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April 2023

18 entries from April 2023.

Apr 28

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.

Apr 27

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.

Apr 26

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.

Apr 25

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.

Apr 20

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.

Apr 19

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.

Apr 12

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.

Apr 11

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.

Apr 7

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.

Apr 5

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.

Apr 4

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.

Huerfano County jail staff denied dying inmate Michael Burch medical care for 8 days after tackle injury; he died in his cell

On March 28, 2023, a Huerfano County, Colorado detention officer tased and tackled 69-year-old inmate Michael Burch, fracturing six ribs and collapsing a lung, and jail staff and the facility's contracted healthcare provider then denied him hospital care despite his repeated pleas over the following eight days. Burch died in his cell at the Huerfano County Detention Center on April 4, 2023, and a coroner ruled the death a homicide.