The 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States is an ongoing political backlash from social conservatives and the "MAGA" faction of the Republican Party against LGBTQ movements, and in particular against transgender rights. It has included legislative proposals of bathroom use restrictions, bans on gender-affirming care, anti-LGBTQ curriculum laws, attacks on inclusive language, laws against drag performances, book bans, boycotts, and conspiracy theories about grooming.
Between 2018 and 2026, thousands of anti-LGBTQ laws were considered, drawing heavily from the British anti-trans movement, with more than one hundred passed into law. Targeting of transgender people escalated under the second Donald Trump administration. The backlash has been described as a moral panic, and part of a larger culture war in the United States. Scholars have cited rising anti-LGBTQ attitudes and policies as an example of democratic backsliding in the United States. The backlash has been connected to similar right-wing developments in Europe, Canada, as well as the Middle East.
Grooming conspiracy theory
Members of the far-right and a number of mainstream conservatives, mostly in the United States, have used the term "groomer" to falsely accuse LGBTQ people, as well as their allies and progressives in general, of systematically using LGBTQ sex education and campaigns for LGBTQ rights as a method of child grooming and enabling pedophilia. Usage of this term increased in the 2020s. In the United States, the popularization of the term was linked to Christopher Rufo and James A. Lindsay in August 2021. Following the Wi Spa controversy in July 2021, Julia Serano said a rise in false accusations of grooming directed towards transgender people was a movement to "lay the foundation for just smearing all trans people as child sexual predators". Teachers and parents have also been accused of being or enabling groomers.See also:
The conspiracy theory moved into the American conservative mainstream in spring 2022, including its use by members of the Republican Party, the Heritage Foundation, and far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists. This has been described as a moral panic and a smear. In April 2022, the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters published a study stating that within a three-week period spanning from March 17 to April 6, Fox News ran 170 segments on trans people, throughout which the network "repeatedly invoked the long-debunked myth that trans people pose a threat to minors and seek to groom them".
Education (pre-2025)
Anti-LGBTQ curriculum laws
In July 2022, a wave of anti-LGBTQ curriculum resurgence saw ten such laws beginning to take effect in six different states: Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Alabama. Some states enacting these new laws appear to have mirrored similar laws from other states.
In Florida, the Parental Rights in Education law and Florida Board of Education policy bans education on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" unless it is mandated under state academic standards or as part of an optional reproductive health course or lesson. In August 2023, the state of Florida dropped AP Psychology as a course offering, due to a required section on sexual orientation and gender identity. The same month, Tampa-area schools announced they would restrict the teaching of William Shakespeare's works in order to comply with the Parental Rights in Education law.
Alabama bans LGBTQ topics for kindergarten to grade 5, except for instruction deemed "age or developmentally appropriate". Five other states (Montana, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida) require parental notification of instruction on LGBTQ issues and allows parents to opt-out of such instruction.
In California (where state law requires students to learn about the "role and contributions" of LGBTQ people in history), multiple protests against the inclusion of LGBTQ-friendly curriculum resulted in violence. At a June 2023 protest in Glendale, individuals seen protesting LGBTQ curriculum were identified as members of hate groups, such as the Proud Boys.
Policies regarding trans students Local K-12 school boards across the country have adopted a variety of policies regarding trans students, including allowing fully equal rights and non-discrimination for trans students; requiring trans students to submit to a criminal background check to be allowed to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity; implementing full bans on expressing one's self-declared gender at all, including bans on chosen pronouns and pride flags and even bans on mentioning the very existence of trans people. State and local officials in the South used indecency and obscenity laws to ban books from school libraries.
Rollback of discrimination protections In June 2021, the Biden administration reinforced that Title IX protected LGBTQ students from discrimination by including sexual orientation and gender identity in its list of protections.
In August 2021, Tennessee and nineteen other states sued the Department of Education in Tennessee v. Department of Education, alleging that the new Title IX governance constitutes government overreach. A preliminary injunction was granted by a Tennessee judge in July 2022, blocking enforcement of the new guidance. In December 2022, the Department of Education appealed the decision, which is still pending.
The new guidance was rejected by the Florida Department of Education, calling the guidance a "sexual ideology" that risks the "health, safety, and welfare of Florida students".
Anti-trans laws (pre-2025) Gender transition
As many as 13 U.S. states banned gender affirming health care for transgender youth in the early-2020s.
Treatment for adults Many Republican legislators across the country are increasingly proposing legislation that would restrict gender-affirming care for adults or make such treatments harder to access. However, unlike for minors, no states have fully banned gender-affirming care for adults. Efforts to restrict adults' access to healthcare rely heavily on claims from self-described "gender-critical" organizations such as Genspect that young people should not be recognized as adults until they turn 25.
As of January 2024, seven states limit access to gender-affirming care for adults in some way without banning it, such as allowing private health plans, Medicaid, and correctional facilities to exclude all coverage for gender-affirming care, prohibiting the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care or requiring informed consent practices beyond those typically required in medical practice.
In January 2024, some Republican legislators in Ohio and Michigan expressed their desire to ban gender-affirming healthcare altogether, saying their 'endgame' was to ban it completely for people of all ages.
In July 2025, Puerto Rico became the first place in the United States to pass a ban on gender-affirming care for people over 18, banning it for anyone under 21 years of age. Puerto Rico's LGBTQ+ Federation immediately announced plans to challenge the ban in court.
These states have policies making it easier for trans adults to sue their doctors:
Utah: In January 2023, Utah stripped liability protections from any doctor who treats a trans person under the age of 25, and allowing any trans person under 25 to retroactively "disaffirm" consent and sue the doctor for providing care they had at the time consented to. South Dakota: In February 2023, South Dakota passed a similar law as Utah's, but without any age limit. Arkansas: On March 13, 2023, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill giving adults 15 years to file malpractice lawsuits for gender-affirming care they received as minors, whereas for other types of care (under pre-existing law) a malpractice lawsuit must generally be filed within two years.
These states have policies that restrict treatment for trans adults, as well as younger people:
Florida: In August 2022, the state of Florida voted to require any trans adult seeking gender affirming healthcare to receive approval from the Florida Board of Medicine at least 24 hours in advance. On May 17, 2023, DeSantis signed a law banning insurance providers from covering gender-affirming care for adults, as well as banning nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants (estimated to make up 80% of gender affirming care providers) from administering it, and banning it from being offered via telehealth. The Florida state legislature had passed the bill the previous month. In June 2024, a judge permanently blocked the law from taking effect. In August 2024, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the permanent injunction while the matter is appealed. Missouri: In April 2023, the state attorney general issued an emergency order instituting a three-year waiting period of continuous documented dysphoria before qualifying for gender-affirming care, disqualifying people if they have untreated depression or anxiety, mandates a screening for autism, and mandating regular screenings for "social contagion". This has been characterized by many as a de facto ban on trans healthcare for adults, since depression and anxiety are common symptoms of gender dysphoria. A judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the order and scheduled a hearing for May 11. The attorney general withdrew this order on May 16 after the state legislature passed two bills restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth. On June 7, 2023, Governor Mike Parson signed a bill that contained a provision banning gender-affirming care for prisoners, which took effect on August 28. Puerto Rico: In July, 2025, Puerto Rico implemented a ban on gender affirming care for anyone under 21 years of age. Puerto Rico's LGBTQ+ Federation immediately announced plans to challenge the ban in court.
Treatment for minors
Gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations, but it has increasingly come under attack in many conservative legislatures. According to the ACLU, in 2023 alone, over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were submitted in the US, over 130 of which were about healthcare. Efforts to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors had begun several years earlier, but did not receive much attention from state legislatures until more recently. The conservative organization Do No Harm was influential in developing model legislation that appeared starting in 2022 in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, and West Virginia legislatures.
In February 2024, the American Psychological Association approved a policy statement supporting unobstructed access to health care and evidence-based clinical care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults, as well as opposing state bans and policies intended to limit access to such care.