The new law allows accused rapists 18 years old and younger to receive a reduced third-degree felony charge of unlawful sexual activity if they're enrolled in high school, avoiding jail time and sex offender registration.
Republican-appointed judges reversed a ruling which blocked the ban, arguing with little evidence that gender-affirming care for trans adults was "dangerous," urging states not to fund what it spuriously described as "experimental procedures." It further claimed that trans people had become "disdainful of their sex" and claimed, again without evidence, that banning such provisions would "encourage citizens to appreciate their sex."
An estimated 724,000 Americans in this age group identify as transgender, the institute notes. Of these, 382,800, 53 percent, live in one of the 29 states that has enacted one or more laws banning access to gender-affirming care, participation in sports, use of bathrooms and other sex-separated facilities, or gender affirmation through pronoun use. Thirty-six percent - 262,700 - live in one of the 16 states that has enacted all four such restrictions.
Lawmakers across the country have introduced hundreds of bills targeting transgender people in the first month of 2026, a surge that advocates said reflects a decadelong political strategy that has steadily escalated since major court victories for LGBTQIA+ rights. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking just shy of 400 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in state legislatures nationwide, including measures carried over from prior sessions that remain active this year.
