The GOP went all in on the culture wars during the 2022 midterm elections and lost \u2014 but that hasn\u2019t stopped them from doubling down in 2023.
\nGwendolyn Herzig, a transgender pharmacist, went to the Arkansas statehouse last month to testify in support of providing transgender youth with gender-affirming health care.
\nHerzig hoped lawmakers would take her expert background into consideration as they debated a law that would allow anyone who received gender-affirming care from a doctor as a minor to sue for malpractice for up to 30 years after they turn 18.
\nInstead, she was met with transphobia.
\n\u201cYou said you\u2019re a trans woman,\u201d Republican state Rep. Matt McKee said. \u201cDo you have a penis?\u201d
\nHerzig later told NBC News that the experience \u201cwas probably the most publicly humiliating thing I\u2019ve ever gone through.\u201d
\nThe medical malpractice suit is just one of the anti-LGBTQ measures Arkansas has considered recently. In January, Republicans introduced an extreme bill that would have criminalized \u201cadult-oriented performances\u201d \u2014 including those where performers \u201cexhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer\u2019s gender assigned at birth\u201d \u2014 in public where children could view them.
\nRepublican co-sponsors of the bill eventually removed language specifically targeting drag performers after public pushback, and a law criminalizing public adult performances went into effect this week.
\nNationwide, there are about 351 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures right now, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The proposed measures, which are all sponsored by Republicans and come at a time when the GOP has been consumed by anti-LGBTQ hysteria, attempt to criminalize drag performances, bar trans youth from playing sports at school, and ban health care for transgender children and adults.
\nSome anti-LGBTQ bills have already worked their way through state legislatures \u2014 just this week, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed a law that bans gender-affirming care for trans youth.
\n\u201cThis Republican Party is playing politics with people\u2019s lives and they\u2019re painting a clear picture of what their priorities are,\u201d said Heather Williams, the interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
\nAn Avalanche Of Bills
\nTennessee is poised to become the first state to criminalize drag performances, a move that LGBTQ people and advocates say has the potential to criminalize transgender and nonbinary people as well as limit Pride celebrations.
\nRepublican Gov. Bill Lee has signaled that he\u2019ll sign into law HB3\/SB9, which would outlaw \u201cadult cabaret performers\u201d \u2014 which include topless and exotic dancers, as well as \u201cmale or female impersonators\u201d \u2014 in public where a minor could see them.
\nThe language is so broad that LGBTQ advocates are worried the law could also be used to arrest transgender people just living their lives.
\n\u201cTrans and nonbinary people will now have to wonder if they will be accused of being male or female impersonators,\u201d Chris Sullivan, the executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to LGBTQ rights, told HuffPost. \u201cIt makes you think twice about going to the grocery store.\u201d
\nA similar proposal in Missouri, a state that is also seeking to ban gender-affirming health care for minors and incarcerated adults, would make performing in drag in public or where a minor could see it punishable by one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
\nEven in Virginia, where the number of Democrats in the state Senate all but guarantees homophobic and transphobic bills can\u2019t advance, Republicans have tried to jam through a slew of extreme bills to prove to a blood-red base that they too are trying to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community.
\nOne such bill would require students to submit identification of their \u201cbiological sex\u201d on a form, which requires a doctor\u2019s signature, in order to play sports. The proposal is an attempt to ban transgender students from participating in athletics.
\n\u201cIf you think requiring 1.6 million students to have their genitals inspected is good policy, a lot of parents are going to object to that,\u201d Democratic Virginia House Del. Danica Roem told HuffPost.
\nRepublicans have kept their sights set on anti-LGBTQ legislation, even though many high-profile candidates pushing a far-right, culture war-led agenda were defeated in the 2022 midterms.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not all partisanship. There are some true believers,\u201d Roem said. \u201cBut any time they spend worrying about drag queens, that\u2019s time they\u2019re not worried about transportation infrastructure and overcrowded classrooms.\u201d
\nAs extremist groups protest outside of public libraries that host drag queen story hours and GOP politicians deride racial justice and LGBTQ rights as \u201cwoke\u201d ideologies, it seems that the deluge of bills is an easy way to score political points with a base that continues to lurch rightward.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not about public service, it\u2019s about how they can rise in the ranks of the party and get all the attention,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAnd the only way to do that is to be anti-everything and stand for nothing.\u201d
\nMany of the anti-drag bills and other measures targeting the LGBTQ community will likely face legal challenges. But advocates and Democrats say these bills don\u2019t have to become law to cause harm.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re causing actual, real damage to their constituents,\u201d Roem said. \u201cYou cannot serve your constituents by attacking them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huffpost<\/p>\n
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