Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill Thursday barring transgender college athletes in Texas from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identities. This follows other anti-LGBTQ legislation recently passed in Texas, including a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
In Ohio, Republican lawmakers have merged two anti-LGBTQ bills into a single piece of legislation. The Ohio House is set to vote next week on the combined bill, which would ban puberty blockers or hormones for everyone under 18, bar transgender women and girls from female-only sports teams in Ohio schools and colleges, and forbid Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming care for youth. It would also limit discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. The ACLU reports it’s tracking 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. during this year’s legislative session.