On Tuesday, North Dakota’s Legislature advanced 10 bills, all of which target the state’s LGBTQ community, according to the Human Rights Campaign. These measures set a single-day record for such legislation, the largest the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group has seen.
The Senate passed all 10 bills on Monday, eight of which will go to Republican Governor Doug Burgum for either a signature or a veto. Some of the bills passed with veto-proof majorities, including one that would restrict gender-affirming medical care for minors and another that would ban transgender students in public and private K-12 schools and colleges from playing sports on school teams that align with their gender identities.
Two bills have been returned to the House after the Senate added amendments. They would prohibit trans people in the state from updating the sex on their birth certificates and would ban state facilities from allowing trans people to use the restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identities.
Cathryn Oakley, the state legislative director and senior counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, urged Burgum to reject the 10 bills, stating that they “have the sole aim of pushing LGBTQ+ people back into the closet.” She went on to say, “It’s shameful, yet not surprising, that instead of spending their day attempting to tackle the real issues facing North Dakotans, extremist legislators in Bismarck were working vigorously to rile up the far fringes of their base — and now some of their most marginalized constituents could pay the price.”
North Dakota’s legislation is part of a nationwide trend. State lawmakers have introduced more than 450 bills targeting the LGBTQ community so far this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate group of researchers who are tracking the flow of legislation.
More than half of those bills target transgender youths by restricting their access to either transition-related care or school sports teams. North Dakota’s health care and sports restrictions could make it the 14th state to restrict transition-related health care for minors and the 20th to restrict trans students’ participation in school sports.
The measures in North Dakota have faced opposition from Democrats, such as Senator Ryan Braunberger, who spoke against the bills on Monday. Braunberger, who is gay, shared that laws restricting LGBTQ rights contributed to his decision to attempt suicide. “I was lucky to survive that suicide attempt — to be here — but many others have not and will not,” he said. “Kids like me across the state will feel like the world is against them. They’ll eventually feel like they can no longer go on.”
Governor Burgum’s stance on these measures is unclear. However, last week, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed school personnel to misgender trans students and barred school districts from adopting “a policy or practice regarding expressed gender.” The Senate overrode his veto, but the House was unable to garner the two-thirds majority needed to uphold the override.
While some of the bills passed with veto-proof majorities, advocates remain hopeful that Burgum will reject them. Nonetheless, these measures pose a significant threat to the LGBTQ community in North Dakota, particularly for transgender individuals seeking gender-affirming care and the ability to participate in sports on school teams that