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Timeline › 2023 › May

May 2023

24 entries from May 2023.

May 30

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.

May 26

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.

May 25

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.

May 24

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.

May 22

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.

May 20

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.

May 19

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.

May 17

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.

May 11

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.

May 8

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.

May 4

Indiana enacted HB 1447, barring 'obscene' materials from school libraries and stripping educators' 'harmful to minors' defense

On May 4, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1447, which bars public school and charter school libraries from making available materials deemed "obscene" or "harmful to minors" and requires published catalogs and challenge-and-removal procedures. The law also removed the "legitimate educational purpose" affirmative defense that had shielded schools and their employees from Level 6 felony prosecution for disseminating material "harmful to minors." The library-restriction language, originally a stalled standalone bill, was inserted through a closed-door conference committee without public testimony.

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.

May 3

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.

May 1

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.