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2021

18 entries from 2021.

November(1)

Mississippi prison healthcare contractors delayed woman's cancer diagnosis for a decade, concealed result until days before her release

Prison healthcare contractors overseeing Susie Balfour's care at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl allowed mammogram follow-ups to lapse for up to three years at a time between 2011 and 2021, despite prison physicians' own recommendation for annual and later twice-yearly screening. A November 3, 2021 biopsy found her breast cancer had progressed to an advanced stage; Balfour said she was not told of the result until days before her December 27, 2021 release. She died of the metastasized cancer in 2025.

October(1)

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.

September(1)

Former Frazer Township, Pa. officer Michael McSherry pleaded guilty to stalking estranged wife he tracked with department's license-plate reader

Former Frazer Township, Pennsylvania police officer Michael McSherry was arrested September 28, 2021 and later pleaded guilty to stalking and official oppression for a months-long campaign against his estranged wife, Alexandria Griffith, that included logging into his department's license-plate-reader system at least 85 times between August 28 and September 15, 2021 to track her vehicle and her mother's, a hidden GPS tracker discovered under her car, a nanny camera, and repeated threats. On September 10, 2021, responding officers found McSherry holding a loaded handgun during a domestic incident in which he had thrown the couple's four-year-old son to the ground and threatened self-harm before a brief standoff ended in his arrest; a second arrest on September 28, after search warrants turned up additional phones and tracking devices, brought the stalking and computer-misuse charges. A Westmoreland County judge sentenced McSherry to 11.5 to 23 months in jail plus five years of probation, with several felony counts -- including child pornography and terroristic threats -- dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

June(2)

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.

May(5)

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.

April(5)

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.

March(3)

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.