Over 90% of trans youths live in states with bills that target their rights, report says

More than 9 in 10 (93%) transgender youths ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. live in states that have already passed or are currently considering bills to restrict their access to transition-related health care, school bathrooms, sports participation and pronoun use at school, according to a new report.

The report, published Tuesday by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, estimated the number of transgender youths affected by these four types of restrictive measures, which LGBTQ advocates typically oppose, and two other types of legislation that advocates typically favor: “shield” laws for transition-related care and bans on so-called conversion therapy. The researchers focused on previously enacted laws and measures that are still being considered in statehouses.

There are approximately 300,000 trans youths ages 13 to 17 in the U.S., and, according to the report, 38% of them live in the 24 states that have enacted bans on transition-related medical care for minors (including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery); 40% live in the 27 states where their access to sports participation is restricted or state policy encourages such restrictions; 13% live in the 13 states that restrict their access to school bathrooms and other sex-segregated facilities; and 16% live in the 14 states that have restricted or banned their use of pronouns that don’t align with their birth sex in schools or other state-run facilities.

The Williams Institute report also found that 123,600 trans youths, or 41%, live in 16 states that had a ban on transition-related medical care pending in the 2024 legislative session, and 102,300, or 34%, live in 14 states with a restriction on sports participation pending.

The laws are among the wave