(AP) — A legal settlement in Florida, legislative action in Arkansas and a lawsuit in Georgia this week made waves in an ongoing national battle over the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans.
Over the past three years or so, many Republican officials have been trying to limit those rights, imposing rules on which sports transgender students can play and which bathrooms they can use, among other policies.
The conservative pushback has coincided with more younger people identifying as LGBTQ+.
A Gallup poll released this week based on telephone interviews of more than 12,000 Americans finds that about 1 in 13 U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, including less than 1 in 100 of the total population who say they are transgender. But a higher proportion of the youngest adults identified as LGBTQ+ — a little over one-fifth of those born from 1997 through 2005.
The legal and legislative issues at the heart of the debates remain in flux.
Some things to know about this week's flurry of developments.
FLORIDA AGREES STUDENTS, TEACHERS CAN SAY ‘GAY’
Florida this week settled a legal challenge to its 2022 law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools, a measure that critics had dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
Under the deal, the law remains in place but some of the restrictions that resulted will be lifted.
The agreement clarifies, for example, that students and teachers are allowed to discuss LGBTQ+ issues. In addition, schools don't have to remove library books that feature LGBTQ+ characters, halt anti-bullying programs that address bullying of LGBTQ+ people, censor valedictorian speeches in which the speaker talks about their gender identity or sexual orientation, or force teachers to remove rainbow flags from classroom doors.
Florida's law barring the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity, championed by the state's Republican governor and former presidential primary candidate Ron DeSantis, was one of the highest-profile among dozens of measures adopted in Republican-controlled states over the past few years to try to rein in what can be taught about LGBTQ+ issues — and the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
A handful of other states have also limited school curriculums in similar ways.
STATES PUSH TO ALLOW ONLY SEX AT BIRTH ON DRIVERS LICENSES
Arkansas this week stopped allowing residents to use "X" rather than “F” or “M” to designate their sex on driver's licenses and official identifications.
On Thursday, a predominantly Republican subcommittee endorsed the move, though some Democratic lawmakers objected. The full panel must approve the measure for it to take effect.
Earlier in the week, a judge in Kansas left in place the state's policy of not allowing transgender people to change the listing for sex on their driver's licenses to something other than their sex at birth.
The policy grew out of a 2023 law that recognizes people's legal gender identities based only on their anatomy at birth. Lawmakers passed the measure by overriding the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, whose administration had previously allowed people to change the sex designation on their licenses and birth certificates.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas announced Thursday that it will appeal the latest ruling on behalf of transgender clients.
LAWMAKERS CONSIDER RESTRICTIONS ON GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE FOR MINORS
Lawmakers in Kansas are trying to do what most Republican-controlled states have done already: ban gender-affirming care for minors.
The Kansas House this week approved a ban on puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgery — which is rarely used — for those under 18. Senate Republicans delayed a vote that had been planned for Thursday to allow time to tweak the bill with the intent of getting two-thirds of the chamber to support it.
