More than half of transgender youth in the United States are living in states with laws or policies that limit their access to gender-affirming care, participation in sports, use of bathrooms and facilities, or the use of gender-affirming pronouns in schools. This is according to a new report released by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
The report finds that 53% of transgender youth aged 13 to 17—about 382,800 individuals—are affected by such restrictions across 29 states. In just the past year, 24 states have enacted or expanded at least one type of restrictive legislation impacting transgender youth.
Conversely, nearly 40% of an estimated 724,000 transgender youth nationwide—around 285,300 teens—live in 17 states and Washington, D.C., where “shield laws” protect their access to gender-affirming care.
The report highlights significant regional differences. In the South, 95% of transgender teens live under at least one restrictive law or policy. In the Midwest, this figure is 51%. By contrast, in the West and Northeast, a majority of transgender youth reside in states with shield laws: 83% and 74%, respectively.
“For the past few years, we have witnessed a trend of escalating state legislation affecting transgender youth,” said Joshua Arrayales, lead author and law fellow at the Williams Institute. “The resulting patchwork of laws and policies is creating very different lived realities for transgender youth across the United States.”
Additional details on state-level policies can be found on the Williams Institute website.
