These GOP State Houses Are Starting 2024 With Culture War Bills

In the first few days of this year, lawmakers in several states have already introduced, or carried over from previous sessions, bills to continue their assault on progressive ideals — an escalation of the culture wars that have become central to Republican agendas in recent years, despite a lukewarm response from voters.

Polling indicates that even some GOP voters aren’t particularly convinced that waging war on equality or progressive ideals should be the top priority for elected officials, and the 2022 and 2023 elections proved that they’re not always persuasive policy ideas. Still, some GOP-controlled states are not ready to move on from them.

The bills introduced so far in 2024 range from an attempt to strip transgender people of their civil rights, like bills that would remove the ability for trans people to change the gender on their driver’s licenses or take away access to gender-affirming care, while others seek to put limitations on drag performances and keep people from using their correct pronouns at work.

Florida has begun its legislative session with a slew of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

“As jaded as I am having dealt with the Florida legislature for two decades, I’m astounded by the level of bigotry that’s already been espoused [this session],” Howard Simon, the interim executive director of the ACLU of Florida, told HuffPost.

The state is no stranger to the culture wars, as GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has positioned himself as the anti-woke candidate in his presidential campaign. The Republican-led state legislature has already passed controversial bills like the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill , which restricts what teachers can say about sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom,