Far-right parties pushing anti-LGBT bills across Spain

North Dakota legislators kill a resolution seeking to undo same-sex marriage, but advance other bad anti-LGBT bills

Peru: Congress is working on a bill that would effectively bar trans people from accessing public bathrooms according to their gender. The bill already passed through the committee stage unanimously last month.

Mexico: Lawmakers in Jalisco state voted down a “trans childhood” bill that would have codified existing regulations that allow minors to change their legal gender. They maintain that right, for now.

Meanwhile, LGBT+ activists have once again proposed a hate crime bill for Mexico State, which has ignored their proposals on the issue for eight years. Anti-LGBT hate crimes, especially against trans women, have been increasing in Mexico in recent years. 23 of Mexico’s 32 states have passed LGBT-inclusive hate crime laws, and a bill is pending in the federal congress.

Spain: Last week’s march for International Women’s Day was divided in two, over divisions in the feminist community on whether to include trans women and sex workers, part of a broad schism on both issues between conservatives and progressives in the country.

Across Spain, the far-right Vox party is pressuring the right-wing Popular Party, with whom it governs several regions in coalition, to repeal various LGBT rights laws, including nondiscrimination laws, name/gender change laws, and conversion therapy bans. Vox has unsuccessfully brought forward bills in Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Andalusia, Murcia, and La Rioja

So far, the PP mostly isn’t going for it, after they tried to do it in the Madrid region last year and were overruled by the Constitutional Court, but the PP has also said it would repeal the Trans Law if it wins the next national election. Vox has also filed a motion in the national parliament to repeal the national Trans Law that was passed in 2023, and guaranteed gender self-determination.

However, in Cantabria region, PP and Vox teamed up to pass a bill barring trans women from competing in elite women’s sports, and they passed a similar law in Toledo city council.

Meanwhile, in the States

Louisiana: The Louisiana Democratic Party deleted a sentence from a resolution introduced by the LGBTQ+ caucus that would have required the party to commit “to not endorsing or supporting Democratic candidates or officeholders who use their votes or their public platform to deny fundamental rights and protections to LGBTQI+ citizens.” Unfortunate, especially given extreme gerrymandering that has pushed Democrats to a tiny minority of elected officials.

Montana: Last week, a handful of Republicans joined all Democrats to defeat two extreme anti-trans bills – one that would have banned drag performance and one that would have removed trans children from their parents.

North Dakota: Republicans have advanced a bill to force libraries to censor and ban library books deemed “explicit” – though no clear definition of the concept is offered.

Senate Republicans are also debating a bill that would protect and endorse conversion therapy in the state. The bill has already passed the house.

And, a resolution asking SCOTUS to overturn same-sex marriage was killed by the senate on a 31-16 vote, which must have included Republicans as the chamber only has 5 Democrats. In fact, even if only Republicans voted, the measure would have been defeated. The measure had previously cleared the state house.

Michigan: The same Republican state rep who introduced a resolution to ask SCOTUS to re-ban same-sex marriage has brought forward another bill that would ban porn in the state.

North Carolina: Johnson County School Board (a suburb of Raleigh) postponed a vote on removing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from its district policies on bullying – but the proposal is likely to come back on the agenda soon. Over in New Hanover County (Wilmington), the school board removed “diversity” and “equity” from its policies, but put off removing “gender identity” and “sexual orientation,” all in a bid to align itself with Trump administration policies.

Oregon: But the University of Oregon has bucked the trend, instead adding “gender identity” to its nondiscrimination policy.

Alabama: A Republican legislator has reintroduced a bill that failed to pass last year which would ban all discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in all K-12 schools.

Kentucky: State Republicans keep adding more extreme anti-LGBT elements to a bill that was originally only meant to protect and endorse conversion therapy; last week they added a section repealing an executive order that barred use of state funds for conversion therapy, and this week they’ve added a section barring use of state funds or Medicaid for gender care for children or adults. The bill still has to be voted on in the senate, and have its amendments confirmed in the house. Republicans have strong majorities that will likely allow them to override any veto by the Democratic governor.