As reported by The Williams Institute, there are more than 300,000 high school-aged (ages 13-17) transgender youth in the United States today, many of whom need gender-affirming care.

As of August 2024, 39.4% or 118,300 trans youth aged 13-17 are living in the 26 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming care. This includes 2,300 youth living in the two states–Arkansas and Montana–where bans are currently on hold or blocked from enforcement through court orders.

While our map focuses solely on high school-aged youth (age 13-17), some states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina, have considered banning care for transgender people up to 26 years of age. Additionally, several states prohibit public funds from being used to provide transgender health care for anyone, so adults are also unable to access critical health services if they receive their healthcare through Medicaid, if they work in the public sector, or are incarcerated.

Gender-affirming care is age-appropriate care that is medically necessary for the well-being of many transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive people who experience symptoms of gender dysphoria or distress that result from having one’s gender identity not match their sex assigned at birth.

By preventing doctors from providing this care or threatening to take children away from parents who support their child in their transition, these bills prevent transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth from accessing medically necessary, safe health care backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association representing over 1.3 million US doctors.

These bills have real world impact.

Nearly 1 in 5 of any type of hate crime is now motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias, with 2022 seeing the highest number of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in five years. Anti-transgender incidents alone increased by 40% from 2021 to 2022.

Over 350 transgender and gender non-conforming people have lost their lives to fatal violence in the past decade, a quarter of whom were killed in the last three years (since 2022); Texas and Florida, two of the states leading the current wave of anti-transgender legislation, collectively were home to almost 20% of all victims.

Reports of violence and intimidation against LGBTQ+ people, such as the Club Q shooting that cost the lives of five people, have been making news across the country – with white nationalists targeting a Pride event in Idaho and Proud Boys crashing Drag Queen story hours at local libraries to shout homophobic and transphobic slurs.

Anti-LGBTQ+ stigma also drives alarmingly high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. One survey from The Trevor Project found that nine in ten transgender and non-binary youth experienced worsening mental health as a result of the wave of anti-transgender legislation, and almost half had been cyberbullied as a result of discussions of these bills. Almost half (45%) of trans and non-binary youth noted that they or their families were considering moving to another state due to anti-LGBTQ+ policies in their state, paralleling findings from HRC’s own research that 94% of trans and non-binary adults report that GAC bans make them feel unsafe, and over half (52.7%) of trans adults are considering moving to a new state due to passed or pending GAC bans.

We must stop these harmful bills, laws, and policies before we lose more lives.