention Against Torture claims. Justice Sotomayor dissented sharply, writing that the administration had "repeatedly defied" the lower court order and calling the Supreme Court's intervention "so gross an abuse of the Court's equitable discretion."
Labor Department suspended H-2A farmworker protection enforcement, eliminating organizing and wage safeguards for guestworkers
On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division issued a memorandum directing field staff to immediately suspend enforcement of the Biden administration's H-2A final rule on farmworker protections. The rule had guaranteed more than 300,000 H-2A guestworkers rights to concerted activity, progressive termination standards, and wage disclosure obligations. DOL directed staff to revert to pre-rule standards and stated only that it was "currently evaluating" the rule — providing no timeline and leaving workers without federal enforcement indefinitely.
Texas enacted SB 12 barring public-school instruction and student clubs on sexual orientation or gender identity
On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12, a "parental rights" law that prohibits instruction, guidance, activities, and student clubs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 public schools and bars school employees from referring to a student by a name or pronouns differing from those on record. Authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, the law also requires prior parental consent for student health services and club participation and took effect September 1, 2025. LGBTQ+ advocates and educators said the measure erases transgender students and dismantles support systems in public schools.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB1106, excluding refusal to affirm a child's gender identity from the state's child-abuse definition
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB1106, which amends the Texas Family Code so that a parent's refusal to affirm a child's gender identity or sexual orientation — including withholding gender-affirming care or declining to use a child's chosen name or pronouns — does not constitute child abuse or neglect. The law, passed by the 89th Legislature, took effect September 1, 2025. It removes a category of parental conduct from the reach of Child Protective Services intervention.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 229 writing a binary biological-sex definition into state government code and excluding gender identity from recognition
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 229, enacted by the 89th Legislature, which writes binary definitions of "male," "female," and "sex" into the Texas Government Code based strictly on reproductive biology. The law directs governmental entities that collect vital statistics to record each individual as either male or female on that basis and excludes gender identity from governmental recognition of sex. It took effect September 1, 2025.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 1188, requiring an unalterable 'biological sex' field in every electronic health record
On June 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1188, which requires every electronic health record in the state to include a "distinct, unalterable" field for a person's biological sex as defined at birth, changeable only to correct a clerical error or for a diagnosed disorder of sexual development. The measure, part of a broader electronic-health-records law, is enforceable by the Texas attorney general with civil penalties of up to $250,000 per violation and grants parents access to their minor children's records. Most provisions take effect September 1, 2025.
SAMHSA ended 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling option, cutting crisis service for high-risk youth
On June 17, 2025, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the immediate termination of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling sub-line, which allowed callers to press 3 to reach counselors trained in LGBTQ+ youth mental health crisis intervention. The service had logged approximately 1.3 million contacts since its October 2022 launch. SAMHSA cited exhausted congressionally directed funding, though the Trump administration retained authority to reallocate existing HHS mental health funds to continue the service.
DOJ Civil Division memo elevated denaturalization to top-five priority, expanding revocation criteria far beyond fraud-in-naturalization
On June 11, 2025, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate signed a DOJ Civil Division enforcement memo making denaturalization one of the division's top five priorities, directing attorneys to "prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence." The memo expanded revocation criteria beyond war criminals and fraud-in-naturalization to include PPP loan fraud, Medicaid fraud, gang membership, and a catch-all "any other cases" category—affecting all 24.5 million naturalized Americans, who have no right to appointed counsel in these civil proceedings.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF1049 barring Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender Iowans
On June 11, 2025, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed House File 1049, an appropriations act funding the state departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services. A provision in the law bars Iowa's Medicaid program from reimbursing sex-reassignment surgeries or associated procedures, including hormone therapy, for the treatment of gender dysphoria, stripping existing coverage of gender-affirming care from transgender Iowans.
ICE agents stopped and arrested J.R.H.L. while he was walking to work in Wyandanch, New York
On June 7, 2025, ICE agents in Wyandanch, New York, stopped a man identified in court filings as J.R.H.L. while he was walking to work, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for approximately two months. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
ICE arrested J.R.H.L. without a warrant while he walked to work in Wyandanch, New York, detaining him for approximately two months
On June 7, 2025, ICE agents stopped and arrested J.R.H.L., a Latino resident of Wyandanch, New York, without a warrant while he walked across a parking lot near his home on his way to work, according to a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. J.R.H.L. spent approximately two months in ICE detention before being granted bond. The complaint, filed by the Legal Aid Society, NYCLU, Make the Road New York, and Covington and Burling, alleges ICE and CBP systematically target Latino New Yorkers for suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment and federal immigration law.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Nepal TPS designation, stripping ~12,700 earthquake refugees of immigration protection
On June 6, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a Federal Register notice terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for Nepal, effective August 5, 2025. Nepal had held TPS since June 24, 2015, following a catastrophic earthquake that caused widespread displacement; the termination affects approximately 12,700 Nepali nationals currently holding TPS. A federal court later ruled the decision was "arbitrary, capricious, and motivated by racial animus," though the ruling was stayed pending appeal.
Trump signed Proclamation 10949 suspending entry from 19 countries, full ban on 12 majority-Black or Muslim-majority nations
On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10949 creating a new multi-country entry ban effective June 9, 2025. The proclamation imposed a full suspension of entry for nationals of 12 countries—including Afghanistan, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—and partial suspensions for 7 more, including Cuba and Venezuela. Critics and legal analysts identified the country selection criteria as selectively applied, noting that countries with worse vetting records were excluded while 10 of 12 fully banned nations are majority-Black or majority-Muslim.
Nebraska Gov. Pillen signed LB89, barring transgender athletes from K-12 and college women's sports
On June 4, 2025, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed LB89, the "Stand With Women Act," after the Nebraska Legislature passed it 33-16 on May 28, 2025. The law requires K-12 and college/university student-athletes to compete on sports teams matching their sex at birth, barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women's teams. Bathroom and locker-room restrictions included in earlier drafts were dropped before passage.
South Carolina enacted a budget proviso barring state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 16 at MUSC
On June 3, 2025, South Carolina completed enactment of its FY2025-26 General Appropriations Act (H4025), which includes Proviso 23.4 barring the Medical University of South Carolina from using state funds for gender-affirming care for patients under 16 at its Pediatric Transgender Clinic. The General Assembly ratified the budget on May 28, 2025, Governor Henry McMaster left the proviso intact in his June 3 line-item veto message, and the act took effect July 1, 2025.
Supreme Court 7-2 stayed injunction blocking CHNV parole termination, enabling DHS to revoke status for 532,000 noncitizens
On May 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency application to stay a federal injunction, allowing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to proceed with terminating humanitarian parole for more than 532,000 noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela admitted under the Biden-era CHNV programs. The unsigned 7-2 order — with Justices Jackson and Sotomayor dissenting — cleared the way to revoke parole status without the individualized case-by-case review that the district court's injunction had required. Justice Jackson wrote that the majority had "plainly botched" the ruling and decried the "devastating consequences" of upending the lives of nearly half a million people while their legal claims remained pending.
Secretary Rubio announced U.S. would aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students with CCP ties or in critical fields
On May 28, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department, working with DHS, would "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students with "connections to the Chinese Communist Party" or studying in "critical fields," with neither term defined. A senior administration official confirmed to Axios that the directive applied to all students from China, potentially affecting approximately 280,000 Chinese nationals then lawfully enrolled in U.S. high schools, universities, and graduate programs. Trump announced on June 11 that Chinese students would continue to be welcome and that their visas would not be revoked, but the original announcement had already disrupted fall enrollment planning at hundreds of U.S. universities.
State Department cable halted new student and exchange visitor visa interviews pending expanded social media and political-views screening
On May 27, 2025, the State Department issued a cable ordering U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to immediately stop scheduling new visa interview appointments for all foreign nationals applying for F-1 academic student, J-1 exchange visitor, and M-1 vocational student visas, pending expanded social media vetting guidance. A follow-on cable on May 30 directed consular officers to apply "extra vigilance" in screening applicants for hostility toward the U.S. government and values — including ties to political activism and associations with disfavored groups — making political views an operative criterion for visa denial. The pause affected new interview scheduling for more than 1.5 million F/M visa holders and nearly 300,000 J-1 exchange visitors, a category that includes Fulbright scholars, professors, au pairs, and Summer Work Travel workers.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF856 banning DEI offices across state and local government
On May 27, 2025, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 856 into law, barring state agencies, cities, counties, and other governmental entities from spending public money to establish or maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or to employ DEI officers. The law also prohibits those entities from promoting an enumerated list of concepts — including "transgender ideology," "systemic oppression," "intersectionality," and "implicit bias" — and creates a private cause of action allowing students, alumni, and public employees to sue to stop violations. Its core prohibitions took effect upon enactment.
Texas enacted SB 1257 requiring plans that cover gender-transition care to also cover detransition and lifelong monitoring
On May 24, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1257, which requires any health benefit plan covering gender-transition procedures or treatments to also cover all adverse effects of that care, "detransition" and reversal procedures, and testing and annual health screenings for the life of anyone who received transition-related treatment. Authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes and sponsored in the House by Rep. Jeff Leach, the law took effect September 1, 2025 and applies to plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. LGBTQ+ advocates warned the added mandates are designed to make such coverage prohibitively expensive and push insurers to drop gender-affirming care entirely.
DOJ filed motion to terminate Flores Settlement Agreement, eliminating court-ordered protections for immigrant children in custody
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 court settlement that has set minimum care standards and a 20-day detention cap for immigrant children in federal custody for nearly three decades. Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ argued termination was warranted by post-settlement regulations and a 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Judge Dolly Gee denied the motion in August 2025, finding the government remained in substantial noncompliance with the settlement's terms.
Alabama Gov. Ivey signed SB101, raising minors' medical consent age to 16 and requiring parental access to health records
On May 21, 2025, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed Senate Bill 101 (Act 2025-455), raising the age at which minors can independently consent to medical, dental, and mental-health treatment from 14 to 16, effective October 1, 2025. The law requires health care providers to grant parents access to a minor's medical records except by court order or when a parent is under criminal investigation involving the child, and requires written parental permission for minors under 16 to participate in school counseling. Adolescent-health advocates warned the change strips confidentiality that had let vulnerable minors, including LGBTQ+ youth, seek sensitive care without risking involuntary disclosure to parents.
Laramie County Sheriff Kozak signed ICE 287(g) agreements without county commission approval or public notice
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak signed three Section 287(g) agreements deputizing his office for federal immigration enforcement -- the first taking effect May 20, 2025, the other two about a month later -- without submitting the decision to the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners or following Wyoming's public rulemaking process. The sheriff's office went on to spend an estimated $75,000 on the resulting program between September 2025 and January 2026 without written commission authorization, and 287(g)-certified deputies later joined ICE and the Wyoming Highway Patrol in operations such as a December 22, 2025 stop-and-check campaign on Wyoming Highway 214. The ACLU of Wyoming and three local plaintiffs sued Kozak in May 2026, arguing he lacked authority to bind the county without the commissioners' approval.
Deputy AG Blanche directed DOJ to weaponize False Claims Act against federal grantees maintaining DEI and trans-inclusive policies
On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum establishing the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, directing attorneys across the Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division to pursue False Claims Act cases against any federal grantee — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — that maintains DEI programs or transgender-inclusive policies while certifying compliance with federal civil rights laws. The initiative identifies diversity programs, single-sex bathroom policies, and women's sports participation standards as triggering FCA liability, and invites private whistleblower lawsuits seeking treble damages. It converts a procurement-fraud statute into an ideological enforcement mechanism against institutions dependent on federal funding.
Texas enacted SB 412, exposing teachers and librarians to prosecution by removing 'harmful material' defenses
On May 19, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 412, which stripped the affirmative-defense protections in the state Penal Code that had shielded public schools, libraries, and museums from prosecution for distributing material "harmful to minors" when that material carried educational, medical, scientific, or artistic value. By removing those defenses, the law exposes teachers, librarians, and parents to criminal charges over books available in public institutions. The measure took effect September 1, 2025, and civil-liberties and library groups warned it would drive broad removals of books, disproportionately affecting LGBTQ+ titles.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB796 banning state funds for DEI programs at public universities
On May 14, 2025, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 796, barring the use of state funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, offices, and programs at the state's public colleges and universities. The law also prohibits institutions from requiring diversity statements in admissions or hiring, from mandating the disclosure of a person's pronouns, and from requiring DEI-related training. It took effect July 1, 2025, with a compliance deadline of July 1, 2026.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB819, banning Pride flags from schools and government buildings
On May 13, 2025, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 819, restricting the flags that may be displayed in K-12 schools and on state and local government buildings to the U.S. flag, Montana's state flag, other official government flags, and school mascot flags — explicitly excluding Pride flags and other nongovernmental banners. Sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, the bill passed the Montana House 57-42 and the Senate 32-18.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB682 imposing liability on gender-affirming care providers and framing the care as fraudulent
On May 13, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 682, sponsored by Rep. Greg Kmetz, which imposes heightened civil liability on medical providers who deliver gender-affirming care and characterizes that care as harmful and fraudulent. The law revises Montana statute governing gender transition treatment and follows the state's 2023 ban on such care for minors (SB99) and a related 2025 liability measure, Senate Bill 218.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB690 excluding non-affirmation of a child's gender identity from child abuse and neglect definitions
On May 13, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 690, sponsored by Rep. Bill Mercer, which revises the state's child abuse and neglect statutes to exclude "referring to or raising a child in a manner consistent with the child's biological sex, including in the making of related mental health or medical decisions" from the legal definitions of abuse, neglect, and physical or psychological harm. The law passed the Montana House 57-42 and the Senate 34-16 before reaching the governor's desk.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB418 mandating birth-sex segregation of prison facilities and barring transgender inmates from opposite-sex housing
On May 13, 2025, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 418, requiring the Department of Corrections and its contracted facilities to designate every multi-occupancy restroom, changing room, and sleeping quarter for the exclusive use of either males or females and barring incarcerated people from facilities designated for the opposite sex, with narrow exceptions for staff, medical, law-enforcement, and emergency access. The law creates a private cause of action, with attorney fees, for individuals who encounter an opposite-sex person in a designated facility. It took effect November 1, 2025.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB658 barring denial of foster or adoptive applicants over beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity
On May 13, 2025, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 658, which bars the Oklahoma Department of Human Services from denying a prospective foster or adoptive parent on the basis of the applicant's religious or moral beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity, and prohibits DHS from requiring applicants to affirm state positions on those subjects as a condition of approval. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Julie Daniels, took effect November 1, 2025. Advocates for LGBTQ youth warned that it legitimizes belief-based refusal to support affirming placements within the state child-welfare system.
NSF eliminated Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM, fired all 65 staff in reduction-in-force
On May 9, 2025, NSF Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham circulated an internal memo announcing the full elimination of NSF's Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM by July 12 via a reduction-in-force, firing all 65 permanent EES staff. Simultaneously, 84 of NSF's 143 Senior Executive Service positions were eliminated and the temporary workforce was cut from 368 to 70, reducing NSF's workforce by roughly 37 percent. The division housed congressionally mandated programs serving underrepresented minorities and disabled students in STEM.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed SB0937, barring public schools from requiring anyone to provide their preferred pronouns
On May 9, 2025, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB0937 into law as Public Chapter 453 of the 114th General Assembly. The act prohibits any public school, local education agency, teacher, employee, or contractor from requiring a student, teacher, employee, or contractor to provide the individual's preferred pronouns. Framed as a freedom-of-speech measure, it removes any school mandate around the use or disclosure of preferred pronouns and is the originating statute in Tennessee's series of pronoun-refusal laws.
Georgia Gov. Kemp signed SB185, barring state-funded gender dysphoria treatment for transgender people in state prisons
On May 8, 2025, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 185 into law, barring the use of state funds or resources to provide gender dysphoria treatment - including hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery - to people in Georgia state custody. The law singled out incarcerated transgender people for the denial of medically recognized care that many had already been receiving.
Indiana Gov. Braun signed HB1412, shielding parents' non-affirmation of transgender children from child-neglect review
On May 1, 2025, Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed House Bill 1412 into law as Public Law 168, revising the state's child-abuse-and-neglect reporting statutes. The law specifies that a child is not a "child in need of services" solely because a parent, guardian, or custodian refers to and raises the child consistent with the child's biological sex. The provision shields a parent's non-affirmation of a transgender child's gender identity from being treated as neglect by the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB471, requiring parental opt-in before LGBTQ-related school instruction
On May 1, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB471, which creates an "identity instruction" category covering lessons on gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation and bars students from participating without prior written parental consent, revocable at any time. The law requires schools to give 5-14 school days' advance notice before such instruction, publish annual notice of covered courses, and make curriculum materials available for public inspection, while barring use of instructional materials from abortion service providers. It took effect July 1, 2025 and is being challenged in state court by the Montana School Counselors Association and the ACLU of Montana.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB400 'Free to Speak Act' shielding refusal to use transgender students' pronouns from discipline
On May 1, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 400, the "Free to Speak Act," which bars public schools and state agencies from disciplining students, teachers, or state employees who refuse to use a person's preferred name, pronouns, or gender identity that does not match their sex assigned at birth. Sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, the law passed the Senate 28-20, with three Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition, and creates a private right of action for people punished for refusing to use another person's preferred name or pronouns. Opponents, including tribal representatives, school administrators, and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, said the measure legitimizes harassment of transgender students.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB655, letting foster and adoption agencies opt out of LGBTQ+-inclusive training on religious grounds
On May 1, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB655 into law, prohibiting state agencies and foster or adoptive-placement entities from taking discriminatory action against foster and adoptive parents who decline, on religious grounds, to affirm LGBTQ+-inclusive training, policies, or a child's gender identity or sexual orientation. The bill passed the Montana House 59-40 and Senate 29-19 before Gianforte signed it into law.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB638, banning diversity statements referencing sexual orientation and gender identity in state hiring
On May 1, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB638, "Revise human rights laws," which bars state and local government agencies from requiring, requesting, or soliciting a "diversity statement" from job applicants or employees and prohibits granting preferential consideration based on one. The law defines a diversity statement as any submission promoting differential treatment based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or gender identity, and permits agencies to accept such statements only to the minimum extent federal law requires. Sponsored by Rep. Randyn Gregg, the bill leaves existing anti-discrimination and anti-harassment compliance policies in place.
North Dakota Gov. Armstrong signed HB1144 restricting transgender students' bathroom access and requiring schools to out them to parents
On May 1, 2025, North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed House Bill 1144, barring K-12 public schools from maintaining all-gender multi-stall restrooms or shower rooms and requiring such facilities be designated for one sex only. The law also requires school staff to notify a student's parents if they learn the student is transgender, with violations enforceable by the state Attorney General through fines up to $2,500.
West Virginia Gov. Morrisey signed SB154 restricting school LGBTQ instruction and requiring staff to disclose students' gender identity to parents
On April 30, 2025, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Senate Bill 154 into law, prohibiting public schools from providing instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity and requiring school employees to report any student's request for recognition of a gender identity differing from their birth-certificate sex to administrators, who must then notify the student's parent or guardian. The law, codified at W.Va. Code 18-5-29, took effect July 11, 2025 and empowers the state Attorney General to enforce it, with violating school personnel subject to discipline or dismissal.
West Virginia Gov. Morrisey signed SB299, closing the suicide-risk exception in the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors
On April 30, 2025, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Senate Bill 299, which amends the state's 2023 ban on gender-affirming care for minors by removing its narrow exception permitting hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors at documented risk of self-harm. The law imposes a near-total ban on such treatment for minors, with carve-outs only for intersex conditions or patients already receiving care, and takes effect July 11, 2025.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed SB474, ending DEI programs statewide and shielding school staff who refuse transgender students' pronouns
On April 30, 2025, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Senate Bill 474 into law, eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, offices, trainings, and personnel across the state's executive branch, K-12 schools, and public colleges. The act also bars county boards and public charter schools from requiring teachers to use a transgender student's preferred pronoun when it differs from the student's sex at birth, and shields employees who refuse from civil liability or adverse employment action. The state Senate had passed the measure 32-2.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Riley Gaines Act, barring transgender athletes and ending gender-identity recognition in sex-segregated spaces
On April 28, 2025, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 1, the "Riley Gaines Act of 2025," into law. The act bars transgender girls and women from participating on female sports teams from K-12 through college, requires restroom, locker-room, and sleeping facilities at athletic events to be separated by birth-assigned sex, and defines "sex" in state law by birth-assigned sex. The measures end state recognition of transgender residents' gender identity in the covered contexts and create a private right of action against schools that do not comply.
Indiana Gov. Braun signed SB143, barring schools from withholding student information from parents and enabling forced outing of LGBTQ students
On April 24, 2025, Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 143, the "Parental rights" law, taking effect July 1, 2025. The law bars government entities — including public schools and the Department of Child Services — from advising, directing, or coercing a child to withhold information from a parent, or from denying a parent access to information about their child, absent a compelling interest. The ACLU of Indiana warned the measure can compel the forced outing of transgender and gender-nonconforming students to their parents.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed the Medical Ethics Defense Act, letting providers refuse care on conscience grounds
On April 24, 2025, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the "Medical Ethics Defense Act" (SB0955/HB1044) into law as Public Chapter 266, giving health care providers, institutions, and payers a right of conscience to refuse to participate in or pay for any procedure, treatment, or service that violates their religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. The law took immediate effect and was enacted primarily to shield providers who object to abortion, contraception, and gender-affirming care. Opponents warned it keys refusal to conscience rather than a specific procedure, opening the door to care denials aimed at LGBTQ and transgender patients.
Trump signed EO 14281 directing all agencies to end disparate-impact enforcement, orders AG to repeal Title VI regulations
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14281, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy," directing all federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement of disparate-impact liability across housing, lending, employment, education, and healthcare "to the maximum degree possible." The order instructed the Attorney General to repeal or amend all Department of Justice regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that contemplate disparate-impact liability. Civil rights organizations described EO 14281 as the most sweeping rollback of federal civil rights enforcement since passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
North Dakota Gov. Armstrong signed HB1181 defining gender in state law as biological sex
North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong signed House Bill 1181 into law on April 23, 2025, amending the North Dakota Century Code to define "gender" as a person's biological sex throughout state statute. The law governs how state-funded institutions, including public schools and state agencies, record and treat sex and gender on official forms and documents. The bill passed the North Dakota House 74-13, the Senate as amended 41-6, and cleared final House concurrence 79-11 before reaching the governor's desk.
Arkansas enacted Act 979 creating a special malpractice cause of action against providers of gender-affirming care to minors
On April 22, 2025, Arkansas enacted Act 979 (HB1916), signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, amending the state's 2023 Protecting Minors From Medical Malpractice Act to include gender-affirming interventions as a right of action for medical malpractice. The law lets minors or their representatives sue health care professionals over puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and related care, singling out that treatment for a bespoke civil cause of action. Sponsored by Rep. Mary Bentley and Sen. Alan Clark, it passed 73-16 in the House and 29-6 in the Senate.
AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors
On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" directing the FBI to investigate gender-affirming care providers for criminal violations and directing DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch and Civil Division Fraud Section to pursue misbranding and False Claims Act cases against manufacturers and medical providers. The memo simultaneously announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against hospitals and practitioners. Gender-affirming care for minors was legal under federal law at the time the memo was issued.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 955, restricting restrooms and sleeping quarters to biological sex with a private right to sue
On April 21, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB486, enacted as Act 955 of 2025, requiring multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in covered entities — including correctional facilities, domestic-violence shelters, and other public accommodations — to be designated for and restricted to a single biological sex. The law creates a private civil cause of action allowing individuals to sue covered entities for damages if they encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in such a facility, effectively barring transgender people from facilities matching their gender identity. Covered entities must take reasonable steps, such as signage and policy, to enforce the sex-based designation.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed Act 970, letting providers and insurers refuse gender-transition and other care on conscience grounds
On April 21, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB444, enacted as Act 970 of 2025, amending the state's 2021 Medical Ethics and Diversity Act to broaden conscience-based refusal rights in health care. The amendment newly extends the right to decline to participate in health care services to insurers alongside practitioners and institutions, and protects refusing to take part in gender-transition procedures, abortion, assisted suicide, or any service that violates a conscience. It also lets religious health care institutions make staffing and privileging decisions consistent with their religious beliefs.
EPA sent reduction-in-force notices eliminating 280 environmental justice and civil rights staff, shutting down the OEJECR
On April 21, 2025, EPA Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles sent reduction-in-force notices to 280 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) and regional environmental justice divisions, with terminations effective July 31, 2025. An additional 175 employees performing statutory functions were reassigned within the agency. The action effectively closed the OEJECR — founded in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush and the primary federal enforcer of Title VI civil rights protections in environmental permitting — framed by EPA as terminating "Biden's environmental justice, DEI arms of the agency."
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed HB 1193 banning DEI programs and barring instruction on transgender identity and gender theory in public schools
On April 17, 2025, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1193, banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and offices in the state's K-12 public schools and public universities. The law separately bars teaching or promoting concepts described as "transgender ideology, gender-neutral pronouns, heteronormativity, gender theory, sexual privilege or any related formulation," and requires institutions to affirm a two-sex, chromosome-based definition of gender. A federal judge later found the law unconstitutionally vague and issued a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement statewide.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed Act 711, barring the 'X' marker and requiring only 'M' or 'F' sex designations on state IDs
On April 16, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1796, enacted as Act 711 of 2025, requiring that driver's licenses and state identification cards display gender information as only "M" for male or "F" for female. The law prohibits issuing an ID with an "X" designation or no gender information and ties the marker to the applicant's birth certificate or other identity document, requiring an amended birth certificate to change it. The statute codifies a state rule that had removed the nonbinary option and the pathway transgender and nonbinary Arkansans used to correct their sex designation.
Arkansas enacted Act 677 shielding government workers and licensed professionals who refuse duties over religious beliefs about marriage or sex
On April 16, 2025, Arkansas enacted Act 677 (HB1615), the "religious nondiscrimination" law, signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The statute bars the state from denying licenses, certifications, contracts, or employment consequences to individuals and organizations that decline to provide services conflicting with a "sincerely held religious belief, including a belief about biological sex or marriage," and expressly permits government employees authorized to license or solemnize marriages to recuse themselves on that basis. Civil-rights advocates say it authorizes identity-based refusals of public services and licensed professional care to LGBTQ+ Arkansans.
Kansas Legislature passed a budget proviso barring state and university employees from listing pronouns and tying $4 million to ending DEI programs
On April 11, 2025, the Kansas Legislature gave final approval to Substitute for HB2007, the FY2026 omnibus budget, which included a proviso barring state agencies and state universities from permitting employees to include gender-identifying pronouns or "gender ideology" in email signature blocks or other communications and conditioning roughly $4 million in funding on ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, training, and positions. Gov. Laura Kelly subsequently signed the budget into law without line-item vetoing the proviso. Kansas Board of Regents institutions directed employees to remove pronouns from their communications by a July 31, 2025 compliance date.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed the Keep Kids First Act, letting faith-based foster and adoption agencies refuse LGBTQ prospective parents
On April 10, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1669, the "Keep Kids First Act" (Act 509 of 2025), barring the state from requiring faith-based adoption and foster-care providers to make placements that conflict with their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. The law also prohibits the state from penalizing a provider for considering prospective parents based on the provider's religious beliefs about sexual orientation or gender identity. In effect, it lets state-contracted agencies decline to place children with same-sex couples and LGBTQ prospective foster and adoptive parents.
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly's veto to enact HB2311, letting foster caregivers' religious beliefs override placement policy
On April 10, 2025, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Laura Kelly's veto to enact HB2311, barring the state's foster-care agency from adopting or enforcing placement policies that conflict with a prospective caregiver's sincerely held religious or moral beliefs about sexual orientation or gender identity. The law creates a private right of action allowing caregivers to sue the Department for Children and Families for damages and attorney fees. The House overrode 87-38 and the Senate 31-9 the same day, with enforcement provisions effective July 1, 2025.
Kentucky enacted HB501, barring Medicaid from covering cross-sex hormones for gender-dysphoria treatment
On April 10, 2025, Kentucky House Bill 501 became law without Gov. Andy Beshear's signature after passing the House 97-0 and the Senate 38-0. The act codified that Kentucky Medicaid may not fund cross-sex hormones when they are prescribed primarily or solely to treat gender dysphoria, singling out transgender-related use for exclusion while allowing the same drugs for other conditions. It refined a companion measure, HB495, that had restricted Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care.
Idaho enacted SB 1198 banning DEI programs, offices, and diversity training at public colleges and universities
On April 4, 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1198 into law, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, programs, mandatory diversity training, and diversity statements at all public colleges and universities in the state. The law, which took effect July 1, 2025, created a private right of action allowing students and faculty to sue institutions over alleged violations and expanded the Idaho Attorney General's authority to enforce it. Advocates said the measure eliminated programming that served LGBTQ+ and other marginalized students.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 480 barring behavioral-health funds for DEI and transgender programming
On April 4, 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 480, the fiscal-year 2025-2026 appropriation for the Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Behavioral Health. Section 5 of the law bars the division from using appropriated funds for training or programming that advances "diversity, equity, and inclusion; critical race theory; or transgender ideology," or that distributes or restricts funding based on race or gender. The restriction took effect July 1, 2025.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 96, barring most non-approved flags — including LGBTQ+ pride flags — from government property
On April 3, 2025, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 96, which limits the flags that state and local government entities may display to an enumerated list — the U.S. flag, official state and municipal flags, U.S. military branch flags, Native American tribal flags, the POW/MIA flag, school flags, and foreign flags for special occasions — effectively barring LGBTQ+ pride flags from government property. The bill carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately on signing. Sponsors said the measure was meant to keep government entities from flying "flags of political causes," and legislators circulated fliers showing the pride flag at Boise City Hall before the votes.
Indiana enacted HB 1041 extending its transgender-athlete ban to women's college sports
On April 3, 2025, the Indiana General Assembly gave final passage to House Bill 1041 by a 42-6 Senate vote, extending the state's 2022 ban on transgender athletes in K-12 sports to public colleges and universities. Governor Mike Braun signed the measure in April 2025 and it took effect July 1, 2025, barring athletes assigned male at birth from women's college teams, requiring institutions to adopt grievance procedures, and creating a private right of action allowing students to sue over suspected violations.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed HB0064 requiring residential educational programs to segregate restrooms and showers by biological sex
On April 3, 2025, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 0064 (Public Chapter 134), requiring residential educational programs that house minors overnight — including private residential schools, postsecondary institutions, and any program with overnight facilities for elementary or secondary students — to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing areas, and showers by immutable biological sex. Sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, the measure passed the House 74-18 and the Senate 25-4 and took effect immediately. It bars transgender students from facilities matching their gender identity.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 264, restricting prison, shelter, and public-college facilities to one biological sex to bar transgender people
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 264 on April 1, 2025, requiring correctional facilities, juvenile correctional centers, domestic-violence shelters, and state public colleges and universities to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters for the exclusive use of one biological sex, defined by statute rather than gender identity. The law creates a private civil cause of action — declaratory and injunctive relief plus attorney fees — for anyone who encounters a person of the opposite biological sex in a designated facility, and its framework functionally requires housing transgender inmates by birth sex. It took effect as Session Law Chapter 251 on July 1, 2025.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 352 banning K-12 classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity
On March 31, 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 352 into law, adding a provision that prohibits public-school classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through grade 12. Enacted as Session Law Chapter 223, the measure also expanded parental-rights provisions including records access, opt-outs, notification requirements, and a private cause of action. Its instructional restriction took effect July 1, 2025.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 239, requiring parental opt-in permission before schools may teach any content on sexual orientation or gender identity
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 239 on March 31, 2025, barring public schools from providing any instruction on "human sexuality" unless a parent or legal guardian submits advance signed written permission. The law defines "human sexuality" to include sexual orientation, gender identity, gender ideology, and gender conversion, and creates a private right of action allowing parents to sue districts for $250 in statutory damages plus actual damages per violation. It took effect as Session Law Chapter 234 on July 1, 2025.
Ohio Gov. DeWine signed SB1, banning college DEI programs and forcing closure of LGBTQ campus centers
On March 28, 2025, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1, the "Advance Ohio Higher Education Act," into law, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, offices, and staff positions at Ohio's public colleges and universities. The law does not name LGBTQ programs directly, but its DEI-infrastructure ban forced Ohio University to close its Pride Center, Women's Center, and Multicultural Center and eliminate all eight center staff positions, while Ohio State University took down its LGBTQ student-services website.
Trump signs EO 14253 directing Smithsonian to eliminate content on Black history, women's history, and gender identity
President Trump signed Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," on March 27, 2025, directing the Vice President — through his seat on the Smithsonian Board of Regents — to remove content labeled "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from Smithsonian museums, education centers, and the National Zoo. The order specifically named the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum as perpetuating "divisive, race-centered ideology." The EO also directed Cabinet members to work with Congress to defund Smithsonian programs that "divide Americans based on race" or acknowledge transgender identity, and ordered reinstatement of historical statues removed from federal property over the prior five years.
Kentucky enacted SB2 barring hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery for transgender state inmates
On March 27, 2025, Kentucky Senate Bill 2 became law without Gov. Andy Beshear's signature, prohibiting state correctional facilities from initiating hormone therapy for transgender inmates and banning gender-reassignment surgery outright. The Republican-controlled legislature passed the measure 31-6 in the Senate and 73-12 in the House; a floor amendment let inmates already receiving hormone therapy at admission continue it. The law made Kentucky one of several states in 2025 to restrict gender-affirming medical care for incarcerated people.
Kentucky legislature overrode Beshear's veto to enact HB4, banning DEI programs at public universities
On March 27, 2025, the Kentucky General Assembly overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's veto to enact House Bill 4, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the state's public universities and colleges. The law bars institutions from funding DEI offices, positions, or training and prohibits differential treatment in admissions, scholarships, and housing based on protected characteristics. Schools had to comply by June 30, 2025, with annual certifications beginning July 1, 2026, and the attorney general may sue non-compliant institutions.
Kentucky legislature overrode Beshear's veto to enact HB495, voiding conversion-therapy protections and barring Medicaid gender-affirming care
On March 27, 2025, the Kentucky General Assembly overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's veto to enact House Bill 495, passing it 78-20 in the House and 31-6 in the Senate. The law nullifies Beshear's 2024 executive order restricting conversion therapy and bars Kentucky Medicaid from covering gender-affirming medical care for transgender people. An emergency clause made the measure effective immediately.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB300 barring transgender athletes from women's and girls' school sports
On March 27, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 300, which bars transgender women and girls from competing on female K-12 and university sports teams based on sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity. Sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, the law took effect October 1, 2025 and made Montana one of at least 25 states with such a restriction. Gianforte signed it the same day as a companion measure, House Bill 121, restricting bathroom and locker-room access by sex assigned at birth.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB121, restricting bathrooms and changing rooms to sex assigned at birth
On March 27, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 121, requiring restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping areas in public schools, correctional facilities, juvenile detention centers, domestic-violence shelters, and other public buildings to be designated for use based on a person's external genitalia present at birth. The law, sponsored by state Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, took effect immediately upon signature. The ACLU of Montana sued the same day, and a state district court later blocked its enforcement with a preliminary injunction.
Utah enacted HB77, banning Pride flags from public schools and government buildings; first such state ban
On March 27, 2025, Utah enacted House Bill 77, "Flag Display Amendments," after Gov. Spencer Cox declined to sign or veto it and allowed it to become law. The measure bars government entities and public schools from displaying any flag except an approved list — the U.S. flag, Utah's state flag, and official government, military, and comparable flags — and was widely promoted as a ban on Pride flags in classrooms and public buildings. Utah became the first state to enact such a ban, enforced by the state auditor through fines.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 270 expanding the indecent-exposure law in a change advocates say targets transgender people
Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 270 into law on March 26, 2025, taking effect immediately as Session Law Chapter 173. The measure amended the state's indecent-exposure statute to broaden the definition of prohibited exposure — including exposure of the female breast — a change that LGBTQ+ advocates identified as targeting transgender people, particularly transgender women. The bill cleared the Idaho House 59-8 and the Senate 28-6 before enactment.
Utah enacted H.B. 424 tightening the commission that bars transgender students from sex-designated school sports
On March 26, 2025, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed H.B. 424, "School Activity Eligibility Commission Amendments," strengthening the state commission that decides eligibility for sex-designated interscholastic sports based on an unamended birth certificate. The law broadens who may be appointed to the commission, modifies its quorum, sets a standard of proof for eligibility determinations, and makes each determination specific to a single school year. It also bars public schools from participating with any athletic association that does not provide administrative staff support to the commission.
HHS issued interim final rule permitting ICE and CBP to access sponsors' immigration status, reinstating first-term enforcement arrangement
On March 25, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services published an interim final rule (90 Fed. Reg. 13554) that rescinded a Biden-era prohibition on sharing the immigration status of unaccompanied children's sponsors with ICE and CBP for enforcement purposes. The rule, effective immediately, also removed the prohibition on disqualifying potential sponsors based solely on their immigration status. The IFR reinstated a memorandum of agreement from Trump's first term under which approximately 170 undocumented sponsors who came forward to claim children in federal custody had been arrested by ICE.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated CHNV parole programs, stripping lawful status from 532,000 noncitizens without individualized review
On March 25, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published Federal Register Notice 2025-05128 (90 FR 13611) formally terminating the Biden-era categorical parole programs for inadmissible noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The termination took effect immediately; the approximately 532,000 current parolees were given until April 24, 2025 to depart the United States. Each had been individually vetted and admitted under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), but their status was revoked through a single blanket notice with no individualized review of reliance interests or changed circumstances.
Utah enacted S.B. 74 barring people in state custody from legal name and birth-certificate sex-designation changes
On March 25, 2025, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 74, "Corrections Modifications," which prohibits an individual in the custody of the Department of Corrections from filing a district-court petition to legally change their name and broadens the class barred from a court-ordered birth-certificate sex-designation change from those on probation or parole to any "offender" as defined in state law. The practical effect is to deny incarcerated and supervised transgender people the ability to change their legal name or correct the gender marker on their birth certificate.
South Dakota Gov. Rhoden signed HB1259 restricting multi-occupancy bathrooms and changing rooms to sex assigned at birth
On March 21, 2025, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed House Bill 1259, requiring people to use multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms in public facilities — including public schools, courthouses, and libraries — that correspond to their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer, passed the House 58-9 and the Senate 27-6. It functionally bars transgender people from using covered public facilities consistent with their gender identity.
Florida Capitol Police arrested a transgender woman for using the women's restroom under HB 1521
On March 19, 2025, Florida Capitol Police arrested Marcy Rheintgen, a 20-year-old transgender college student, for using the women's restroom at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, in a planned act of civil disobedience against HB 1521's facility-access ban. She was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and held for 24 hours in the men's ward before her release. Advocates said it was the first known arrest under any state's criminal ban on transgender bathroom use; the case was dismissed in June 2025 after prosecutors missed the deadline to file charging documents.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 345 barring Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender residents
Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 345, the Medicaid Reform and Cost Containment Act, into law on March 19, 2025, taking effect immediately as Session Law Chapter 118. Alongside its Medicaid managed-care and work-requirement provisions, the law prohibits the state's Medicaid program from covering gender-transition surgeries or hormone treatments for both minors and adults, extending Idaho's existing ban on public funding for gender-affirming care. The bill passed the Idaho House 61-9 and the Senate 29-6.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 59, the Medical Ethics Defense Act, letting providers refuse care on conscience grounds
On March 19, 2025, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 59, the "Medical Ethics Defense Act," which gives health care providers and institutions a right of conscience to refuse to participate in or pay for nonemergency medical procedures, treatments, or services that violate their religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. The measure passed the Legislature on party lines and took immediate effect through an emergency clause. Reporting and opponents, including Planned Parenthood, warned the exemption could be used to deny care to LGBTQ+ patients and to refuse gender-affirming services, with no standard separating a conscience objection from discrimination.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 41, restricting public schools to an approved list of flags and banners and barring LGBTQ+ pride flags from classrooms
On March 19, 2025, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 41, which restricts the flags and banners that may be displayed in Idaho public schools to an enumerated list and prohibits the display of any flag or banner representing a political, religious, or ideological viewpoint. The law, effective July 1, 2025, is catalogued by the Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Tracker as a "Pride Flag Ban" because its viewpoint-based language operates to bar LGBTQ+ pride flags from classrooms.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB283 shielding foster parents who refuse children and limiting care for youth in custody
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 283, "Child and Family Services Amendments," into law on March 19, 2025. Among its child-welfare provisions, the law bars the Division of Child and Family Services from placing a child with, or taking adverse action against, a foster parent who expresses discomfort caring for a child; prohibits the division from initiating certain medical treatment for a child in its custody without parental consent; and forbids courts from basing custody or reunification decisions on a parent's disagreement with a child's sexual orientation or gender identity. It passed the House 69-0 and the Senate 25-0.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB252, barring gender-affirming care for transgender people in state custody
On March 19, 2025, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 252, "State Custody Amendments," which bars government entities from providing gender-affirming medical care — including hormone therapy — to transgender people held in state prisons and juvenile detention. Sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee and carried in the Senate by Sen. Derrin Owens, the measure was enacted while the federal government was suing Utah over inadequate care for transgender prisoners.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 164 excluding gender-affirming care for minors from new off-label prescribing protections
On March 19, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 164 (Enrolled Act No. 74) into law, authorizing prescribers and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense FDA-approved drugs for off-label uses and granting them immunity from health-licensing-board discipline. The act expressly withholds that authorization and immunity from any prescription intended to transition a minor's biological sex or affirm a gender identity inconsistent with birth sex, placing gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the same excluded category as Schedule I and II controlled substances and abortion-inducing drugs.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed HB 188 mandating correctional-facility housing and restroom segregation by sex assigned at birth
On March 18, 2025, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 188, the "Dignity and Safety for Incarcerated Women Act," after it passed the House 103-4 on February 10, 2025 and the Senate 48-0 on March 7, 2025. The law defines "sex" in state corrections law as biological sex observed or verified at birth and requires restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in Mississippi correctional facilities to be segregated on that basis rather than gender identity. It also creates a private civil cause of action letting an incarcerated person sue a facility for declaratory and injunctive relief if they encounter someone of the opposite biological sex in those spaces.
Wyoming Legislature enacted the "What Is a Woman Act," defining sex by biology at birth and requiring birth-sex-based accommodations
On March 14, 2025, the "What Is a Woman Act" (HB0032) became Wyoming law without Governor Mark Gordon's signature after the Legislature passed it 50-9 in the House and 28-3 in the Senate. The law creates a statutory definition of sex, man, woman, mother, and father based on reproductive biology at birth and states that sex-distinction laws governing athletics, prisons, domestic-violence shelters, rape-crisis centers, locker rooms, and restrooms satisfy intermediate scrutiny. It also requires schools and agencies that collect sex-based vital statistics to record sex assigned at birth.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed SF0044 barring transgender college athletes from women's sports teams
On March 13, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed SF0044, "Fairness in sports-intercollegiate athletics," into law as Senate Enrolled Act No. 94 (Chapter 144, Session Laws of Wyoming 2025). The law creates W.S. 21-25-301, requiring University of Wyoming and Wyoming community college students to compete in intercollegiate athletics according to a "biological sex" defined by reproductive function, barring them from teams designated for the opposite sex. The effect is to exclude transgender student-athletes from competing consistent with their gender identity.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed SB456, defining sex by birth and barring transgender people from single-sex spaces
On March 12, 2025, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Senate Bill 456, the "Riley Gaines Act," into law, adding a new article to state code that defines "man" and "woman" by sex assigned at birth. The law requires bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic-violence shelters, rape crisis centers, dormitories, and correctional facilities to be designated by that birth-sex definition. The Legislature passed it by wide margins and it took effect June 9, 2025.
ICE detains Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil over pro-Palestinian activism; no criminal charges filed
On March 8, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Mahmoud Khalil — a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student who had been a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian campus protests — with no criminal charges filed against him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C), a rarely-used statute permitting deportation on foreign-policy grounds, as the basis for removal. Khalil was transferred to an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he was held for approximately three months while his attorneys argued the government was retaliating against him for constitutionally protected political speech.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 72 requiring birth-sex use of public restrooms, prison sleeping quarters, and college facilities
On March 3, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 72, the "Protecting Privacy in Public Spaces Act" (Enrolled Act No. 48), requiring multi-occupancy restrooms, changing areas, and sleeping quarters in government buildings, state correctional facilities, and public universities to be designated and used according to reproductive sex at birth. The act creates civil causes of action against public entities that permit cross-sex access, with a $5,000 statutory-damages remedy for violations at the University of Wyoming and community colleges. It took effect July 1, 2025.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed SF0062 requiring K-12 students to use restrooms and facilities matching sex assigned at birth
On March 3, 2025, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed Senate File 0062 (Enrolled Act No. 53) into law, creating W.S. 21-3-137 and requiring every public school district in the state, from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and school-activity sleeping quarters for the exclusive use of one sex defined by reproductive biology at birth. The law permits only single-occupancy "reasonable accommodations," directs school boards to discipline noncompliance, bars boards from adopting contrary policy, and creates a parental right of action against noncompliant districts. It took effect immediately upon signing.
Trump signed EO 14224 designating English as the official U.S. language, revoking the federal multilingual access requirement
On March 1, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14224, designating English as the official language of the United States. The order rescinded Executive Order 13166, which since 2000 had required federal agencies to provide meaningful language access to individuals with limited English proficiency. The change eliminates a 25-year multilingual services framework affecting millions of non-English speakers who rely on federally funded programs, without any act of Congress.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF418, making Iowa the first state to remove gender identity from its civil rights code
On Feb. 28, 2025, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 418, removing "gender identity" as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act and making Iowa the first U.S. state to strip an established protected class from its civil rights code. The law codifies binary definitions of sex tied to birth, ends transgender Iowans' ability to change the sex marker on their birth certificates, and bars instruction on "gender theory" in kindergarten through sixth grade. It took effect July 1, 2025.
Wyoming enacted SF0077 barring state and local government from requiring employees to use colleagues' preferred pronouns
On Feb. 27, 2025, Wyoming's SF0077, "Compelled speech is not free speech," became law after Gov. Mark Gordon declined to sign it, taking effect as Chapter 62 of the 2025 Session Laws. The statute, codified at W.S. 9-14-601, prohibits the state and its political subdivisions — including counties and public schools — from requiring any employee to refer to another employee by preferred pronouns as a condition of employment, contracting, or benefit, and creates a private civil right of action. It took effect July 1, 2025.
AG Bondi directed DOJ Civil Rights Division to dismiss Title VII disparate-impact enforcement suits against police and fire departments
On February 26, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to dismiss multiple Biden-era lawsuits against police and fire departments accused of discriminatory hiring. The dismissed cases alleged that written aptitude and physical fitness tests produced racially disparate outcomes in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Bondi framed the dismissals as ending "DEI quotas," although the underlying lawsuits involved standard disparate-impact enforcement that federal courts have upheld since 1971.
Rubio issued State Dept cable directing consulates to deny visas and impose permanent fraud bar on transgender applicants
On February 24, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a cable titled "Guidance for Visa Adjudicators on Executive Order 14201: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" directing all U.S. consulates worldwide to require visa applications to reflect applicants' sex at birth. The cable authorized consular officers to deny visas based on "reasonable suspicion" of transgender identity and to apply a permanent lifetime fraud bar under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) to applicants found to have "misrepresented" their sex. While framed around athletes, the cable's Section 6 mandate applied to all visa categories.
Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo directing transfer of transgender inmates to facilities matching birth sex and cutting affirming care
On February 21, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14168, directing staff to refer to transgender inmates by the legal name and pronouns matching their sex assigned at birth, barring the use of funds for gender-affirming items and care, and suspending clothing and pat-search accommodations and support programs previously offered to transgender inmates. The memo laid the groundwork to transfer transgender women out of women's facilities into men's facilities based on sex assigned at birth. Affected women were moved into segregated housing pending transfer, and those slated for men's prisons faced the cutoff of their hormone treatments.
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly's veto to enact SB63, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On February 18, 2025, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Laura Kelly's veto to enact SB63, the "Help Not Harm Act," barring healthcare providers from prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgery for gender transition to minors. The law restricts state funds and Medicaid from being used for gender transition, bars state employees from promoting a minor's social transition, and exposes providers to professional discipline and civil suits. It took effect July 1, 2025, and required minors already receiving care to be weaned off by December 31, 2025.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB269 restricting transgender access to sex-designated spaces and college housing
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 269, "Privacy Protections in Sex-designated Areas," into law on February 14, 2025, tightening birth-sex restrictions on access to sex-designated privacy spaces in education and government facilities. The law requires degree-granting institutions to assign students to sex-designated housing by their sex at birth, narrows the exception for sex-based distinctions in interscholastic activities, and removes a medical-treatment documentation route that had supported access to certain sex-designated spaces. It passed the House 59-14 and the Senate 22-7.
Alabama Gov. Ivey signed the "What Is a Woman Act," codifying binary sex definitions and enabling exclusion of transgender people
On February 13, 2025, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB79, the "What Is a Woman Act," into law, codifying binary definitions of "sex," "male," "female," "man," and "woman" throughout Alabama law based on reproductive anatomy observed or clinically verified at birth, with no exceptions for intersex people. The law directs that transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals be recorded in state vital-statistics and medical registries according to that assigned sex, and authorizes state and local governments to restrict bathrooms, changing rooms, dormitories, prisons, and other sex-segregated spaces on that basis. The measure, sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, took effect October 1, 2025.
Trump signed EO 14187, directing federal defunding of institutions providing gender-affirming care to minors
On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14187, "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," directing all executive agencies to end federal funding to medical institutions providing gender-affirming care—including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery—to individuals under 19. The order instructed HHS to revise Medicaid and Medicare conditions of participation to exclude coverage, directed TRICARE and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program to exclude such treatments, and required federal research and education grant recipients to certify they did not provide such care. The order also directed HHS to rescind reliance on World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines from all federal policy.
Trump signed EO 14183, reinstating a ban on transgender military service
On January 27, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14183, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," reinstating a ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the U.S. military and rescinding a Biden-era policy that had permitted transgender enlistment and coverage of transition-related medical care. The order directed the Department of Defense to update medical enlistment and retention standards within 60 days, end pronoun accommodation based on self-identification, and require service members to use sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.
Trump signed EO 14173 revoking 60-year affirmative action requirement for federal contractors, directing AG to investigate private-sector DEI
On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," revoking Executive Order 11246 — the 60-year-old Johnson-era requirement mandating affirmative action and equal employment opportunity for federal contractors. The order directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to cease all affirmative action and diversity workforce enforcement, and required all future federal contracts to include a certification that the contractor operates no DEI programs, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability. The order also directed the Attorney General to compile enforcement recommendations against private-sector DEI programs within 120 days.
Trump signed EO 14168 eliminating federal recognition of transgender identity, revoking X passport marker and barring affirming facilities
On January 20, 2025, his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14168, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," establishing a federal policy that sex is a binary, immutable biological characteristic and directing all federal agencies to eliminate recognition of gender identity across communications, forms, data systems, and policies. The order directed the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to eliminate the "X" gender marker from all federal identity documents and barred transgender people from using sex-segregated federal facilities consistent with their gender identity. It also directed agencies to end all funding, training, and programs acknowledging gender identity.
Trump signed EO 14160 directing agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and visa holders
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," directing the State Department, Social Security Administration, and Department of Homeland Security to refuse recognition of birthright citizenship for children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order purported to reinterpret the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which the Supreme Court has held since 1898 grants citizenship to virtually all persons born on U.S. soil regardless of parental immigration status. Multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking the order within days of its signing.
Acting DHS Secretary Huffman rescinded 'sensitive locations' policy shielding churches, schools, hospitals from ICE enforcement
On January 20, 2025, Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine C. Huffman signed a memo rescinding DHS's October 2021 "Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas," eliminating the requirement that ICE and CBP officers obtain headquarters pre-approval before conducting immigration enforcement at schools, hospitals, and churches. The memo, issued from DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., replaced that requirement with unstructured officer discretion, stating it was "not necessary...to create bright line rules" on where enforcement could occur. ICE issued follow-up implementation guidance on January 31, 2025.
Trump signed EO 14151 eliminating all DEI offices, programs, and equity-related grants across the executive branch
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14151, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," directing all executive agencies to terminate their diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, equity action plans, and related grants and contracts within 60 days. The order required agencies to place DEI staff on administrative leave pending termination, to report programs "misleadingly relabeled" to evade compliance, and designated OMB, OPM, and the Attorney General to coordinate agency-wide enforcement. A Maryland federal court issued a preliminary injunction against key provisions on February 21, 2025, which the Fourth Circuit vacated on February 6, 2026.
Ohio Gov. DeWine signed HB8, barring K-3 gender-identity instruction and requiring schools to report students' well-being changes to parents
On January 8, 2025, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 8, the "Parents' Bill of Rights," which the General Assembly had passed during the lame-duck session on December 18, 2024. The law prohibits "sexuality content," defined to include "gender ideology," in kindergarten-through-third-grade classroom instruction and requires advance parental notice with an opt-out for such material in other grades. It also directs school personnel to notify a parent of any change in a student's counseling, monitoring, or health-and-well-being services and bars staff from encouraging a student to withhold that information from a parent.
Oklahoma House adopted a chamber rule restricting a women's restroom to people 'born as a biological female'
On January 7, 2025, the Oklahoma House of Representatives adopted its chamber rules for the 2025-26 legislature (HR1002), including a provision restricting a women's restroom near the House floor to "a person born as a biological female." Sponsor Rep. Molly Jenkins described the rule as precautionary against transgender women using the restroom, echoing Congress's recent restriction on transgender women using certain U.S. Capitol restrooms. A violation can result in censure, including the loss of a member's voting rights on legislation.
2024 Events (41)
Congress enacted FY2025 NDAA provision barring TRICARE coverage of gender-affirming care for military dependents under 18
President Joe Biden signed H.R. 5009, the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, into law as Public Law 118-159 on December 23, 2024. Section 708, added by House Republican conferees, amends 10 U.S.C. 1079(a) to bar TRICARE from covering "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization" — including hormone therapy and puberty blockers — for TRICARE beneficiaries under 18.
Ohio Gov. DeWine signed SB 104, requiring K-12 and college facilities be designated by birth sex and barring transgender students
On November 26, 2024, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 104, which enacted the "Protect All Students Act" requiring K-12 schools and higher-education institutions to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations for the exclusive use of one sex assigned at birth. The bathroom-ban language, originally a separate bill, was merged into SB 104 — nominally a bill about the College Credit Plus program — by House floor amendment. The law took effect February 25, 2025.
Indiana AG Rokita issued unauthorized civil investigative demands against Evansville manufacturer, Haitian refugee-support nonprofit
On November 9, 2024, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's office announced it had issued a civil investigative demand (CID) to Berry Global Group (now Amcor) in Evansville seeking extensive records on the company's employment of migrants, followed roughly three weeks later by a substantially similar CID to the Haitian Center of Evansville, a nonprofit serving Haitian immigrants and refugees. Neither CID identified a specific suspect, victim, or incident of labor trafficking.
Texas AG Paxton sued El Paso physician Dr. Hector Granados over alleged violations of state's transgender-care ban
On October 29, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed a lawsuit against El Paso pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Hector Granados in Kaufman County district court, accusing him of prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to more than 20 minors in violation of Senate Bill 14, the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and of falsifying medical records to conceal the treatments as care for precocious puberty. The suit sought more than $1 million in penalties and revocation of Granados's medical license, and followed a similar suit Paxton's office filed against Dr. May Lau two weeks earlier.
Penn State Health St. Joseph canceled a non-binary patient's scheduled mastectomy citing Catholic doctrine
On July 23, 2024, administrators at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pennsylvania contacted EJ Stiles, a 23-year-old non-binary patient, less than 24 hours before a scheduled double mastectomy to cancel the procedure, telling Stiles it was "not in alignment with directives of the Catholic Church." Penn State Health acquired St. Joseph Medical Center in 2015, converting it from a private Catholic facility into part of a public university hospital system, yet the network continued allowing the hospital to enforce Catholic healthcare directives that barred gender-affirming care. Stiles was forced to wait months before obtaining the same surgery at another Penn State Health facility.
New Hampshire enacted HB1205 barring transgender girls from girls' school sports in grades 5-12
On July 19, 2024, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB1205 (Chapter 228) into law, requiring interscholastic and club athletic teams for grades 5 through 12 to be designated male, female, or coed and barring students of "the male sex" from teams designated for females — a birth-certificate-based eligibility standard that, as written, excludes transgender girls from girls' teams regardless of their gender identity. Eligibility is set by the student's biological sex on a birth certificate issued at or near birth, with other proof required at the family's expense if unavailable. The law creates private rights of action against schools and athletic associations that fail to comply and took effect August 18, 2024.
New Hampshire enacted HB619 barring genital gender-reassignment surgery on minors
On July 19, 2024, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB619 (Chapter 213) into law, barring physicians from performing genital gender-reassignment surgery on anyone under 18 in the state and prohibiting referrals to out-of-state providers for the same procedures. The law classifies violations as unprofessional conduct subject to medical-board discipline and creates a private right of action allowing an affected minor or their parent to sue the treating physician, with carve-outs for reconstructive procedures, disorders of sex development, and male circumcision. It took effect January 1, 2025.
New Hampshire Gov. Sununu signed HB 1312, mandating LGBTQ+ curriculum notice and parental disclosure of students' gender identity
On July 19, 2024, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1312 into law, amending RSA 186:11 to require school districts to give parents at least two weeks' written notice, with an opt-out, before teaching any curriculum covering sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression. The law also bars districts from any policy that lets staff withhold from a parent information about a student's gender identity or health, effectively compelling disclosure regardless of the student's wishes. The Republican-controlled New Hampshire General Court had passed the measure in narrow, party-line votes earlier that year.
South Carolina enacted a budget proviso barring transgender K-12 students from restrooms matching their gender identity
South Carolina's FY2024-25 General Appropriations Act (H.5100, ratified as R-252) took effect on July 3, 2024, carrying Budget Proviso 1.120, which requires all K-12 public school districts to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, changing facilities, and overnight sleeping quarters for use by students of one biological sex only. The proviso withholds 25 percent of a district's state operating funds for a violation. Gov. Henry McMaster issued 21 line-item vetoes to the budget that day on unrelated appropriations, leaving Proviso 1.120 untouched and in force for the 2024-25 school year.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HCR301, invoking the state Sovereignty Act to bar officers from enforcing federal Title IX transgender protections
On June 21, 2024, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed House Concurrent Resolution 301, which the Legislature had passed two days earlier during a special session. The resolution invoked the newly enacted Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act to direct state officers, elected officials, and public and higher-education employees not to enforce the U.S. Department of Education's 2024 Title IX regulations extending protections to transgender and pregnant students where they conflict with Utah law. It was the first use of the Sovereignty Act mechanism.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the 'Given Name Act' restricting school use of students' chosen names and pronouns
On June 19, 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 121, the "Given Name Act" (Act 680), into law, barring public school governing authorities from adopting policies that require staff or students to use a name or pronoun for a student that is inconsistent with the student's legal name or biological sex -- a standard that, as applied, bars staff from using a transgender student's chosen name or pronouns. The law, sponsored by Rep. Raymond Crews, bars discipline of any employee or student who declines to use a chosen name or pronoun and creates a private civil cause of action for violations. It took effect August 1, 2024.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB122, barring K-12 teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students
On June 19, 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB122, by Rep. Dodie Horton, into law as Act 681, prohibiting public K-12 teachers, employees, and other presenters from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students in any classroom instruction or extracurricular activity that deviates from state-approved content standards, and from discussing their own sexual orientation or gender identity with students at all. The bill passed the House 69-28 and the Senate 28-7 and took effect August 1, 2024. An identical measure had been vetoed by then-Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2023.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the Women's Safety and Protection Act, mandating birth-sex facility designation in schools, prisons, and shelters
On June 3, 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB608, the "Women's Safety and Protection Act," into law as Act 436, defining "sex" in state law strictly as biological sex "as observed or clinically verified at birth" and specifying that gender identity does not apply across all state law and agency rules. The act requires public schools, correctional and juvenile-detention facilities, and domestic-violence shelters to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters by biological sex, and creates a private cause of action against non-complying facilities. It passed the House 80-17 and the Senate 29-10 and took effect August 1, 2024.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB2310, imposing civil liability on adults who help minors obtain gender-affirming care
On June 3, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB2310/SB2782, enacted as Public Chapter 1064, creating a civil cause of action against any person who intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports an unemancipated minor within Tennessee for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming care that the state already bans for minors. The law, effective July 1, 2024, lets a minor or the minor's parents sue such adults for damages, while exempting the minor's own parents or guardians and common transportation carriers. Reported as a first-in-the-nation measure, it extends Tennessee's 2023 ban on gender-affirming care for minors by penalizing third parties who help trans youth access that care.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed HB 1449, writing a binary biological-sex definition into state law and excluding gender identity from recognition
On May 31, 2024, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 1449, the "Women's Bill of Rights," enacted by the Oklahoma Legislature. The law writes binary definitions of "sex," "male," and "female" into Oklahoma statute based strictly on reproductive biology at birth and excludes gender identity from legal recognition of sex, with the stated purpose of restricting sex-segregated spaces to a person's biological sex. It took effect November 1, 2024.
South Carolina Gov. McMaster signed H4624 banning gender-affirming care for minors and requiring schools to out trans students
On May 21, 2024, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed H4624, the Help Not Harm Act, into law, barring physicians from providing gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery to anyone under 18. The law also prohibits public funds and the state Medicaid program from covering gender transition procedures at any age and requires public school staff to notify a minor's parents if the student discloses that their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. It took effect immediately upon the governor's signature.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed SB 2753 requiring birth-sex-based restrooms and housing in public schools and universities
On May 13, 2024, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2753, the "Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly Act" (SAFER Act), into law. The measure requires public schools, community colleges, and universities to designate restrooms, changing facilities, and student housing by sex "determined solely by a birth" and codifies statewide definitions of "male" and "female" fixed at birth, creating a private civil cause of action to enforce it. Sponsored by Sen. Josh Harkins and passed by the Mississippi Legislature, the law took effect immediately.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed SF2435 banning DEI offices at public universities
On May 9, 2024, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF2435, an education-appropriations act whose Division IX bars public universities governed by the state Board of Regents from establishing or staffing diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, requiring DEI statements, or spending any funds to support such offices. The law defines prohibited DEI to reach trainings and programming designed with reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and forbids institutions from taking official positions on contested concepts including "transgender ideology" and "gender theory." Enforcement runs through attorney-general mandamus actions, with the DEI provisions taking effect July 1, 2025.
Shenandoah County, Virginia school board voted to restore Confederate-general names to two public schools
On May 9, 2024, the Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia voted 5-1 to reverse a 2020 decision and restore Confederate-general names to two public schools, renaming Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary back to Ashby Lee Elementary. The Virginia NAACP and the families of affected Black students sued, and a federal judge later found the renaming could not be divorced from racial discrimination and violated students' constitutional and civil rights.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810 requiring schools to report students' gender-identity requests to parents
On May 9, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810, enacted as Public Chapter 832, amending Title 49 of the Tennessee Code. The law requires a K-12 public school or charter school employee to report a student's request for an accommodation affirming the student's gender identity — such as a different name or pronouns — to a school administrator, who must then report it to the student's parent. It also bars employees from knowingly giving parents false or misleading information about a student's gender identity and creates a private right of action alongside attorney general enforcement against noncompliant schools.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2766, removing sexual orientation and other named protected classes from the educator code of ethics
On May 1, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2766 (Public Chapter 780), which amended the K-12 educator code of ethics. The prior statute barred educators from disadvantaging a student on an enumerated list of protected characteristics including sexual orientation, race, sex, and family, social, or cultural background; as enacted, the bill struck that list and substituted a general prohibition on discriminating against a student "on any basis."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2861, barring state funds for gender-affirming care for inmates
On April 29, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2861 (Public Chapter 821), prohibiting the state Department of Correction from using state funds to provide hormone replacement therapy or sex-reassignment surgery to inmates held in a state penitentiary, county jail, or workhouse. The General Assembly had passed the measure, with the Senate voting 24-3 on April 4 and the House 71-20 on April 11. The law took effect immediately upon signing.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law shielding foster and adoptive parents who refuse to affirm a child's LGBTQ identity
On April 17, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1738, the "Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act," codified as Public Chapter 677 and effective July 1, 2024. The law bars the Department of Children's Services from requiring foster or adoptive parents to affirm any government policy on sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs, and from denying eligibility or placement on that basis. It passed the Senate 25-6 and the House 73-20.
Idaho Gov. Little signed library-restriction law defining 'homosexuality' as harmful to minors
On April 10, 2024, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed H0710, the "Children's School and Library Protection Act," creating a private cause of action against public and school libraries that fail to relocate materials deemed "harmful to minors" to adults-only sections within 60 days of a complaint. The "harmful to minors" standard the law enforces is defined in Idaho Code to include "homosexuality" as sexual conduct. The law took effect July 1, 2024.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 421, defining sex and gender as binary biological categories across state code
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 421 on April 9, 2024, inserting binary biology-based definitions of "sex," "male," "female," and "gender" into Idaho Code section 73-114, the general statutory-terms section that applies by default across all state statutes unless a specific law defines otherwise. The law declares there are "two, and only two, sexes," fixes sex at conception or birth rather than self-identification, defines "gender" as a synonym for biological sex that explicitly excludes gender identity, and amends Idaho's birth-certificate, vulnerable-child, and school changing-facility statutes to point to the new definition. It passed the House 54-14 and the Senate 26-8 and took effect as Session Law Chapter 322 on July 1, 2024.
Idaho Gov. Little signed H0538 barring compelled use of preferred pronouns for government employees and students
On April 8, 2024, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 538 into law, enacting Idaho Code section 67-5909B after the Legislature passed it earlier that session. The law bars adverse action against government employees and public-school students who decline to use a name, title, or pronoun inconsistent with a person's biological sex, prohibits school and higher-education staff from addressing an unemancipated minor by an affirmed name or pronoun without written parental permission, and creates a private cause of action for violations. It took effect July 1, 2024, as Session Law Chapter 314.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed state Religious Freedom Restoration Act after Republican majority rejected anti-discrimination carve-out
On April 2, 2024, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2095, a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, into law at a private event hosted by the conservative Christian group The Family Leader. The law, enacted as Iowa Acts Chapter 1003, sets a strict-scrutiny standard for government actions that burden religious exercise; Republican legislators had rejected a Democratic amendment (S-5018) that would have barred the law from overriding civil-rights, disability, and anti-discrimination protections. The bill passed the Senate 31-16 and the House 61-33 along party lines.
Idaho Gov. Little signed H0668, barring public funds and Medicaid coverage for gender-transition care
On March 27, 2024, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 668 into law after the Legislature passed it, prohibiting the use of state, county, and local public funds for gender-transition procedures for minors and adults and barring Idaho Medicaid from covering such care. The law also bars publicly employed physicians from providing the care in the scope of employment and forbids use of state property to provide it. It took effect July 1, 2024, as Session Law Chapter 209.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed HB4233, barring "non-binary" sex designation on birth certificates
On March 27, 2024, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed House Bill 4233 into law, amending the state's vital-statistics code to require that birth certificates list a child's sex as male or female and to prohibit the use of "non-binary" as a sex designation. The measure, passed by the West Virginia Legislature, was enacted as Chapter 217 of the 2024 Acts and took effect on May 29, 2024.
Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 578 shielding faith-based adoption and foster agencies that refuse service
On March 25, 2024, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 578, enacting Idaho Code section 16-1648 to bar the state and its subdivisions from taking discriminatory action against adoption or foster-care agencies or individuals who decline to provide a service based on a sincerely held religious belief. The law, effective July 1, 2024, created a private right of action with damages and attorney's fees against the state. Committee testimony warned the shield could enable discrimination against prospective foster and adoptive parents based on sexual orientation.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed SF 99 banning gender-transition care for minors
On March 22, 2024, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed Senate File 99, the "Children Gender Change Prohibition," barring physicians and health care providers from performing gender-transition procedures — including sterilizing surgeries, mastectomies, and puberty-blocking or cross-sex hormone prescriptions — on anyone under 18 to affirm a gender identity differing from sex assigned at birth. The same drugs and procedures remain permitted for minors treated for precocious puberty or intersex conditions, and a violation is grounds for suspension or revocation of a provider's license. The law took effect July 1, 2024.
Idaho Gov. Little signed law shielding counselors' belief-based service refusals from licensing discipline
On March 21, 2024, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1352, enacting Idaho Code section 54-3416, which lets licensed counselors and marriage-and-family therapists decline to provide counseling that supports goals, outcomes, or behaviors conflicting with their sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical principles. The law immunizes such refusals from civil suit, criminal prosecution, and professional-licensing-board discipline. It passed the Senate 23-11 and the House 59-10, became Session Law Chapter 152, and took effect July 1, 2024.
Utah Gov. Cox signed SB 219 adding a gender-identity screening test and sealing transgender-athlete eligibility proceedings
On March 21, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 219, "School Activity Eligibility Commission Modifications," amending the commission that determines whether transgender students may participate in sex-designated interscholastic athletics. The law adds a requirement that the commission consider whether a student's assertion of a gender identity is consistent with the statutory definition, and it removes individual eligibility proceedings from Utah's open-meetings law while expanding confidentiality to records held by schools. It also directs the Attorney General to defend, and the state to indemnify, persons enforcing the law.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB129, banning DEI offices and programs at public colleges and mandating sex-based restrooms
On March 20, 2024, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB129 into law, prohibiting public colleges, state agencies, and local school boards from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or sponsoring DEI programs and barring the promotion of eight enumerated "divisive concepts," with discipline or termination authorized for violators. The act also requires every public higher-education institution to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms by "biological sex," displacing access based on gender identity. Passed by the Alabama Legislature and signed in Montgomery, the law took effect October 1, 2024.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB316, requiring jail and prison housing by birth sex and restricting transgender inmate placement
On March 18, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 0316, "Inmate Assignment Amendments," which bars the Department of Corrections and county jails from housing inmates with others of the opposite biological sex at birth. Sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee and carried in the Senate by Sen. Heidi Balderree, the law lets a transgender inmate seek gender-matching placement only after a discretionary multi-factor security analysis required of no other inmate. The measure took effect May 1, 2024.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB157 barring a parent's stance on a child's gender identity as a custody or removal factor
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 157, "Child Custody Factor Amendments," into law on March 14, 2024. The law amends Utah Code 30-3-10 to prohibit courts from considering a parent's agreement or disagreement with a minor child's asserted or expressed gender identity when awarding custody or parent-time, and amends Utah Code 80-2a-202 to bar peace officers and caseworkers from removing a child from parental custody solely on that basis. Chief sponsor Rep. Stephanie Gricius carried the bill, which passed the House 73-0 and the Senate 16-7 before the House concurred 63-0.
Wyoming enacted SEA 8, requiring parental opt-in before instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity
On March 6, 2024, Wyoming Senate Enrolled Act 8 (Senate File 9) took effect after Gov. Mark Gordon allowed it to become law without his signature. The law requires public schools to obtain written or electronic parental permission at least one day in advance before a student may participate in any class or training that addresses sexual orientation or gender identity — a restriction not applied to other subjects.
Federal judge held journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and imposed an $800-a-day fine for refusing to reveal a confidential source
On February 29, 2024, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper held former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and ordered an $800-a-day fine, escalating over time, for her refusal to identify the confidential source behind her 2017 reporting on an FBI investigation of scientist Yanping Chen. Cooper ruled that Chen's need for the information in her Privacy Act lawsuit against the federal government overcame Herridge's asserted First Amendment reporter's privilege. The fine was stayed pending appeal.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB0878 letting officials and officiants refuse to solemnize any marriage
On February 21, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB0878, enacted as Public Chapter 511, adding to Tennessee Code 36-3-301 that "a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage." Because notaries, government officials, and religious officials are all authorized to solemnize marriages in Tennessee, the law creates a blanket right for any authorized officiant to decline to perform a marriage. The bill's sponsor said it would let officiants refuse marriages "contrary to their beliefs" as views change about "what constitutes a marriage."
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB257 mandating birth-sex facility use in schools, public buildings, and prisons
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 257, "Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying, and Women's Opportunities," into law on January 30, 2024. The act requires restrooms, showers, and locker rooms in public K-12 schools and government-owned or controlled buildings to be used according to sex assigned at birth, creates new and enhanced criminal penalties for using a facility inconsistent with that designation, and extends the birth-sex standard to government athletic programs and to correctional facilities. It is codified at Utah Code 63G-31-201 et seq.
Ohio legislature overrode DeWine's veto to enact HB68, banning trans youth gender-affirming care and trans athletes in girls' sports
On January 24, 2024, the Ohio Senate voted 24-8 to override Governor Mike DeWine's veto of House Bill 68, the "Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act," completing an override the Ohio House began on January 10 and enacting the bill over the governor's objection. HB68 bans gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for transgender minors and bars transgender women and girls from female K-12 and collegiate sports. The law was set to take effect roughly 90 days later, on April 24, 2024.
2023 Events (73)
President Biden signed the FY2024 NDAA, codifying DoD's facially neutral 'approved flags' policy that excludes the Pride flag
On December 22, 2023, President Biden signed H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, into law as Public Law 118-31. Section 1052 of the law prohibits display of any flag other than an enumerated "approved flag" list in Department of Defense workplaces and public areas; the Pride flag is not among the categories on that list, codifying the exclusionary policy the Pentagon adopted under a 2020 Esper memo. An explicit provision banning Pride flag displays, passed by the House, was removed during conference negotiations, leaving only the facially neutral approved-flags list in the enacted law.
North Carolina enacted SB452, barring transgender girls from girls' school sports and adding state enforcement of the ban
On October 3, 2023, North Carolina enacted Senate Bill 452 (Session Law 2023-133), an omnibus insurance bill amended late in the session to rewrite the state's high school athletics statute. The law requires K-12 interscholastic and intramural teams to be designated by "biological sex," bars students of "the male sex" from female teams, and defines sex by reproductive biology and genetics at birth, excluding transgender girls from girls' school sports. It also directs the State Board of Education to monitor schools for compliance and report violators to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.
North Carolina overrode Cooper's veto to enact S49, restricting K-4 gender-identity instruction and mandating parental notice of pronoun changes
On August 16, 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly voted along party lines to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 49, the "Parents' Bill of Rights," enacting it as Session Law 2023-106. The law bars instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality in kindergarten-through-fourth-grade classrooms and requires school personnel to notify a parent before any change in the name or pronoun used for a student.
North Carolina legislature overrode Cooper's veto to enact H808 banning gender-affirming care for minors
On August 16, 2023, North Carolina's Republican-led General Assembly overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of House Bill 808, enacting Session Law 2023-111. The law prohibits medical professionals from initiating puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or surgical gender-transition procedures for anyone under 18 not already receiving such care as of August 1, 2023. The House completed its override 73-46 and the Senate 27-18, both clearing the required three-fifths margin.
North Carolina legislature overrode Gov. Cooper's veto to enact H574 transgender sports ban
On August 16, 2023, the North Carolina House of Representatives (74-45) and Senate (27-18) voted to override Governor Roy Cooper's veto of House Bill 574, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," enacting it as Session Law 2023-109. The law bars students whose sex was recorded male at birth from female and women's middle-school, high-school, and collegiate athletic teams, defines sex by reproductive biology at birth, and creates civil causes of action, effective for the 2023-2024 school year.
Louisiana Legislature overrode Gov. Edwards' veto to enact HB648, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On July 18, 2023, the Louisiana Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards's veto of HB648, enacting Act 466, a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The House voted 76-23 and the Senate 28-11 to override, both exceeding the two-thirds threshold. The law bars anyone under 18 from receiving gender-affirming surgery, puberty-blocking medication, or hormone treatment and revokes for at least two years the license of any health professional who provides such care, effective January 1, 2024.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 12 restricting drag and other "sexually oriented performances" on public property and before minors
On June 18, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law, restricting "sexually oriented performances" on the premises of a commercial enterprise, on public property, or in the presence of an individual younger than 18. The law, authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, creates a criminal offense for performers and authorizes civil penalties of up to $10,000 against businesses; though its text does not name drag, its sponsors and Abbott described it as targeting drag performances. It took effect only in 2026, after years of litigation in which it was initially struck down as unconstitutional.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 15 barring transgender college athletes from competing under their gender identity
On June 18, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 15, the "Save Women's Sports Act," requiring students at public institutions of higher education to compete in intercollegiate athletics based on their biological sex assigned at birth. The law bars transgender college athletes from competing consistent with their gender identity and extends a 2021 Texas law that had already imposed the same restriction on K-12 student-athletes. It took effect September 1, 2023.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 17, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public colleges and universities
On June 17, 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 17, enacted by the 88th Legislature and authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, barring public colleges and universities from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, mandating DEI training, or requiring diversity statements in hiring and admissions decisions. The law, which took effect January 1, 2024, tasks the Texas State Auditor with compliance enforcement and puts noncompliant institutions at risk of losing eligibility for state funding increases. Ahead of the deadline, universities closed DEI and related offices, including multicultural and LGBTQ+ resource centers.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 900, requiring vendors to rate and pull sexually explicit books from public school libraries
On June 12, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 900, the READER Act, into law at a Texas Capitol bill-signing ceremony. The law requires book vendors, as a condition of selling to Texas public schools, to rate the titles they sell for sexual content and to recall any rated "sexually explicit," which must then be removed from school library shelves, while books rated "sexually relevant" require written parental consent to check out. The Texas Education Agency was given authority to overrule a vendor's ratings, and vendors that refuse to comply are barred from selling to Texas schools.
Missouri enacted SB39 barring transgender students from K-12 and college sports by birth-certificate sex
On June 7, 2023, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 39 (Senate Substitute No. 2), enacting Section 163.048 RSMo to bar any student from competing in an athletics competition designated for the biological sex opposite to the sex on their official birth certificate, at both K-12 and postsecondary institutions. Private schools, public school districts, public charter schools, and public or private colleges that violate the law lose all state aid. The provisions took effect August 28, 2023, and are set to expire August 28, 2027.
Missouri Gov. Parson signed SB 49 SAFE Act banning gender-affirming care for minors and Medicaid coverage
On June 7, 2023, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 49, the "Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act," barring health care providers from performing gender-transition surgeries on minors and, until Aug. 28, 2027, from prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minors for gender transition. The law also bars the state's MO HealthNet (Medicaid) program from covering gender-transition care for transgender people of any age and prohibits such surgeries in state prisons and jails. Passed by the Republican-controlled Missouri General Assembly, it took effect Aug. 28, 2023, with narrow carve-outs and grandfathering for minors already in treatment.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 14 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On June 2, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 14, prohibiting physicians from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or transition surgery to transgender minors and barring the use of public money to pay for such care. The law, which took effect September 1, 2023, required minors already in treatment to be weaned off it and directed the state to revoke the licenses of providers who continued the care. Texas became the most populous state to enact such a ban.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB261, extending the state's transgender sports ban to public colleges
On May 30, 2023, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed HB261 into law, amending Section 16-1-52 of the Code of Alabama to bar transgender women and girls from athletic teams designated for females at public two- and four-year colleges and universities. The law extended the state's existing K-12 transgender sports ban to higher education and added provisions shielding institutions that comply and students who report violations.
Iowa enacted SF496, barring K-6 gender-identity and sexual-orientation instruction and requiring parental notification of students' gender requests
On May 26, 2023, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 496, an omnibus education law passed by the 90th General Assembly on party lines. The law bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through sixth grade, requires school employees to notify parents when a student asks to be addressed by a different name or pronouns, and requires removal of library books depicting sex acts. Republicans framed it as expanding parental rights; LGBTQ-rights groups, educators, and Democrats said it targeted and endangered transgender and LGBTQ students.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB26, adding funding-cut and civil-liability penalties to the school transgender bathroom ban
On May 25, 2023, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 26 into law, amending the state's 2022 school-facilities law (SB615) to define "sex" by original birth certificate and add new enforcement mechanisms. The law authorizes a 5% cut in state funding for a noncompliant public school district or charter school and creates a private cause of action allowing a parent or guardian to sue a district over noncompliance. SB26 passed the Senate 46-0 and the House 86-0 before Stitt approved it with an emergency clause and a July 1, 2023 effective date.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed SB1440 defining 'sex' as immutable at birth, ending gender-marker updates on state IDs
On May 24, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1440 (Public Chapter 486) into law, adding a statutory definition of "sex" as "a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth" throughout Tennessee code. The measure had passed the Senate 27-6 and the House 71-21. Citing the new definition, the Tennessee Department of Safety stopped updating gender markers on driver's licenses for transgender residents.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 359 banning drag story hours and restricting drag performances before minors
On May 22, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 359 into law, banning "drag story hours" at state-funded schools and libraries and restricting "sexually oriented performances" in front of minors on public property or at businesses. The law defines a covered drag performer by a "flamboyant or parodic" persona and "glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup," and imposes an outright ban at any location receiving state funding. It was sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, and heavily amended before passage.
Nebraska Gov. Pillen signed LB574, restricting gender-affirming care for minors under 19
On May 22, 2023, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed LB574, a bill barring anyone under 19 from receiving gender-altering surgery and authorizing the state's chief medical officer to restrict minors' access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy, effective October 1, 2023. The Nebraska Legislature had passed the measure 33-15 on May 19, 2023, bundling the "Let Them Grow Act" with a separate 12-week abortion ban that took effect immediately. The gender-affirming-care provisions singled out transgender minors for exclusion from medical treatments otherwise available to their peers.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB 458 defining sex as binary, eliminating legal recognition of transgender and intersex residents
On May 20, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 458 into law, inserting binary, reproduction-based definitions of "male," "female," and "sex" into roughly 40 sections of state code. The statute defines sex strictly by chromosomes and gamete production "under normal development," eliminating legal recognition of transgender, nonbinary, and many intersex Montanans on documents such as birth certificates and driver's licenses. The bill, drafted in part by the Montana Family Foundation, passed the Legislature largely along party lines.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB518, requiring parental permission for affirming pronouns and enabling forced outing of trans students
On May 19, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 518, a "parental rights" measure requiring school personnel to obtain written parental permission before using a name or pronoun for a student that does not align with the student's sex. The law also protects staff who refuse to use a student's affirmed pronouns and bars schools from withholding information about a child's health, including gender-identity information, from parents. Advocates warned the measure enables schools to out transgender and non-binary students to their families without the student's consent.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1521 restricting facility access to birth sex and mandating birth-sex prison placement
On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1521, the "Facility Requirements Based on Sex" act, requiring restrooms and changing facilities in schools, colleges, and government buildings to be designated for exclusive use by a person's sex assigned at birth. The law makes willful entry into a facility for the opposite sex, plus refusal to leave when asked, a criminal trespass, and requires domestic-violence shelters and correctional facilities to house people by birth sex rather than gender identity. Enacted as Chapter 2023-106, it took effect July 1, 2023.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1069, extending classroom gender-identity restrictions through grade 8 and mandating sex-based pronoun rules
On May 17, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/HB 1069 into law, expanding the state's 2022 "Parental Rights in Education" law by extending its restriction on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity from grades K-3 through grade 8. The law defines sex in the state education code as an immutable biological trait, bars teachers and school employees from providing students their preferred pronouns or titles when inconsistent with their sex, and prohibits requiring students or staff to use pronouns that do not correspond to a person's sex. It also broadened the process for challenging school library and instructional materials.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 254 banning gender-affirming care for minors and letting courts seize custody over such care
On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed CS/SB 254, "Treatments for Sex Reassignment" (Chapter 2023-90), prohibiting gender-affirming prescriptions and procedures for patients under 18 and barring public entities from spending state funds on such care. The law also grants Florida courts temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in the state who has been or may be subjected to such care, and defines being subjected to it as "serious physical harm" for child-custody enforcement. DeSantis signed the measure alongside related bills at a ceremony at a Tampa evangelical school.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 1438 restricting minors' access to drag and 'adult live' performances
On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1438, the "Protection of Children" act, creating criminal penalties and business-licensing sanctions for admitting minors to "adult live performances." Though facially neutral, the law was framed and widely understood as targeting drag performances and LGBTQ+ expression, and Orlando's Hamburger Mary's sued within days. DeSantis signed the measure at a Christian school in Tampa during the 2023 regular legislative session.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0466, shielding public-school employees who refuse transgender students' pronouns
On May 17, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB0466 into law as Public Chapter 448, specifying that a teacher or other public-school employee is not required to refer to a student by a preferred pronoun inconsistent with the student's sex assigned at birth. The law insulates employees from civil liability and adverse employment action for instead using the pronoun consistent with that biological sex, taking effect immediately on signing.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1443/HB727 requiring parental opt-in consent for LGBTQ curriculum and school club membership
On May 17, 2023, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1443/HB727 into law as Public Chapter 353, after the Senate passed it 25-5 and the House 74-24. The law requires a student's parent or guardian (or the student, if 18 or older) to give written opt-in consent before the student receives instruction of a "sexual orientation curriculum or gender identity curriculum," and separately bars any minor from joining or participating in any school club without prior dated, written parental consent. The club-consent provision, added by floor amendment, functions as a forced-outing mechanism for students who wish to join LGBTQ-support clubs such as Gender-Sexuality Alliances.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed medical-conscience law excluding LGBTQ+ patients from anti-discrimination protections
On May 11, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed CS/SB 1580, the "Protections of Medical Conscience" Act, at a news conference in Destin, Florida, giving health care providers and payors a right to opt out of any health care service on the basis of a conscience-based religious, moral, or ethical objection. The law's anti-discrimination clause bars providers from refusing care based on a patient's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin but omits sexual orientation and gender identity. It took effect July 1, 2023, as Chapter 2023-57.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1474, codifying a binary "sex" definition that bars LGBTQ+ discrimination claims
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1474, which the state's 68th Legislative Assembly passed to amend the North Dakota Century Code's master definitions section with binary statutory definitions of "female," "male," and "sex." The law defines sex by "nonambiguous sex organs, chromosomes, or endogenous hormone profiles at birth" and conforms four other 2023 bills to the same wording. Advocates said the definitions bar sexual-orientation and gender-identity discrimination claims in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
North Dakota enacted HB 1522 restricting transgender students' restroom use and barring schools from concealing their status from parents
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1522, which requires public school boards to prohibit students from using restrooms that do not coincide with their "biological sex," allowing separate accommodations only with parental approval. The law also bars schools and teachers from adopting policy on a student's transgender status or withholding that status from the student's parents, and prohibits government entities from requiring or forbidding employees' use of colleagues' preferred pronouns. The measure passed the Legislative Assembly with an emergency clause and took effect immediately.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB1297, barring transgender residents from changing birth-certificate gender markers
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed HB1297, enacted by the state's 68th Legislative Assembly, prohibiting amendment of the sex designation on a birth record "due to a gender identity change." The law permits corrections only for scrivener errors, chromosomal or genetic testing showing an error, or a certified anatomical change, and statutorily defines "sex" as the biological state at birth. It was one of three anti-LGBTQ+ measures Burgum signed the same period targeting transgender North Dakotans.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB 1608, barring K-3 instruction on human sexuality and requiring schools to notify parents of gender-identity requests
On May 4, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1608 into law, creating a new statute (IC 20-30-17) that bars schools, employees, and third-party vendors from providing any instruction on "human sexuality" to students in prekindergarten through grade 3. A separate provision (IC 20-33-7.5) requires schools to notify a parent in writing within five business days whenever an unemancipated minor student requests to be identified by a different name, pronoun, or title. The bill passed the House 65-29, took effect July 1, 2023, and is codified as Public Law 248-2023.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1237, extending the state's transgender school-sports ban to private schools
On May 4, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1237 into law as Public Chapter 285, limiting a private-school student's eligibility for interscholastic athletics governed by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association to participation "in accordance with the student's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth." The law extends to TSSAA-affiliated private schools a transgender-athlete restriction Tennessee already applied to its public schools.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 303 letting providers refuse gender-affirming care and abortion on moral grounds
On May 3, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 303, the "Medical Ethics and Diversity Act," permitting medical practitioners, institutions, and insurers to refuse to participate in or pay for health services on "ethical, moral, or religious" grounds. Sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, the law names no patient right to obtain care when a provider objects, and its sponsor identified abortion, gender-affirming care, and physician aid in dying among the intended targets. It passed the Republican-majority Legislature largely along party lines.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed SB 350, voiding local bans on conversion therapy for minors
On May 1, 2023, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 350 into law, barring any Indiana city, town, or county from regulating behavioral health and human-services practitioners licensed or certified under IC 25-23.6. The measure, added as IC 25-23.6-2-8.5, was authored in response to local ordinances in Indianapolis, Bloomington, and elsewhere that had prohibited licensed practitioners from performing conversion therapy on minors, and it voids those bans and bars future local protections. Indiana maintains no statewide ban on the practice.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB613, banning gender-affirming medical care for minors
On May 1, 2023, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 613 into law, banning gender-transition surgeries, puberty-blocking medication, and hormone therapy for anyone under 18 and making a violation a felony for health care providers, alongside license revocation and civil liability. The bill carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately on signing, with a limited allowance for minors already receiving treatment to be tapered off. It passed the Oklahoma Legislature 40-8 in the Senate and 73-18 in the House.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB99 banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors
On April 28, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 99, the "Youth Health Protection Act," prohibiting health care providers from offering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures to transgender minors for the treatment of gender dysphoria. Sponsored by Sen. John Fuller and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature along party lines, the law threatened providers with license suspension and was scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2023.
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly's veto to enact HB 2138 school overnight-lodging biological-sex mandate
On April 27, 2023, the Kansas Senate voted 30-9 to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of Senate Substitute for HB 2138, completing its enactment a day after the House overrode the veto 85-39. The law requires every school district to adopt a policy providing separate overnight accommodations "for students of each biological sex" during school-sponsored travel, defining "biological sex" by chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and genitalia at birth "without regard to an individual's psychological, chosen or subjective experience of gender." It took effect July 1, 2023, and was published as Chapter 87 of the 2023 Session Laws of Kansas.
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly's veto to enact SB180, fixing legal sex to birth biology across facilities and vital records
On April 27, 2023, the Kansas Legislature enacted SB180, the "Women's Bill of Rights," by overriding Gov. Laura Kelly's veto, with the Senate voting 28-12 on April 26 and the House completing the override 84-40 the next day. The law defines "sex," "male," and "female" for all purposes of state law strictly by reproductive biology at birth and directs that this binary definition govern access to sex-segregated facilities and the recording of sex in state vital statistics. It took effect July 1, 2023.
Kansas enacted SB228 mandating that county jails house detainees by biological sex over the governor's veto
On April 26, 2023, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Laura Kelly's veto to enact SB228, a county-jail bill that amended K.S.A. 19-1903 to define "sex" as an individual's biological sex at birth and to require sheriffs to keep separate jail spaces for each sex, male and female. The House overrode the veto 87-37 and the Senate 31-9, enacting the measure as 2023 Session Laws Chapter 83. The provision bars transgender and intersex women from female-designated jail housing.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 361 declaring misgendering of transgender students not discrimination
On April 25, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 361, sponsored by Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, establishing in state law that referring to a fellow student by a sex or name they do not claim — misgendering and deadnaming — is not legally discriminatory behavior. The measure passed the House 66-32 and the Senate 30-20 on party-line votes. Opponents, including LGBTQ+ groups, Democratic legislators, and transgender Montanans, said it legalizes harassment by carving transgender and nonbinary students out of discrimination protections other students keep.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1473, restricting transgender people from restrooms and showers in state prisons and college dormitories
On April 25, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1473, enacting new Century Code sections requiring restrooms and shower rooms in state correctional facilities—including the penitentiary and the youth correctional center—and in dormitories controlled by the state board of higher education to be designated for exclusive use by one sex. The law bars transgender inmates and college students from multi-occupancy restrooms and showers that match their gender identity, permitting deviation only as a "reasonable accommodation" at the discretion of facility or dormitory staff.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB1569, barring state funds for gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people
On April 20, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1569 into law, adding Indiana Code 11-10-3-3.5 to bar the Indiana Department of Correction from authorizing state or federal funds to provide or facilitate gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people, even when recommended by a medical provider. The measure, passed by the Indiana General Assembly, left hormone therapy untouched and took effect July 1, 2023. It did not apply to inmates already approved for surgery before that date.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1254, a felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors
On April 19, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1254, enacting a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The law makes it a class B felony for providers to perform gender-affirming surgery on minors and a class A misdemeanor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy for that purpose. It contains an exception for minors with a medically verifiable intersex condition but none for transgender minors.
Arkansas enacted the Conscience Protection Act, Act 733, shielding religious refusals from state penalties
On April 12, 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1615 into law as Act 733 of the 2023 Regular Session, the "Conscience Protection Act." The law amends Arkansas's Religious Freedom Restoration Act to shift the burden of proof onto government and mandate broad construction favoring religious exercise, and it creates a new subchapter barring state government from adverse action — denying tax exemptions, grants, contracts, licenses, certifications, or employment benefits — against a person, business, or religious organization because of a sincerely held religious belief "including a belief about biological sex or marriage." Supporters framed it as a religious-freedom protection, while LGBTQ+ advocates warned it authorizes identity-based refusals shielded from state consequence.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed SB270 (Act 619) criminalizing transgender adults' restroom use under the child sexual-indecency statute
On April 11, 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Senate Bill 270 into law as Act 619, amending the criminal offense of "sexual indecency with a child" to add a Class C misdemeanor for an adult who, to arouse or gratify sexual desire, enters or remains in a public changing facility "assigned to persons of the opposite sex" while knowing a minor of the opposite sex is present. The law defines "sex" as immutable biological sex determined at birth and defines "public changing facility" to include restrooms, locker rooms, and showers, functionally criminalizing transgender adults' use of facilities matching their gender identity when a minor is present. A third offense escalates to a Class D felony.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Given Name Act restricting school staff use of trans students' names and pronouns
On April 11, 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1468, the "Given Name Act," into law as Act 542 of 2023. The law bars public-school, charter, and higher-education employees from addressing an unemancipated minor with a pronoun, title, or name inconsistent with the student's biological sex or birth certificate without written parental permission, and creates a private right of action for violations. It also shields employees from adverse action and students from discipline for declining to use a person's preferred name or pronoun.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB 1489, barring transgender women from women's college sports teams
On April 11, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed HB 1489, requiring public and competing private colleges to designate athletic teams as male, female, or coed and barring female-designated teams to students defined as "the male sex" at birth. The measure, passed by the 68th Legislative Assembly (House 75-18, Senate 40-7), excludes transgender women from women's collegiate athletics and creates a private right of action to enforce the separation. Burgum signed it in Bismarck alongside a K-12 companion bill, HB 1249.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1249, barring transgender girls from female K-12 school sports teams
On April 11, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1249, enacting Chapter 15.1-39 of the North Dakota Century Code and requiring public and eligible nonpublic K-12 schools to designate athletic teams as male, female, or coed by a birth-based definition of "sex." The law bars students of the male sex — including transgender girls — from female-designated teams, prohibits adverse action against schools that maintain separate female teams, and creates a private civil cause of action with a two-year limit for damages and attorney's fees. The Legislative Assembly passed the measure 78-15 in the House and 38-9 in the Senate.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1139, defining birth-record sex as biological and fixed at birth
On April 7, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1139, amending the state's Health Statistics Act to define "sex" as the biological state of being female or male based on a person's sex organs, chromosomes, and hormone profiles at birth. The law requires every birth record to designate a child as male or female and bars a "not yet determined" entry unless sex is genuinely undeterminable on that biological basis. The measure passed 81-11 in the House and 42-5 in the Senate, codifying a binary conception of sex fixed at birth into North Dakota's vital-records law.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed SB 480, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors statewide
On April 5, 2023, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 480, barring physicians and other practitioners from knowingly providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy, or gender-transition surgery to anyone under 18, on pain of professional discipline. The law, which added IC 25-1-22 to the state code, carved out exceptions for minors with medically verifiable intersex conditions and for treating complications of prior care, and required minors already on hormone therapy to stop by December 31, 2023. It took effect July 1, 2023.
Kansas legislature overrode veto to enact HB2238 transgender sports ban
On April 5, 2023, the Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of HB2238, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," enacting a ban on transgender girls and women competing on female athletic teams at public schools and colleges. The House voted 84-40 and the Senate 28-12 to override, both margins along party lines. The law defines team eligibility by biological sex determined at birth and takes effect July 1, 2023.
Idaho Gov. Little signed law criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On April 4, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 71, the "Vulnerable Child Protection Act," making it a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison for a medical provider to give puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-transition surgery to a person under 18 to affirm a gender identity differing from their birth sex. The law, codified as Idaho Code section 18-1506C, carved out narrow exceptions for intersex conditions and complications of prior treatment and took effect January 1, 2024, as Session Law Chapter 292.
Kentucky enacted SB150 banning gender-affirming care for minors and restricting transgender students
On March 29, 2023, the Kentucky General Assembly overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's veto to enact Senate Bill 150, which bans gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and restricts transgender students' access to restrooms, school instruction on gender identity, and use of their chosen pronouns. The Senate voted 29-8 and the House 76-23 to override the veto, making Kentucky the twelfth state to ban such care. The law was enrolled as Kentucky Acts Chapter 132.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed HB2007, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On March 29, 2023, West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed House Bill 2007 into law, prohibiting physicians from providing hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or gender-reassignment surgery to anyone under 18 for the purpose of gender transition. The law included a narrow exception permitting puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by two providers and assessed to be at risk of self-harm, with parental consent. It was set to take effect in January 2024.
Idaho Gov. Little signed SB 1016, barring localities from requiring gender-neutral facilities in public-works contracts
On March 27, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1016, amending Idaho's procurement law to bar public entities and political subdivisions from requiring public-works contractors to provide multiple-occupancy restroom, shower, or changing-room access on any basis other than sex, defined by birth certificate and excluding gender identity. The law forecloses state and local governments from writing inclusive-facility requirements into publicly funded construction contracts.
Georgia Gov. Kemp signed SB 140 banning gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy for minors
On March 23, 2023, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 140, barring licensed facilities and physicians from performing gender-transition surgeries or providing hormone replacement therapy to minors under 18 for gender dysphoria. The law, passed by the Georgia General Assembly, provides narrow exceptions for disorders of sex development and grandfathers in minors already on hormone therapy before July 1, 2023. Violations expose physicians and facilities to discipline by the Georgia Composite Medical Board, including permit revocation.
Utah enacted S.B. 93, adding evidentiary barriers and an age ban to transgender birth-certificate sex changes
On March 23, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 93, "Birth Certificate Modifications," rewriting Utah Code 26-2-11 to impose new limits on court-ordered sex-designation changes. A court may now grant a change only on clear-and-convincing findings that the petitioner is not in litigation or on probation, has expressed the sought sex "in a consistent and uniform manner for at least six months," and suffers clinically significant distress. The law bars any change for a child under 15 years and 6 months and requires a guardian ad litem, at the family's expense, for older minors.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF482, barring transgender students from school restrooms matching their gender identity
On March 22, 2023, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 482 into law, enacting Iowa Code sections 216.9A and 280.33 and requiring K-12 public and nonpublic schools to designate restrooms, locker rooms, changing areas, and similar facilities for use only by students of the same "biological sex" as listed on their birth certificate. The law bars transgender students from facilities matching their gender identity and creates a citizen-complaint mechanism routed through the Iowa Attorney General, who may sue a noncompliant school. SF482 passed the Iowa Senate 33-16 and the House 57-39 before reaching the governor's desk.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed SF538 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On March 22, 2023, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 538 into law, barring health care professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones or performing gender-transition surgeries for minors. The law took effect immediately, with the treatment prohibition applying after a grandfather period and narrow exceptions only for intersex conditions or medical complications; violations are treated as unprofessional conduct subject to licensing discipline and civil suit.
Idaho Gov. Little signed SB 1100, barring transgender students from K-12 school facilities matching their gender identity
On March 22, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed Senate Bill 1100, requiring every K-12 public school restroom, changing facility, and overnight sleeping quarters to be reserved for a single sex defined by birth anatomy and excluding gender identity. The law bars transgender students from facilities matching their gender identity, offers only a written-request accommodation to separate single-occupancy spaces, and lets students sue schools for $5,000 in statutory damages per violation.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1, banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors
On March 22, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 1 (SB0001/HB0001, Public Chapter 1) into law, prohibiting healthcare providers from performing surgery or administering hormones or puberty blockers to a minor for the purpose of enabling the minor to identify with or live as a gender inconsistent with the sex assigned at birth. The law creates private civil causes of action, including wrongful death, against providers and consenting parents, and authorizes the state attorney general to seek injunctions, disgorgement, and $25,000-per-violation civil penalties. The bill passed the Senate 26-6 and the House 77-16 and took effect July 1, 2023.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 317, barring transgender students from school restrooms matching their gender identity
On March 21, 2023, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed HB1156 into law as Act 317, requiring K-12 public and open-enrollment charter schools to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas by a student's sex as listed on their original birth certificate. The law bars transgender students from facilities matching their gender identity and imposes minimum $1,000 fines on superintendents, principals, or teachers found noncompliant.
Utah Gov. Cox signed HB209 mandating statewide birth-certificate collection to enforce K-12 transgender-athlete sports ban
On March 17, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed H.B. 209 into law, adding a provision that requires every athletic association to collect and review a birth certificate or equivalent identifying document from each student athlete as a condition of registration. Chief sponsor Rep. Jordan Teuscher stated the mandate was designed to enforce H.B. 11, Utah's 2022 ban on transgender girls in girls' sports, by letting the state verify each athlete's birth-certificate sex against the sex designation of the interscholastic activity. The law built statewide verification infrastructure that operationalized enforcement of the ban.
Wyoming enacted SF0133, barring transgender students from girls' interscholastic sports in grades 7-12
On March 17, 2023, Wyoming SF0133 became law after Gov. Mark Gordon declined to veto it and allowed it to take effect without his signature. The law prohibits students of the male sex from competing on interscholastic sports teams designated for female students in grades 7 through 12 and establishes an administrative hearing process and an alternative eligibility commission. It took effect July 1, 2023.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed SB199 (Act 274) creating special malpractice liability for gender-affirming care providers of minors
On March 13, 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB199 into law as Act 274, the Protecting Minors From Medical Malpractice Act of 2023, creating a dedicated civil right of action letting a minor or a representative sue a health care professional who performs a "gender transition procedure." The law exposes those clinicians to compensatory and punitive damages and lets a patient sue for up to 15 years after turning 18, far longer than Arkansas's standard two-year malpractice window. It was sponsored by Sen. Gary Stubblefield and Rep. Mary Bentley and passed both chambers along party lines.
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signed the LEARNS Act barring public-school instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation before grade five
On March 8, 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Senate Bill 294, the LEARNS Act, into law as Act 237 of 2023, a K-12 education omnibus. Section 16 of the enacted Act created Ark. Code § 6-16-157(c), which prohibits public school teachers from providing classroom instruction on "gender identity" or "sexual orientation" to students before the fifth grade. Observers compared the provision to Florida's law that critics call "Don't Say Gay."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0003, the nation's first law criminalizing drag and adult-cabaret performances
On March 2, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB0003, the "Adult Entertainment Act" (Public Chapter No. 2), the first state law in the nation to criminalize "adult cabaret performance" — defined to include "male or female impersonators" — on public property or anywhere a minor could view it. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jack Johnson and Rep. Chris Todd, passed the Senate 26-6 and the House 74-19 and took effect April 1, 2023.
Mississippi enacted HB1125 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and revoking providers' licenses
On February 28, 2023, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed HB1125, the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act, making Mississippi the seventh state to bar minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender-transition surgery. The law, which took effect immediately, strips the medical license of any provider who furnishes such care, blocks public funds and Medicaid from covering it, and lets patients sue providers for up to 30 years. It was passed by the Republican-led Mississippi Legislature over objections from LGBTQ advocates and medical groups.
Arkansas enacted Act 131 restricting 'adult-oriented performances' after narrowing an explicit drag ban
On February 24, 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Senate Bill 43 into law as Act 131, adding a definition of "adult-oriented performance" to state code and barring such performances on public property, with public funds, or where minors are present. As introduced, the bill explicitly defined drag by reference to a performer's gender identity and classified it as a regulated adult-oriented business, but sponsors rewrote it twice to remove all references to drag and gender identity after opposition from LGBTQ advocates and the ACLU of Arkansas. The enacted content-based version reframed the restriction around nudity, prosthetic genitalia, and appeals to the "prurient interest."
Utah enacted S.B. 100, barring schools from changing students' gender-identity records without parental consent
On February 16, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 100, "School Gender Identity Policies," enacting Utah Code 53E-9-205. The law requires schools and local education agencies to ensure no policy shields a student's education record from the parent, and specifically bars any change to a student's education record regarding gender identity that does not conform to the student's sex without written parental consent. Because gender identity is the only record category singled out for this requirement, a school cannot document a student's social transition without parental notification and sign-off.
South Dakota Gov. Noem signed HB1080, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
On February 13, 2023, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed HB 1080, the "Help Not Harm" Act, barring health care professionals from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgical interventions to transgender minors for the purpose of gender transition. Providers already treating trans minors were required to taper them off medication by December 31, 2023, and violators face license revocation and civil liability. South Dakota became one of the first states in 2023 to enact such a ban.
Utah Gov. Cox signed S.B. 16, banning gender-affirming surgery and new hormone treatment for transgender minors
On January 28, 2023, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 16, the "Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendments," one of the earliest state gender-affirming-care bans of the 2023 legislative wave. The law prohibits health care providers from performing sex-characteristic surgical procedures on minors and bars them from starting hormonal transgender treatment for any minor not already diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill's effective date. Minors already diagnosed and in treatment before that date were permitted to continue.
2022 Events (25)
Lawsuit revealed Clayton County police's airport jet-bridge unit disproportionately stopped Black travelers, seized over $1M in cash
A federal lawsuit filed October 11, 2022, against Clayton County, Georgia, revealed that the county police department's airport "jet bridge interdiction" unit had disproportionately stopped Black travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Drawing on open-records data, the suit found that of 402 documented jet-bridge stops between August 2020 and April 2021, 56% fell on Black passengers -- versus roughly 8% of U.S. air travelers nationally -- while the program produced only three drug seizures against more than $1 million in cash and money orders seized. After a district court dismissal was partly reversed on appeal, Clayton County settled the lawsuit for $30,000 on August 18, 2026, confirming the program had already been terminated.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB3XX, cutting ARPA hospital funding tied to gender-affirming care for minors
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 3XX on October 4, 2022, appropriating $39.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the University Hospitals Authority while barring their use at any facility providing gender-transition medical treatment to patients under 18. Facing the funding cutoff, OU Health's Oklahoma Children's Hospital announced it would stop providing gender-affirming care to minors.
South Carolina enacted FY2022-23 budget Proviso 23.4, barring MUSC from using state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender minors under 16
On July 1, 2022, South Carolina's FY2022-23 General Appropriations Act (H.5150, Act No. 239) took effect carrying Proviso 23.4, which bars the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) from using state appropriated funds for gender-affirming care for patients under 16. The General Assembly adopted the proviso in its June 15, 2022 conference report, and Governor Henry McMaster's June 22 line-item veto message did not strike it. This is the first-year enactment of a proviso South Carolina has renewed annually since.
South Carolina Gov. McMaster signed medical-conscience law shielding only race from care-refusal discrimination
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed H4776, the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, into law on June 17, 2022, after it passed the House 76-31 and the Senate concurred 23-13. The law lets medical practitioners, institutions, and payers refuse to provide or pay for any nonemergency health care service that violates their religious, moral, or ethical conscience, with its sole anti-discrimination carve-out protecting patients only on the basis of race. LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and roughly 50 health care professionals who had urged a veto warned the law would restrict access to care such as gender-affirming treatment and fertility services for same-sex couples.
Louisiana Legislature enacted SB 44, banning transgender girls from school sports, without governor's signature
Louisiana's Senate Bill 44, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," became Act No. 283 on June 6, 2022, after Gov. John Bel Edwards declined to sign or veto it within the constitutional window. The law requires schools receiving state funding to designate athletic teams by biological sex and bars transgender girls and women from competing on female-designated K-12 and college teams, effective August 1, 2022.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 615, requiring K-12 students to use restrooms matching birth-certificate sex
On May 25, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 615, requiring every public school and public charter school serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms for the exclusive use of one sex as listed on a student's original birth certificate. A noncompliant student is limited to a single-occupancy facility, and a noncompliant district faces a 5% state funding cut. Three transgender students later sued to block the law; a federal judge dismissed the suit, and the dismissal remains on appeal.
Indiana Legislature overrode Gov. Holcomb's veto to enact HB 1041, a K-12 transgender sports ban
The Indiana General Assembly voted to override Gov. Eric Holcomb's veto of HB 1041 on May 24, 2022 — the House 67-28 and the Senate 32-15 — enacting House Enrolled Act 1041 into law. The statute bars students who are male based on sex assigned at birth from participating on girls'-designated K-12 athletic teams, creating a civil cause of action against schools that allow a transgender girl to compete while immunizing schools that exclude her.
South Carolina Gov. McMaster signed H4608, barring transgender athletes from school sports teams
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed H4608, the "Save Women's Sports Act," into law on May 16, 2022, after it passed the House 70-33 and the Senate 30-10. The law requires K-12 and public postsecondary athletic teams to be designated by sex at birth, barring transgender women and girls from competing on female-designated teams.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2153, barring transgender women from college sports
On May 9, 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2153 (Public Chapter 1005), barring students of the male sex from intercollegiate or intramural sports designated for "females," "women," or "girls" at public (and certain private) institutions of higher education, requiring institutions to rely on a student's original birth certificate. The same act created a private civil cause of action for violations of Tennessee's existing K-12 transgender sports ban enacted in 2021.
Georgia High School Association voted to bar transgender athletes based on birth-certificate sex
On May 4, 2022, the Georgia High School Association's executive committee voted unanimously, meeting in Thomaston, Georgia, to require student athletes to compete on teams matching the sex listed on their birth certificate, barring transgender students from teams matching their gender identity. The vote came five days after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB 1084, which authorized a separate committee to investigate and decide the same question — a process GHSA's executive committee bypassed. GHSA, which governs athletics for 465 public and private Georgia schools, said the rule would take effect for the coming school year.
Georgia Gov. Kemp signed HB 1084, authorizing K-12 ban on transgender athletes in girls' sports
On April 28, 2022, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed HB 1084, the "Protect Students First Act," into law at the State Capitol in Atlanta. A last-minute floor amendment added April 5, 2022 empowers a newly created executive oversight committee to adopt a policy barring students whose gender is male from competing on girls'-designated K-12 athletic teams, with noncompliant schools forfeiting state QBE funding.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 1100, barring nonbinary sex designations on birth certificates
On April 26, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 1100, amending the state's vital-records statutes to require that the biological sex designation on a birth certificate be either male or female and expressly prohibiting a nonbinary designation or any symbol representing one, including "X." The bill carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately, reversing a nonbinary-marker option the Oklahoma State Department of Health had begun permitting the prior year under a lawsuit settlement.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1895, penalizing school districts that don't enforce the state's transgender sports ban
On April 22, 2022, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed House Bill 1895 (Public Chapter 909), amending the state's 2021 K-12 transgender sports ban to add a funding penalty. Under the law, the Tennessee Department of Education must withhold a portion of state education-finance funds from any local school district that fails to determine a student's sex at birth for school-sports eligibility purposes. The bill passed both chambers before Lee's signature and took effect July 1, 2022.
Kentucky General Assembly enacted a budget rider letting state child-placement contractors refuse services on religious grounds
On April 13, 2022, Kentucky's General Assembly enacted the 2022-2024 executive branch budget (House Bill 1, delivered to the Secretary of State as Acts Chapter 199), which included a rider barring state contracts for Department for Community Based Services child-placement work from interfering with a contractor's exercise of religion and letting a contractor who cannot perform a service due to religiously held beliefs have the state substitute another licensed contractor. The provision codifies a religious-refusal carve-out for state-funded foster-care and adoption placement contracting.
Kentucky Legislature overrode Beshear's veto to enact SB 83, banning transgender girls from school sports
The Kentucky General Assembly voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of Senate Bill 83 on April 13, 2022, enacting the bill as Acts Chapter 198. The law requires the Board of Education to designate school athletic teams by biological sex and bars transgender girls from competing on girls'-designated teams from sixth grade through college, creating a civil cause of action against noncompliant schools.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184, nation's first felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors
On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184, the "Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act," after the Alabama Legislature passed it a day earlier. The law makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine, to provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-affirming surgery to minors. It took effect May 8, 2022, becoming the first such criminally enforced ban in the United States.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322, barring trans students from birth-sex-assigned school restrooms and restricting K-5 LGBTQ instruction
On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322 (Act No. 2022-290) into law, requiring K-12 public school students to use multi-occupancy restrooms and changing areas designated by the sex listed on their birth certificate. The act, passed by the Alabama Legislature on the final day of its session, also prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-5 that is not deemed age-appropriate under state board standards, a provision added by last-minute floor amendment. The measure was enacted in Montgomery on the same day Ivey signed the separate SB 184 gender-affirming care ban.
Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1399 shielding faith-based adoption agencies that deny LGBTQ+ and minority-religion families
On April 6, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1399, sponsored by Sen. Sine Kerr (R-Liberty), enacting A.R.S. § 8-921. The law bars the state from taking discriminatory action against faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies that decline to provide placement services consistent with their religious beliefs. Advocates warned it lets state-contracted agencies turn away LGBTQ+ and minority-religion prospective parents where foster children already outnumber licensed families roughly four to one.
Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1138, banning irreversible gender-reassignment surgery for minors
On March 30, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1138 into law, adding A.R.S. 32-3230 to prohibit physicians from providing "irreversible gender reassignment surgery" to any individual under 18, with narrow exceptions for intersex conditions, treatment of complications, and life-threatening emergencies. The statute restricts only surgery and does not limit puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Ducey signed it the same day as the separate SB 1165 transgender-athletes sports ban.
Arizona Gov. Ducey signed SB 1165, barring transgender girls from female school sports statewide
On March 30, 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1165, the "Save Women's Sports Act," requiring public K-12 and college athletic teams to be designated by biological sex and barring transgender girls and women from female teams. The law passed the Senate 16-13 and the House 31-24 and overrode an existing Arizona Interscholastic Association policy that had accommodated transgender athletes.
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 2, barring transgender girls from female school sports statewide
On March 30, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 2, the "Save Women's Sports Act," requiring K-12 and college athletic teams sponsored by public schools or the state higher-education system to be designated by biological sex at birth and barring transgender girls and women from female-designated teams. The law carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1557 barring K-3 LGBTQ instruction and mandating parental notification enabling forced outing
On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1557, "Parental Rights in Education," barring classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and requiring schools to notify parents of changes to a student's mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing while barring procedures that would let a student withhold that information from a parent. Critics said the notification mandate risks forcing schools to out LGBTQ+ students to parents without consent, and the law became widely known as the "Don't Say Gay" law.
Utah Legislature overrode Cox veto to enact HB 11, barring transgender girls from school sports
On March 25, 2022, the Utah Legislature voted to override Gov. Spencer Cox's veto and enact H.B. 11, requiring public K-12 schools to designate athletic teams by sex and barring students of the male sex from competing on teams designated for female students, based on their original birth certificate. The House voted 56-18-1 and the Senate 21-8-0 to override; as a fallback if a court blocks that provision, the law creates a School Activity Eligibility Commission to gate transgender students' participation through a case-by-case approval process.
Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF 2416, banning transgender girls and women from school sports
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed HF 2416 into law on March 3, 2022, barring transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams in the state's K-12 public and accredited nonpublic schools, community colleges, and Board of Regents universities. The Iowa House had passed the bill 55-39 on February 21 and the Senate passed a substitute 31-17 on March 2, with the law taking immediate effect as Iowa Acts Chapter 1003.
South Dakota Gov. Noem signed SB 46, barring transgender athletes from female school and college sports
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed SB 46, "An Act to protect fairness in women's sports," on February 3, 2022, after it passed both chambers of the legislature in late January. The law requires K-12, intramural, club, and college athletic teams sponsored or sanctioned by an accredited school, school district, activities association, or the state Board of Regents or Board of Technical Education to be designated by biological sex, barring transgender girls and women from competing on female teams. South Dakota was the first state to enact such a law in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
2021 Events (16)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 25, barring transgender K-12 students from school sports matching their gender identity
On October 25, 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 25 into law, enacted during the 87th Legislature's third called special session. The law requires public school students to compete in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions based on their sex assigned at birth, barring transgender K-12 student-athletes from competing consistent with their gender identity. It took effect January 18, 2022.
Ohio Gov. DeWine signed HB 110 budget rider letting medical providers refuse care on moral or religious grounds
On June 30, 2021, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 110, the state's FY2022-2023 operating budget, into law, retaining a last-minute rider -- Amendment SC3909, the "Medical Practitioner Conscience" clause -- that lets any health care practitioner, institution, or payer refuse to perform or pay for a service that conflicts with their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs, with immunity from liability. DeWine declined to line-item veto the provision despite public pressure from LGBTQ+ and reproductive-rights groups, who said the facially neutral clause functions as a license to deny care, including gender-affirming treatment, to LGBTQ+ patients.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 1028 enacting the Fairness in Women's Sports Act banning transgender athletes
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/SB 1028 on June 1, 2021, an education omnibus bill whose Section 12 created the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," requiring public school and university athletic teams to be designated by "biological sex at birth" and barring students of the male sex from female-designated teams. The bill passed the Florida Senate 29-11 and House 79-37 largely along party lines.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1233, creating private right of action against schools over transgender students' bathroom access
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1233 into law on May 19, 2021, enacting Public Chapter 452, the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act. The law defines sex by birth anatomy, limits schools to single-occupancy accommodations for students seeking facility privacy, and creates a private civil right of action against a school district that knowingly allows a member of the opposite sex into a multi-occupancy restroom, changing facility, or sleeping quarters.
Tennessee Gov. Lee signed HB1182, requiring businesses to post signs disclosing transgender-inclusive restroom policies
On May 19, 2021, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB 1182 into law as Public Chapter 453, requiring any business or facility open to the public that maintains a transgender-inclusive restroom policy to post a government-scripted warning sign at each restroom entrance. Sponsored by state Rep. Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro), the law passed the House 62-25 and took effect July 1, 2021, with noncompliant businesses facing criminal enforcement.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0126, barring hormone treatment for prepubertal transgender minors
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 126 into law on May 18, 2021, enacting Public Chapter 460. The law bars healthcare prescribers from providing hormone treatment to prepubertal (Tanner stage 1) transgender or gender-incongruent minors, while preserving hormone treatment for minors with growth deficiencies or other diagnoses unrelated to gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 112 barring transgender athletes from women's school sports
On May 7, 2021, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 112, sponsored by Rep. John Fuller, requiring K-16 school and university sports teams to be organized by sex assigned at birth and barring transgender women and girls from competing on female teams. The governor's office signed the bill without a public ceremony or statement; the signing was first reported after the bill's status updated on the Legislature's tracking system.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1229, requiring parental notice and opt-out for LGBTQ curriculum
On May 5, 2021, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1229 into law as Public Chapter 281, requiring public schools and charter schools to give parents at least 30 days' notice before teaching any sexual-orientation or gender-identity curriculum and to let parents excuse their child from that instruction in writing. The law imposes no comparable parental-consent requirement on any other curricular subject and specifies that schools are not required to offer such curriculum at all.
Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB 280, requiring surgery and a court order to amend a birth certificate's sex marker
On April 30, 2021, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 280, sponsored by Sen. Carl Glimm, reversing a 2017 Department of Public Health and Human Services rule that had let transgender Montanans update the sex designation on their birth certificate to match their gender identity. SB 280 instead required DPHHS to receive a court order confirming the person underwent gender-affirmation surgery before it would amend the sex marker, and took effect immediately upon signing.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed HB3293, banning transgender girls and women from school sports teams
On April 28, 2021, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed House Bill 3293 into law, barring transgender girls and women from competing on public school and collegiate sports teams designated for female athletes, based on "biological sex" determined at birth. West Virginia was among a wave of Republican-led states enacting similar sports restrictions that year, following South Dakota, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson signed SB450, adding AG enforcement to the state's transgender sports ban
On April 27, 2021, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed SB450, the "Gender Integrity Reinforcement Legislation for Sports (GIRLS) Act," into law as Act 953 of 2021, roughly a month after signing the state's first sex-based sports-eligibility law, SB354. The law requires K-12 and postsecondary athletic teams sponsored by state-funded entities to be designated by sex based on anatomy and genetics at birth, bars students of "the male sex" from female-designated teams, and creates a civil cause of action letting the Attorney General sue non-complying schools for injunctive relief plus a one-year bar on receiving public funds.
Alabama Gov. Ivey signed HB391, barring transgender youth from K-12 school sports
On April 23, 2021, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed HB391 into law, prohibiting public K-12 schools from participating in, sponsoring, or providing coaching staff for interscholastic athletic events in which transgender athletes compete on teams matching their gender identity. The Alabama House passed the bill 73-19-2 on March 18, 2021, and the Senate concurred on April 20, 2021, before Ivey's signature.
Arkansas legislature overrode veto to enact HB1570/Act 626, banning gender-affirming care for minors
On April 6, 2021, the Arkansas House (72-25) and Senate (25-8) voted to override Governor Asa Hutchinson's veto and enact HB1570 as Act 626, the "Arkansas Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act." The law bars physicians from providing gender-transition medical care to anyone under 18 and bars public or private insurance from covering such care for minors, making Arkansas the first state to enact this kind of ban.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 228, requiring K-12 school sports participation be based on sex assigned at birth
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 228 into law on March 26, 2021, enacting Public Chapter No. 40 and requiring that a student's eligibility for public middle and high school interscholastic athletics be determined by the sex indicated on the student's original birth certificate. The law exempted kindergarten through grade 4, took effect immediately for the 2021-2022 school year, and barred transgender students from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity.
Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson signed SB354, barring transgender athletes from girls' and women's school sports
On March 25, 2021, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed SB354, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," into law as Act 461 of 2021. The law limits K-12 and college athletic teams designated for females to students whose biological sex is female, barring transgender girls and women from competing on those teams, and creates a private cause of action for a student or school harmed by a violation. Sponsored by Sen. Missy Irvin and Rep. Jim Barker, the bill passed the Arkansas Senate on March 10, 2021, and the House on March 22, 2021, before reaching Hutchinson's desk.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2536 banning transgender students from women's and girls' school sports
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed SB 2536, the "Mississippi Fairness Act," on March 11, 2021, barring transgender students from competing on women's and girls' sports teams at the state's public K-12 schools and universities. The bill designates those teams as not "open to students of the male sex" without establishing how sex is determined or how eligibility disputes are resolved. It was the first anti- transgender law enacted in the United States that year.
2020 Events (3)
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed HB 509, barring transgender residents from correcting birth-certificate sex markers
On March 30, 2020, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 509 into law, adding Idaho Code 39-245A and requiring birth certificates to record sex as an immutable, biology-based category fixed at conception. The law forecloses amending a birth certificate's sex field based on gender identity, permitting correction only within one year via a notarized affidavit attesting the original entry misstated a fact at birth, or afterward only through a court finding of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. It passed the Idaho House 53-16-1 and Senate 27-6-2 and took effect July 1, 2020, as Session Law Chapter 334.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed H0500, the nation's first law barring transgender athletes from women's sports
On March 30, 2020, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 500, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," into law as the first law of its kind in the nation. The act requires K-12 and college athletic teams designated "female," "women's," or "girls'" to be limited to students whose sex assigned at birth is female, barring transgender girls and women from competing on those teams. It passed the Idaho House 52-17-1 and Senate 24-11-0 before being signed into law.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 836 shielding faith-based adoption agencies that deny LGBTQ+ families
On January 24, 2020, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 836 into law as Public Chapter 514, amending Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1. The law bars the state from requiring a private licensed child-placing agency to perform, assist, consent to, refer, or participate in any foster-care or adoption placement that would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions, and shields such agencies from lawsuits and licensing retaliation for refusing an applicant on those grounds. It passed the Senate 20-6 on January 14, 2020, after passing the House 67-22 on April 1, 2019.
2018 Events (1)
Oklahoma Gov. Fallin signed SB 1140, shielding religious-exemption foster and adoption agencies
On May 11, 2018, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed Senate Bill 1140, allowing private, state-licensed child-placement agencies to decline foster-care or adoption placements, counseling, or referrals that conflict with the agency's written religious or moral convictions. The bill passed the Senate 33-7 and the House 56-21 before Fallin's signature. LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including Oklahomans for Equality and the ACLU of Oklahoma, said the law licenses agencies to turn away qualified prospective parents.
2017 Events (7)
Missouri Gov. Greitens signed law subjecting abortion clinics alone to annual unannounced inspections that other surgical centers escape
On July 26, 2017, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed SB 5 into law, reclassifying the state's abortion facilities into a separate regulatory category and mandating annual, unannounced state inspections -- a schedule the roughly 120 other ambulatory surgical centers in Missouri do not face, which are instead inspected every three to four years. The law, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Koenig, passed the Missouri General Assembly 22-9 in a summer special session and also gave the state attorney general authority to override local prosecutors on abortion cases.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 3859, shielding faith-based child welfare providers that refuse LGBTQ placements
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 3859 on June 15, 2017, creating Human Resources Code Chapter 45 to bar the state and government-contracted child-placement entities from penalizing a child welfare services provider that declines, on religious grounds, to provide or facilitate services including placements, contraception/abortion referrals, or contracts inconsistent with its beliefs. The law exempts race, ethnicity, and national origin from the refusal but includes no equivalent carve-out for sexual orientation or gender identity, letting state-funded, state-licensed faith-based foster and adoption agencies decline to place children with same-sex couples, LGBTQ individuals, or people of other faiths.
Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB100, defining "sex" in ride-hailing nondiscrimination law to exclude gender identity
On May 29, 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB100, a statewide ride-hailing regulatory framework that preempted local ordinances. During House debate, Rep. Tony Tinderholt amended the bill's new driver nondiscrimination policy to define "sex" as "the physical condition of being male or female," language contemporaneous reporting tied to the same session's transgender restroom-access fight; a Senate committee substitute briefly stripped the amendment before the committee reinstated the House version and the bill was signed into law.
Alabama Gov. Ivey signed HB24, shielding religious-exemption adoption and foster agencies
On May 3, 2017, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed House Bill 24, the "Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act" (Act No. 2017-213), barring the state from withholding a license, contract, or funding from a private, state-licensed child-placing agency that declines -- on religious grounds -- to provide a placement or other service conflicting with its written religious beliefs. The protection applies only to agencies that do not accept state or federal funds. Advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and ACLU of Alabama said the law's practical effect is to let faith-based agencies turn away qualified prospective parents, including same-sex couples.
Alabama Gov. Ivey signed HB95 letting providers refuse abortion, sterilization, cloning, and stem-cell services on conscience grounds
On April 27, 2017, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB95, the "Health Care Rights of Conscience Act" (Act 2017-189), sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney. The law lets any health care provider refuse to participate in a "health care service" — narrowly defined by the statute as abortion, sterilization, human cloning, or embryonic stem-cell research — by filing a written conscience objection in advance, with an exception only when no alternate provider is available and a patient's life is in immediate danger.
North Carolina Gov. Cooper signed HB142, repealing HB2 but preempting local LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinances
On March 30, 2017, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 142 (Session Law 2017-4), repealing the state's 2016 "bathroom bill" while replacing it with a permanent state claim over multi-occupancy restroom access and a moratorium on local nondiscrimination ordinances through December 1, 2020. LGBTQ advocacy groups and legal observers said the measure fell short of a true repeal, since it continued to bar cities such as Charlotte from adopting protections covering sexual orientation and gender identity.
South Dakota Gov. Daugaard signed SB 149, shielding taxpayer-funded child-placement agencies that refuse LGBTQ+ parents
On March 10, 2017, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed Senate Bill 149 into law, making South Dakota the first state to enact anti-LGBTQ legislation in 2017. The law bars the state from taking adverse action -- revoking licenses, contracts, tax-exempt status, or state-benefit-program participation -- against taxpayer-funded, religiously affiliated child-placement agencies that decline, on religious or moral grounds, to place children with LGBTQ+ or other prospective parents. The South Dakota Legislature passed the bill 43-20 in the House and 27-8 in the Senate before it reached Daugaard's desk.
2016 Events (2)
Mississippi Gov. Bryant signed HB 1523, authorizing religion-based denial of service to LGBT people
On April 5, 2016, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed HB 1523, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," into law. The statute lets state employees, private businesses, religious organizations, and state-funded providers refuse services based on three specified religious beliefs about marriage, sex, and gender, shielding refusal of marriage licenses to same-sex couples and denial of services to LGBT people and unmarried people. A federal judge enjoined the law in June 2016, but the Fifth Circuit later reversed on standing grounds and it took effect on October 9, 2017.
North Carolina Gov. McCrory signed HB2, barring transgender bathroom access and preempting local nondiscrimination ordinances
On March 23, 2016, in a one-day special session, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, and Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law that evening. The law required multi-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities in public schools and public agencies to be designated for use based on the sex stated on a person's birth certificate, and barred local governments from enacting nondiscrimination ordinances covering employment and public accommodations, nullifying Charlotte's LGBTQ-inclusive ordinance that had prompted the special session.
2015 Events (1)
Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson allowed SB202 to become law without his signature, nullifying Fayetteville's LGBT ordinance
On February 24, 2015, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed SB202 to become Act 137 without his signature, barring Arkansas cities and counties from adopting nondiscrimination protections broader than state law. The measure nullified Fayetteville's LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance and preempted similar local measures statewide.
2014 Events (1)
Indiana General Assembly passed amended HJR-3, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban
On January 28, 2014, the Indiana House of Representatives voted 57-40 to pass an amended version of House Joint Resolution 3, a proposed state constitutional amendment providing that "only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Indiana," after first stripping a second sentence that would have also barred civil unions and domestic-partnership benefits. The Indiana Senate passed the same amended language 32-17 on February 17, 2014, completing the resolution's passage by the 2014 General Assembly; because Indiana requires an identically worded amendment to pass two separately elected General Assemblies before going to a public referendum, the change restarted that two-Assembly clock and the measure did not reach the 2014 ballot.
2012 Events (1)
South Dakota Gov. Daugaard signed SB130, barring school anti-bullying policies from naming any protected classes
On March 16, 2012, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed SB130 (SL 2012, ch 96), requiring school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies while barring those policies — new or already in effect — from naming any protected classes of students. The enacted text compelled districts to strip any existing enumerated-category language, such as protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity, from their bullying policies.
2011 Events (4)
North Carolina General Assembly passed SB514, referring same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment to 2012 ballot
On September 13, 2011, the North Carolina Senate concurred with the House 30-16, completing General Assembly passage of Senate Bill 514, a constitutional amendment providing that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union valid or recognized in the state. The House had passed the measure 75-42 the day before; the bill was ratified as Session Law 2011-409 on September 14, 2011, referring the amendment to a May 8, 2012 statewide ballot.
Minnesota Legislature passed SF1308, referring same-sex marriage ban to November 2012 ballot
On May 21, 2011, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted 70-62 to pass SF1308/HF1613, completing legislative approval after the Senate passed the measure 38-27 on May 11, 2011. The joint resolution proposed a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman and referred the question directly to the November 2012 general-election ballot, bypassing the governor's signature. The measure was filed with the Secretary of State as Chapter 88, Laws of 2011, on May 25, 2011.
Arizona Gov. Brewer signed SB1188, giving adoption agencies a married-couple preference amid state ban on same-sex marriage
On April 18, 2011, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1188, amending A.R.S. § 8-103 to require licensed adoption agencies to give "primary consideration" to placement with "a married man and woman," with single-individual placement permitted only under enumerated exceptions. Because Arizona's constitution then banned same-sex marriage, no same-sex couple could ever qualify for the top preference tier, and ACLU attorneys publicly characterized the law as discrimination against gay couples via a marital-status proxy.
Indiana Senate passed HJR 6, completing first-passage of anti-LGBTQ marriage constitutional amendment
On March 29, 2011, the Indiana Senate voted 40-10 to pass House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman and denying legal recognition to any "legal status identical or substantially similar" to marriage, thereby also barring civil unions and domestic partnerships. The Indiana House of Representatives had already passed the same resolution 70-26 on February 15, 2011, so the Senate vote completed passage of HJR 6 by the 2011 General Assembly.
2008 Events (2)
Arizona Legislature referred SCR1042, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, to voters
On June 27, 2008, the Arizona Senate concurred in House amendments and gave final passage to Senate Concurrent Resolution 1042, referring a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution (Article XXX) providing that "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The Senate had adopted the measure March 26, 2008 and the House passed it May 12, 2008; it was filed with the Secretary of State June 30, 2008 and went to voters as Proposition 102 that November.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed SB 299, preempting local civil-union and domestic-partnership registries statewide
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed S.B. 299 ("Revision to Local Government") on March 14, 2008, enacting Utah Code 10-8-1.5 and 17-50-324. The law permits municipalities to extend individual employment benefits to a "financially dependent or interdependent adult designee" but bars any county or municipal registry from defining, identifying, or recognizing a domestic partnership, civil union, or cohabitation relationship other than marriage, voiding inconsistent local ordinances such as Salt Lake City's concurrent registry.
2007 Events (3)
South Carolina General Assembly ratified H.3063, enacting a constitutional same-sex marriage ban
On March 22, 2007, the South Carolina General Assembly ratified H.3063 (Act No. 7), formally enacting into the state constitution the amendment providing that marriage between one man and one woman is the only lawful domestic union the state or its political subdivisions may create or recognize. The act completed a process begun with the legislature's 2005 referral of the amendment (HJR3133/Joint Resolution 45) and South Carolina voters' November 7, 2006 approval of it (77.97%-22.03%); no governor's signature was required for the ratification act.
Utah Gov. Huntsman signed HB 343, codifying married-couple preference that excluded same-sex couples from adoption and foster placement
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed H.B. 343 on March 14, 2007, codifying a married-couple preference and cohabitation-based bar into the state's adoption and foster-placement law. Because Utah did not recognize same-sex marriage in 2007, the marriage-based mechanism categorically excluded same-sex couples from the preferred adoption tier and from eligibility for joint foster placement, while leaving married opposite-sex couples and non-cohabiting single adults eligible. The law extended into statute a policy the Division of Child and Family Services had first adopted administratively in 1999.
Utah Gov. Huntsman signed Student Clubs Act requiring parental consent to join school clubs; sponsor said it targets gay-straight alliances
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed HB236, the Student Clubs Amendments ("Student Clubs Act"), into law on 2007-03-09, requiring written parental consent before a student may join any noncurricular club and letting school officials deny club authorization on vague grounds including protecting students' "moral well-being" and maintaining "socially appropriate" behavior. Chief House sponsor Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, said the bill "makes it easier for schools to deny noncurricular clubs like gay-straight alliances."
2006 Events (6)
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed SB 894, barring school anti-bullying policies from naming protected student classes
On July 10, 2006, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed CCS/HCS/SS/SCS/SB 894, an education bill passed by the Missouri General Assembly requiring every school district to adopt an anti-bullying policy by September 1, 2007. The law barred those mandatory policies from containing "specific lists of protected classes of students," preventing districts from naming LGBT or other groups as specifically protected even as the underlying policy was made compulsory statewide.
Georgia Gov. Perdue signed law requiring parental opt-out disclosure for school clubs, targeting Gay-Straight Alliances
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed SB 413 into law on May 5, 2006, an omnibus amendment to the state's compulsory school attendance statute that added new Code Section 20-2-705, requiring local school boards to publish every club's name, purpose, and faculty advisor in student codes of conduct and to give parents or guardians a form to decline their child's participation in any listed club. The provision followed the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance-type club (PRIDE) at White County High School, and contemporaneous reporting and the bill's legislative opponents identified it as aimed at disclosing and letting parents veto students' participation in LGBTQ-supportive clubs.
Virginia General Assembly gave final passage to constitutional amendment banning recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions
On March 7, 2006, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 76-22 to give final approval to SJ92, completing the second of two required successive-session passages of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between one man and one woman and barring recognition of any other union, partnership, or legal status carrying marriage-like rights or obligations. The measure, chief-patroned by Senator Stephen D. Newman, was sent to Virginia voters, who ratified it in November 2006 as the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Wisconsin Legislature gave final passage to constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage
On February 28, 2006, the Wisconsin Assembly voted 62-31, with six members paired, to concur in 2005 Senate Joint Resolution 53, completing the second required legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The Wisconsin Senate had adopted the resolution 19-14 on December 6, 2005. The Assembly's concurrence sent the amendment to the November 2006 general election ballot, where voters approved it and it took effect.
Idaho Legislature passed HJR002, referring constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and other unmarried unions to voters
The Idaho Legislature completed passage of House Joint Resolution 2 (HJR002) on February 15, 2006, referring a new Section 28 to Article III of the Idaho Constitution to voters, providing that "a marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." The House passed the measure 53-17 on February 6, 2006, and the Senate gave final passage 26-9 on February 15, 2006, completing the legislature's referral.
Wisconsin Gov. Doyle approved law banning state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender prisoners and forensic patients
On January 6, 2006, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle approved 2005 Assembly Bill 184, published as 2005 Wisconsin Act 105, which created Wis. Stat. § 302.386(5m) barring the Department of Corrections from using state funds, state resources, or state-administered federal funds to provide or facilitate hormone therapy or sexual reassignment surgery for prisoners or forensic patients. The Assembly had passed the bill 82-15 and the Senate concurred in 2005 before Doyle's approval completed its enactment.
2005 Events (9)
Texas Legislature gave final passage to HJR 6, referring same-sex marriage and civil union constitutional ban to voters
On May 21, 2005, the Texas Senate passed House Joint Resolution 6 on a vote of 21 to 8, completing bicameral passage of the measure. The Texas House had passed the amended resolution 101 to 29 on April 25, 2005. HJR 6 proposed a state constitutional amendment declaring that marriage in Texas consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting the state or any political subdivision from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage for same-sex couples. The resolution was placed on the November 8, 2005 ballot as Proposition 2, where voters approved it by more than 76 percent.
South Carolina Legislature completed passage of HJR3133, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, referring it to voters
The South Carolina House passed H.3133 (A45, R51) 96-3 on March 1, 2005, proposing a constitutional amendment limiting lawful domestic unions to one man and one woman; the Senate amended and passed it 2005-04-14, and the House concurred in the Senate amendment and enrolled the bill on 2005-04-26, completing the General Assembly's referral of the amendment to voters. The measure was ratified 2005-04-28 without need for the governor's signature, and voters approved the resulting Amendment 1 on November 7, 2006.
Indiana Senate and House passed SJR 7, first-passage constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage recognition
The Indiana Senate voted 42-8 on February 21, 2005 to pass Senate Joint Resolution 7, proposing a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman and barring any law from being construed to confer marital status or its legal incidents on unmarried couples. The Indiana House of Representatives passed the identical text without amendment 76-23 on March 22, 2005 and returned it to the Senate, completing first passage by the 114th General Assembly.
Tennessee Legislature gave final passage to SJR0031, proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage
On March 17, 2005, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted 88-7-1 to concur with the Senate's prior passage of Senate Joint Resolution 31 (SJR0031), completing the second of two legislative sessions required under Tennessee's amendment process to send a proposed constitutional marriage ban to voters. The resolution defined marriage as "a contract between one man and one woman." Placed on the November 2006 ballot as Amendment 1, it was approved by approximately 81 percent of voters.
Alabama Legislature passed SB109, referring same-sex marriage constitutional ban to voters
On March 10, 2005, the Alabama Senate voted 30-0 to concur in House amendments to SB109, completing legislative passage of the "Sanctity of Marriage Amendment" two days after the House passed the amended bill 85-7 on March 8, 2005. The joint resolution-style act, sponsored by Sen. Hinton Mitchem, proposed a state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage licenses and denying recognition to any same-sex marriage, civil union, or common-law marriage formed under any jurisdiction's law, and referred the measure directly to the next statewide ballot.
Virginia General Assembly gave first passage to HJ586, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and equivalent legal recognition
On February 26, 2005, both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly adopted the conference committee report on HJ586, a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to one man and one woman and bar recognition of any comparable legal status. The House agreed to the conference report 79-17 and the Senate agreed 30-10, completing the first of two required legislative passages under Virginia's amendment process. The resolution was enacted as Chapter 946 of the 2005 Acts of Assembly, setting the stage for a second passage in the next session and a statewide referendum.
Virginia General Assembly completed first passage of SJ337, constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage recognition
On February 26, 2005, the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates both agreed to the conference report on SJ337, a proposed state constitutional amendment providing that only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage recognized by Virginia and barring the Commonwealth from recognizing any other union assigned the rights or effects of marriage. The vote completed the first of two required successive-session passages under Virginia's constitutional-amendment procedure; SJ337 was sponsored by Sen. Stephen D. Newman and was enacted as Chapter 949 of the 2005 Acts of Assembly.
South Dakota Legislature passed HJR1001, referring constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage to voters
On February 14, 2005, the South Dakota Senate voted 20-15 to give final passage to House Joint Resolution 1001, completing the legislature's bicameral approval after the House passed it 53-16 on January 24, 2005. HJR1001, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Kraus and Sen. John Koskan, proposed a new amendment to Article XXI of the South Dakota Constitution restricting legal marriage to a man and a woman and referred it to voters at the next general election. South Dakota voters approved the resulting measure, Amendment C, on November 7, 2006.
Kansas Legislature referred SCR1601, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, to voters
The Kansas Senate adopted 2005 Senate Concurrent Resolution 1601 28-11 on January 13, 2005, and the House of Representatives concurred 86-37 on February 2, 2005, completing the two-thirds supermajority required in both chambers to place a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage before voters. The amendment declared marriage a civil contract between one man and one woman, voided all other marriages, and barred state recognition of any other relationship as entitled to the rights or incidents of marriage; voters ratified it by roughly a 2-to-1 margin at the April 5, 2005 election.
2004 Events (12)
Louisiana voters ratified HB61/Act 926, adding a same-sex marriage and civil union ban to the state constitution
On September 18, 2004, Louisiana voters approved Constitutional Amendment 1, originating as HB61 (Act No. 926), adding Article XII, Section 15 to the Louisiana Constitution. The amendment defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and barred state and local recognition of any legal status substantially equivalent to marriage for same-sex couples, including civil unions.
Missouri General Assembly passed SJR29, constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage
On May 14, 2004, the Missouri General Assembly gave final legislative passage to Senate Joint Resolution 29 (SJR29), sponsored by Sen. Sarah Steelman, proposing a constitutional amendment declaring that only a marriage between a man and a woman would be valid or recognized in Missouri and barring legal recognition of any status resembling marriage for unmarried persons. The Missouri Senate had passed SJR29 on March 1, 2004; the House passed it on May 14, 2004, and the measure was certified as "Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed," sending it to the ballot as Amendment 2. As a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, SJR29 bypassed the governor's signature and veto power entirely.
New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson signed SB 427, denying legal recognition to out-of-state same-sex marriages
On May 14, 2004, New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson signed Senate Bill 427 (Chapter 100, Laws of 2004), enacting a statutory bar to legal recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages in New Hampshire. The act repealed and reenacted RSA 457:3 to withhold legal validity from any out-of-state marriage prohibited under New Hampshire law — effectively targeting same-sex marriages from states such as Massachusetts, which had begun issuing same-sex marriage licenses three days later. The legislation also created a legislative-executive-judicial commission to study all aspects of same-sex civil marriage and its legal equivalents, with a final report due December 1, 2005.
Oklahoma enacted HB 1821, barring joint adoption by same-sex couples and blocking recognition of their out-of-state adoptions
On May 3, 2004, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed HB 1821, amending the state's Adoption Code to prohibit joint or second-parent adoption by more than one individual of the same sex and to require registration and judicial review of out-of-state adoption decrees, effectively barring Oklahoma from recognizing same-sex couple adoptions granted in other states. The bill passed the Oklahoma House 94-0 and the Oklahoma Senate 44-0 before reaching the governor, and took immediate effect under an emergency clause.
Oklahoma Legislature referred HB2259, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, to voters
The Oklahoma State Senate passed HB2259 38-7 on April 15, 2004, and the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 92-4 to concur on April 22, 2004, completing the Legislature's referral of State Question 711 — a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman only — to Oklahoma voters. The amendment barred recognition of any same-sex marriage performed in another jurisdiction and made it a misdemeanor to knowingly issue a marriage license in violation. Oklahoma voters approved SQ711 by approximately 76 percent on November 2, 2004.
Virginia General Assembly enacted Affirmation of Marriage Act, voiding same-sex civil unions and contractual rights
On April 21, 2004, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Affirmation of Marriage Act (HB 751), chief-patroned by Del. Robert G. Marshall, declaring that same-sex civil unions, partnership contracts, and any related contractual rights are void and unenforceable in Virginia. The enrolled bill passed the House 69–30 and the Senate 27–12 after Governor Mark Warner's recommendation to narrow the bill was rejected; it became law without the Governor's signature as Chapter 983 of the 2004 Acts of Assembly, effective July 1, 2004. The law voided not only civil unions created elsewhere but also private-contract rights — including domestic-partner benefits, hospital visitation agreements, and inheritance arrangements — that same-sex couples had established.
Mississippi Legislature passed HCR 56 proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; enacted as Section 263-A
On April 14, 2004, the Mississippi Legislature completed passage of House Concurrent Resolution 56, enrolling a proposed constitutional amendment and referring it to the statewide ballot as Chapter 620. The resolution defined marriage as valid in Mississippi only between a man and a woman and declared same-gender marriages from other jurisdictions void and unenforceable, eventually ratified as Article XIV, Section 263-A of the Mississippi Constitution.
Kentucky General Assembly gave final passage to constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage recognition
On April 13, 2004, the Kentucky Senate voted 33-5 to concur in House amendments to SB 245, completing final legislative passage of a proposed constitutional amendment providing that only a marriage between one man and one woman is valid or recognized in Kentucky, and that no legal status substantially similar to marriage may be recognized for any other relationship. The Senate had initially passed the measure 33-4 on March 11, 2004, and the House passed it 85-11 on April 12, 2004. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Vernie McGaha (R-Russell Springs), was delivered to the Secretary of State as Acts Chapter 128 and placed on the November 2, 2004 general-election ballot, where voters ratified it as Constitutional Amendment 1 with approximately 75 percent in favor.
Georgia General Assembly referred same-sex marriage and civil union ban to voters as constitutional amendment
On March 31, 2004, the Georgia General Assembly gave final passage to Senate Resolution 595, referring a proposed constitutional amendment to the November 2004 ballot that would define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman, bar state recognition of same-sex civil unions, and strip Georgia courts of jurisdiction over related claims. The Georgia House cast the decisive vote 122-52, clearing the required two-thirds supermajority, after the Senate had earlier passed the resolution by the same threshold. Georgia voters approved the measure as Amendment 1 on November 2, 2004, by a 76 percent to 24 percent margin.
Utah Gov. Olene Walker signed SB 24, banning state recognition of same-sex marriages and equivalent relationships
On March 23, 2004, Utah Governor Olene Walker signed S.B. 24, the "Marriage Recognition Policy," into law, effective the same day as Session Law Chapter 261. The bill, passed by the Utah Senate 24–4 and the Utah House 62–12, banned recognition of same-sex marriages and any relationship status "substantially equivalent" to marriage within Utah. The legislation was a statutory non-recognition provision distinct from the same-session HJR 025 constitutional referral, which sent Amendment 3 to voters.
Utah Legislature gave final passage to HJR025, proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage
On March 3, 2004, the Utah Legislature completed final passage of House Joint Resolution 25 (HJR025), proposing to add Article I, Section 29 to the Utah Constitution, defining marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman and prohibiting legal recognition of any other domestic union. The Utah Senate passed the resolution 20-7-2 on March 3, 2004, after adding a floor amendment, and the Utah House concurred 58-14-3 the same day. Referred to voters, it was approved as Amendment 3 on November 2, 2004, by a margin of 65.8% to 33.2%.
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed HB 272, barring recognition of same-sex marriages and civil unions
On February 6, 2004, Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed House Bill 272 into law, amending the Ohio Revised Code to declare same-sex marriages against state public policy, prohibit Ohio from recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages and civil unions, and bar the extension of marriage-like statutory benefits to nonmarital relationships. The Ohio House passed the bill 73–23 on December 10, 2003, and the Ohio Senate followed 18–15 on January 21, 2004. The law took effect on May 7, 2004, and remained in force until the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015.
2003 Events (1)
North Dakota Gov. Hoeven signed SB 2188, shielding child-placing agencies that refuse placements on religious or moral grounds
On April 22, 2003, North Dakota Governor John Hoeven signed Senate Bill 2188 into law, enacting N.D.C.C. § 50-12-07.1, which bars the state from denying, revoking, or refusing to renew a license, grant, or contract to a child-placing agency that declines placements conflicting with its religious beliefs or moral convictions. The bill passed the 58th North Dakota Legislative Assembly with Senate votes of 45–2 and 41–3 (conference report) and a House vote of 72–18. North Dakota became one of the earliest states to codify a religious exemption for adoption and foster-care agencies, a model later adopted by several other states.