Accessibility links
transgender rights transgender rights
Stories About

transgender rights

Friday

Tuesday

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is shown at his confirmation hearing wearing a blue jacket and red tie.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has 30 days to present a plan on how to implement President Trump's executive order on transgender people in the military. Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military

The executive order speaks of transgender identity in sweeping and dismissive terms and sets the stage for a policy that is more restrictive and punitive than the ban from Trump's first term.

Monday

Admiral Rachel L. Levine is a trans woman in her mid 60s. She has glasses and gray hair pulled back from her face. She is wearing a uniform with many gold stripes on the sleeves indicating her high rank.

Admiral Rachel L. Levine, a pediatrician by training, has been leading the Public Health Service during the Biden administration. She's pictured in a conference room at HHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Maansi Srivastava for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Maansi Srivastava for NPR

Shots - Health News

Dr. Rachel Levine focused on her job at HHS. Still, anti-trans politics followed her

Dr. Rachel Levine is the highest ranking, out transgender person ever to serve in the federal government. Her tenure at HHS ran concurrent with an explosion in state legislation targeting transgender people.

Dr. Rachel Levine focused on her job at HHS. Still, anti-trans politics followed her

Listen · 4:03
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5235449/nx-s1-5304837-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Rep. Zooey Zephyr talks to reporters at the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Mont., in 2023.

Openly transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr, pictured at the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Mont., in 2023, was reelected last month. This week, her colleagues debated a rule that would have blocked her from the women's restroom at the Capitol. Tommy Martino/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Tommy Martino/AP

National

Montana lawmakers cross the aisle to block a trans bathroom ban in the state capitol

Some Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the measure, which would have restricted bathroom access. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana's first openly transgender legislator, won a second term last month.

Saturday

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally in Atlanta on Oct. 15. With the election in its closing weeks, Trump and other Republican candidates have been focusing many of their campaign ads around the issue of transgender rights.

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally in Atlanta on Oct. 15. With the election in its closing weeks, Trump and other Republican candidates have been focusing many of their campaign ads around the issue of transgender rights. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Politics

GOP ads on transgender rights are dominating airwaves in the election's closing days

The ad spending, which includes at least $17 million by the Trump campaign, is part of a broader Republican strategy casting the Democratic Party as taking transgender rights to extremes.

Anti-Trans Campaign Ads

Listen · 3:20
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/g-s1-28932/nx-s1-5219006-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Veronica, 17, is a teen with long, straight red hair, wearing a camisole top, jeans and necklaces. She's sitting cross-legged on a medical exam table, smiling.

Veronica, 17, drove with her mother nearly four hours from her home in Iowa to visit a doctor in Minneapolis in September. Iowa banned gender-affirming care for youth in March 2023.
Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR

Shots - Health News

Her state bans gender-affirming care for teenagers. So she travels 450 miles for it

An estimated 110,000 trans teenagers live in states that ban gender-affirming care for minors. Some travel huge distances every few months to keep getting their treatment out-of-state.

Trans Youth Road Trip

Listen · 8:16
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5104225/nx-s1-97f0af27-f681-4da7-9f60-56b27228a6b9" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Area chart showing the number of states with laws that limit youth access to gender-affirming care. The number increases dramatically in 2023 — from three states to 22 states — and ends with 25 states in June of 2024.
Hilary Fung/NPR

Shots - Health News

In just a few years, half of all states passed bans on trans health care for kids

The Supreme Court will hear a case on gender-affirming care in the next term after a flurry of legislation. Lower courts have come to conflicting conclusions when these bans were challenged.

In just a few years, half of all states passed bans on trans health care for kids

Listen · 4:06
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-4986385/nx-s1-faee3dc5-2e35-47ff-b7c8-985f2c11a087" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Kansas governor vetoes proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks about the necessity to expand Medicaid in the state during a rally on March 6 in Topeka. Kelly on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP hide caption

toggle caption
Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP

National

Kansas governor vetoes proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly also vetoed a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she called a "vague" bill making it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion.

Sunday

Friday

Up First from NPR

Tennessee House Vote, Leaked Ukraine War Documents, Biden Transgender Proposal

Republican controlled Tennessee House expelled two Democratic members over protests for tighter gun control. Classified war documents detailing secret U.S. and NATO plans for the Ukrainian military have leaked on social media platforms. And the Biden administration proposed a rule that would forbid schools from broadly banning transgender students from sports teams that align with their gender identity

Tennessee House Vote, Leaked Ukraine War Documents, Biden Transgender Proposal

Listen · 12:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1168581309/1168588674" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Alabama Legislature votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth

Rep. Wes Allen, sponsor of the House version of the bill, speaks during debate at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery on Thursday. Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP hide caption

toggle caption
Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP

Efforts to restrict rights for LGBTQ youth

Alabama Legislature votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth

State lawmakers also passed a separate measure prohibiting early classroom instruction on sexual and gender identity, a bill critics have dubbed "Don't Say Gay."

Friday

Utah bans transgender athletes in girls sports despite governor's veto

State Rep. Kera Birkeland, a Republican high school basketball coach who led Utah's efforts to ban transgender girls from youth sports, addresses a crowd of supporters on the steps of the Utah State Capitol on Friday in Salt Lake City. Samuel Metz/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Samuel Metz/AP

Efforts to restrict rights for LGBTQ youth

Utah bans transgender athletes in girls sports despite governor's veto

Lawmakers voted to override GOP Gov. Spencer Cox's veto of legislation banning transgender youth athletes from playing on girls teams. The move comes amid a nationwide culture war over trans issues.

Thursday

Wednesday

Clubhouse says it won't be attending SXSW 2022 because of Texas' trans rights

This photo illustration taken on July 14, 2021, shows the Clubhouse app icon on a mobile phone screen. The social audio app announced Wednesday it will not be attending this year's SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, given the controversies surrounding the state's transgender laws. Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

Technology

Clubhouse says it won't be attending SXSW 2022 because of Texas' trans rights

Instead of attending SXSW 2022, the popular audio-only social app says it will hold its panel "The Power of Voice" on its platform, a spokesperson said.

A judge has blocked a Texas investigation of one transgender teen's parents

Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, center, and Adri Perez, ACLU of Texas policy and advocacy strategist, listen to Emmett Schelling, executive director for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, speak at a rally in support of transgender children and their families outside a hearing at the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/via AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/via AP

Efforts to restrict rights for LGBTQ youth

A judge has blocked a Texas investigation of one transgender teen's parents

Judge's order stops short of preventing the state from looking into other reports about children receiving similar care.