While lawmakers in Washington wrangle over the fine print of Donald Trump’s legislative megabill, red states aren’t waiting around for signatures or ceremonies — they’re already pushing his second-term agenda into law with gusto. From banning DEI initiatives to erasing gender identity protections, the Republican playbook is being photocopied state by state, and it’s hitting the LGBTQ+ community right in the gut.
Indiana and Georgia are both pushing ahead with bans on trans women in women’s sports. Georgia’s take — the “Riley Gaines Act,” named after a Trump surrogate and former swimmer — is a not-so-subtle jab at inclusion, built around the Trump-fueled narrative that transgender women threaten women’s sports. Trump made this a cornerstone of his campaign, and now it’s policy in the Peach State.
Meanwhile, Ohio has decided that parents should have the final say on whether their kids learn anything involving “sexual concepts or gender ideology.” Translation: if a kid wants to be called by a different name or pronoun, teachers have to call the parents — whether the kid wants it or not. In a chilling move, Iowa is taking things even further by stripping “gender identity” from its civil rights protections altogether. It becomes the first U.S. state to do so, effectively making discrimination against trans people legal under state law.
Redefining the Map — Literally
If you thought the cultural rewrites were confined to gender, think again. Florida now officially recognizes the “Gulf of America,” thanks to a new law echoing Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not satire — state agencies and school textbooks are required to adopt the new terminology. The move is pure political theater with a patriotic twist, aimed at energizing Trump’s base.
Florida is also jumping on another Trump ally’s bandwagon: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again.” The state’s new agriculture bill ends the use of fluoride in tap water, aligning with Kennedy’s discredited claim that it poses a public health risk. While scientists still call fluoridation one of the most important public health innovations of the last century, Trump country is once again choosing vibes over facts.
Dragging DEI to the Guillotine
States like Mississippi and Indiana are launching an all-out war on diversity, equity, and inclusion — the conservative boogeyman of the decade. Indiana is slashing DEI from colleges and state institutions, banning job and student aid decisions based on race, sex, or religion. Mississippi goes even further, banning anything that sounds like “divisive concepts” from schools. A federal judge is currently weighing whether to halt the law, but for now, it’s full steam ahead.
Let’s be clear — these aren’t just paper-pushing policies. These are cultural wrecking balls aimed straight at progress. The LGBTQ+ community, especially queer youth and trans individuals, are being shoved back into the closet by policy. These new laws signal that their identities, bodies, and rights are negotiable — again.
And the ripple effects are real: educators are now forced to act as gender informants, trans athletes are being sidelined, and states are openly scrubbing protections from the books. For queer people in these states, it’s not just a rollback — it’s a red siren.
The MAGA vision isn’t waiting for Congress. It’s already here, and it’s rewriting America’s future in red ink.