2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Timeline › 2023 › March

March 2023

15 entries from March 2023.

Mar 29

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.

Mar 27

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.

Mar 23

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.

Mar 22

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.

Mar 21

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.

Mar 17

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.

Mar 13

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.

Mar 8

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."

Mar 2

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.