ATLANTA — Across the U.S., bills targeting transgender youth continue to make their way through state legislatures. 

Last week, Georgia became a House vote away from approving a bill that bans transgender girls, or biological boys, from participating on girls’ sports teams — a bill that Democrats say is among several targeting a nonexistent issue.

The bill was approved along party lines in the Georgia Senate, with Democrats voting against it.

“Ostracizing vulnerable children to get votes is despicable, more than that it’s pathetic,” Democratic Sen. Elena Parent said. “Possibly some members of our chamber earnestly believe that it’s necessary to isolate trans girls so that other girls can win a track meet, but I wager that most of us don’t. … It’s another election-year bill about another fabricated problem.”

Called the “Save Girls Sports Act,” Republicans argue the proposal is about fairness, asserting that boys are biologically stronger than girls and have an unfair advantage when competing with girls.  

“We’ve come a long way in this country in how we treat women and a long way for women’s rights,” Republican Sen. Matt Brass said. “I believe that women’s sports is one of the greatest tools we have in our constant fight for gender equality.”

Leading with Idaho in 2020, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Texas and at least four other states have already enacted laws that ban transgender girls from competing on girls teams. Nearly 30 other states have proposals.

Other bills are pending in Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Idaho and Arizona and some seek to prohibit gender-affirming treatments or conversion therapy for transgender children. This would include prescribing puberty blockers, hormones or performing gender reassignment surgery on children.

In general, the medical treatments being targeted can reduce the heightened levels of hormones that would induce secondary sex characteristics for both sexes; therapies for transgender females, for example, give a person less muscle and denser bones, according to Stacie Pace, who performs hormone therapy in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Proposed bills seeking to ban the services in Mississippi died in committees in early February. 

The Alabama Senate recently advanced a bill banning conversion services and it now awaits a House vote.

Though attempts to pass a similar bill in Texas failed previously, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week directed the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents or medical professionals who perform these services, arguing the gender-affirming services constitutes child abuse under Texas law.

Abbott’s directive came following an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier in the week that gender-affirming procedures for minors and prescription of puberty blockers constitutes child abuse under state law there.

“The Texas Family Code is clear — causing or permitting substantial harm to the child or the child’s growth and development is child abuse,” the opinion stated. “Courts have held that an unnecessary surgical procedure that removes a healthy body part from a child can constitute a real and significant injury or damage to the child.”

In addition, the Alabama House advanced a bill, House Bill 322, this week restricting transgender students from using restrooms or facilities that align with their gender identity.

“Anti-LGBTQ+ elected officials across Alabama are using this divisive political strategy to harm kids who are simply trying to navigate their adolescence — kids who already face relentless targeting and increased levels of discrimination in their community, as evidenced by the record incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-binary people in 2021,” said Carmarion Anderson-Harvey, Alabama’s state director for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the U.S. 

HRC reported 2021 as the deadliest year on attacks on transgender or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. Nearly 60 of them were fatally shot or killed by other violent means, according to the HRC. 

Tennessee is the only state that has an active transgender bathroom ban, though it is currently being challenged in lawsuits filed last year. While the state already has a law banning transgender youth from participating on sports teams of their gender identity — which is also being challenged in court — a bill is currently being considered that would expand the prohibition at the public higher education level.

Also this week, HB 2633 — sponsored by Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Cochran — was referred to a committee and states that a teacher or other employee of a public school is not required to use a student’s preferred pronoun when referring to the student if the preferred pronoun is not consistent with the student’s biological sex.

In Florida, House Republicans advanced a bill that prohibits discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools, while many legislatures including Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Indiana are also looking to restrict books and content that discuss the topic.