#shield laws

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, made it clear Friday that she isn’t backing down from one of President Donald Trump’s latest attacks on transgender people. During a heated exchange at the National Governors Association meeting at the White House on Friday, Trump singled out Mills during a press event. With cameras rolling, he threatened to cut off federal funding to Maine unless the state complied with his sweeping executive order banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. “Is Maine here, the governor of Maine here,” Trump asked the assembled room of governors from both parties. “Are you not going to comply with it? She responded, “I’m complying with state and federal laws.” To which Trump quipped, “Well—I’m— we are the federal law. You better do it. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t. And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal—although I did very well there—your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So you better comply because otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding.” Mills, serving her second and final term as governor, responded with a defiant challenge: “We’ll see you in court.” Trump, never one to let a confrontation pass, shot back: “Good. I’ll see you in court. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is right to tell anti-trans bully Donald Trump to his face “we’ll see you in court” in response to 47’s threat to withhold federal funding for the state of Maine for permitting trans women to play in women’s sports.

Withholding federal funding to blue states that stand up to the Bully-in-Chief is valid grounds for blue-state secession.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Trump made an anti-trans threat against Maine. Its Democrats are fighting back.

Daily Kos: ‘See you in court’: Governor refuses to bow to Trump’s bigoted ban

HuffPost: ‘See You In Court’: Maine Gov. Goes Head-To-Head With Trump Over Trans Athlete Ban

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

On Tuesday, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced that her pick for Vice President is Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. In recent years, as trans and queer people have come under attack from over a thousand proposed bills, Walz is expected to serve as a source of optimism for LGBTQ+ people. The governor’s long track record on LGBTQ+ rights positions him as a strong oppositional force against what has become a national attack on LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender individuals.

“I am proud to announce that I've asked Tim Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team. Now let’s get to work. Join us,” read Harris’ statement on Twitter. Walz has taken decisive action against attacks on transgender people in surrounding states, making Minnesota a refuge for those seeking care. In 2023, he signed an executive order protecting transgender people from out-of-state prosecution if they seek care within Minnesota’s borders. The executive order also issued a bulletin to health insurance companies, mandating coverage and initiating investigations into health insurance denials in the state.

In 2024, Walz signed a bill banning the gay and transgender panic defense. This defense is often used to help individuals avoid murder charges or receive lighter sentences by asserting that they were "deceived" by a romantic partner who was gay or transgender. According to one study, the transgender panic defense has been used at least 351 times. Walz's pro-LGBTQ+ record goes back much further than his time as governor. In 1999, he sponsored the first gay-straight alliance at his high school while working as a teacher. In Congress, he co-sponsored the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and voted to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D)’s track record on LGBTQ+ issues has been stellar, dating back to his pre-Congress days.

John Russell at LGBTQ Nation:

At a ceremony at the Massachusetts State House Thursday, out Gov. Maura Healey (D) signed a recently passed law aimed at bolstering protections for providers of gender-affirming and reproductive care, including abortion. As local station NBC 10 Boston notes, the measure passed last week when the Massachusetts House approved it by a 132–42 vote, with four state Democrats voting alongside Republicans in opposition. In the state Senate, only three Republicans voted against it. “Massachusetts will always be a state where patients can access high-quality health care and providers are able to do their jobs without government interference,” Healey said in a statement Thursday. “From the moment Roe was overturned, we stepped up to pass strong protections for patients and providers, and with President Trump and his allies continuing their assaults on health care, we’re taking those protections to the next level. No one is going to prevent the people of Massachusetts from getting the health care they need.”  The bill updates Massachusetts’ 2022 Shield Act, which protects providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care from out-of-state investigations and prosecutions, and other liability, for providing or assisting patients in accessing such care, which is legal in the state. The law’s passage came in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. As both NBC 10 and WWLP 22 News note, the updated law limits the release of personal data, allows prescription labels to include only the name of the prescribing practice and not the specific prescribing doctor, and codifies into law access to emergency, medically necessary abortions.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) signs S2543 (aka Shield Act 2.0) into law, strengthening the Bay State’s shield law for gender-affirming care and abortion.

See Also:

Donald Padgett at The Advocate:

Colorado’s legislature gave final approval to a bill further extending civil rights protections to the transgender community after the most controversial section regarding child custody and parental visitation rights was removed, Colorado Newsline reports.

House Bill 1312, entitled The Kelly Loving Act, named after a transgender woman murdered in the 2022 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, passed the state’s Senate by a vote of 20-14 on Tuesday, and the amended bill passed the House by a vote of 40-24 later that evening. The bill now heads to the desk of gay Democratic Gov. Jared Polis for his signature or veto.

If signed by Polis, the new law would “define deadnaming and misgendering as discriminatory acts in the ‘Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act,’ and prohibit these discriminatory acts in places of public accommodation.” The Kelly Loving Act defines “chosen name” as a name chosen by a person and related to a person’s “disability, race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, familial status, national origin, or ancestry, so long as the name does not contain offensive language and the individual is not requesting the name for frivolous purposes.” The new law would nix the requirement of a court order to change a person’s gender marker on their driver’s license, and would also permit a second or third change as well. The Kelly Loving Act would require schools to allow students to follow the gender-specific dress code of their choosing and be “inclusive of all reasons” why a student would opt for a chosen name.

The bill’s Section II was removed via amendment in the Senate after causing some controversy. That section instructed courts to “consider deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual’s gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control,” when the courts were “making child custody decisions and determining the best interests of a child for purposes of parenting time, a court shall.” Still, LGBTQ+ groups applauded the bill's passage.

The Colorado State Senate and House passed an amended version of HB 25-1312 that would further expand trans civil right protections. The bill is expected to be signed by Gov. Jared Polis (D) into law.

Jacob Ogles at The Advocate:

New Jersey lawmakers considered legal protections for transgender patients and health care providers for the first time. The state Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee voted 5-2 to advance a bill that would protect patients and providers who access or provide legally protected health care activities targeted in other states. The legislation specifically covers gender-affirming care and reproductive health care. While the bill has cleared only one committee on a party-line vote, LGBTQ+ advocates scored a major milestone after lobbying for the legislation for the past two years.

[...] Several transgender patients from across the Garden State testified about the need for protections as the Trump administration moves to curtail care for minors. “Never did I expect I would need to advocate for my own healthcare rights,” testified 15-year-old Luci Amato, who identifies as non-binary. They receive care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which has spent months battling the Trump administration over demands for private medical records involving transgender youth. The bill would codify protections that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy established through a 2023 executive order declaring the state a “safe haven” for people seeking gender-affirming care. Lawmakers in a growing number of states have outlawed gender-affirming care for people under 18.

S. Baum at Erin In The Morning:

After a three-year push, Hawai’i officially has implemented a shield law to explicitly protect providers and patients of gender-affirming care for the trans community. House Bill 1875, also known as Act 059, was signed by Governor Josh Green—himself a physician—late last week. The bill explicitly adds gender-affirming care to its existing shield law, which broadly covered reproductive health, and established safeguards from “abusive litigation” coming from outside states.

Shield laws create “legal protections for patients, health care providers, and people assisting in the provision of certain health care in states where that care is legal from the reach of states with civil, criminal, and professional consequences related to that care,” according to the Center for Reproductive Health, Law and Policy at UCLA. For example, it means Hawai’i state actors may not aid out-of-state attacks—such as, say, through the extradition of health care providers—over lawful care rendered in Hawai’i. “The legislature finds that the people of Hawai’i have a long tradition of protecting an individual’s right to privacy and bodily autonomy independently of, and more broadly than, the United States Constitution,” the bill reads. It emphasized that the right to privacy and bodily autonomy extends to minors. “It is the policy of this State that the rights of equality, liberty, and privacy guaranteed under [...] the Hawaii State Constitution are fundamental rights and that those rights include an individual’s right to make health care decisions about one’s own body, including the right to seek and receive health care services that affirm their expressed gender.”

The signing was a resounding victory for LGBTQ activists on the islands. Hawai’i was among the last of the blue states to enact a shield law for the transgender community and their providers. “We’ve heard from legislators that this is considered a controversial topic and that they’d rather not engage in bills that could draw attention to Hawai’i from the Trump Administration,” Abby Simmons, Chair of the Stonewall Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, told Erin in the Morning last year.

Now, she’s singing a more triumphant tune. “This bill truly was a team effort,” she said in an interview this week. “Lawmakers wanted to understand the legal implications, hear from stakeholders, and make sure they were crafting legislation that would withstand challenges. While that process can sometimes feel slow, it also means that when legislation succeeds, it often has a stronger foundation.” Simmons also said the playbook for getting the bill over the finish line was rooted in building a big tent. “I think what finally made HB1875 successful was that supporters increasingly focused on a message that resonated far beyond the LGBTQ+ community,” she continued. “The conversation wasn’t simply about gender-affirming care. It was about protecting patients, families, and healthcare providers who are following Hawaiʻi law. It was about preventing out-of-state actors from interfering with healthcare decisions made here in Hawaiʻi. It was about provider stability at a time when Hawaiʻi already faces healthcare workforce shortages. And it was about preserving Hawaiʻi’s ability to govern itself.”