Connecticut Expanded LGBTQ+ Protections as Other States Rolled Them Back
Anti-LGBTQ+ laws took effect or advanced in Idaho, Tennessee and Kansas in 2026, with measures restricting bathrooms, gender markers, and civil rights protections
Georgia stood as an exception among Republican-led states, with more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills failing to become law
Connecticut passed multiple laws expanding LGBTQ+ protections, including on hate crimes, fertility care, parental rights, and shields against other states’ attacks on gender-affirming care
June marks the start of Pride, a month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s contributions to society in the face of discrimination. Unfortunately, this year’s celebrations will be muted in some parts of the country, as legislation opposing the community has found traction in much of the United States.
Here is a breakdown of some of those proposals from across the nation as well as some steps taken by policymakers here in Connecticut.
Idaho
In Idaho, a 2023 law requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their birth gender is now fully in effect following years of legal challenges. The bill went into effect in 2025 and legal challenges ended this spring after the revelation that a student impacted by the law, referred to as Jane Doe, died by suicide in early 2026 two months after requesting access to single-user rooms in their Boise high school, according to Idaho Ed News. A second impacted student graduated from the high school in May.
“It is scary having to look around before to see if anyone will see me going into the single-user restroom… I don’t want people to know I am transgender without my consent,” Jane Doe wrote in their request. “For me, it is not a part of myself I talk about or that I feel is the most important part of my identity.”
Under the law, it was likely Jane Doe was forced to use a bathroom that conflicted with their self-expression, identifying them as trans.
Tennessee
In Tennessee earlier this year, lawmakers introduced several anti-LGBTQ bills that would violate the Civil Rights Act, WPLN reported. The laws included a direct challenge to national laws regarding same-sex marriages that would allow private citizens and entities to reject such marriages.
By May, a number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were set to become law, according to the Tennessee Lookout, including a mandate that state policy say there are only two genders, a law that would require clinics performing gender affirming care to report information to the state identifying all patients, and the “Riley Gaines Act,” named after the anti-trans activist, that would require schools, shelters and prisons to only consider biological sex.
Kansas
Earlier this year, Kansas passed a law retroactively canceling the driver’s licenses of individuals who change the gender marker on their licenses. About 1,700 people had their licenses revoked under threat of legal penalties if they don’t receive new ones with their birth sex on them, NBC News reported. The state’s Democratic governor vetoed the bill, but the Republican-led legislature overruled that veto.
At least one Kansan had their license revoked even though she never changed the gender marker on her license – a “marker” appeared on her license just from changing her name.
Georgia
The news isn’t all bad. In Georgia, despite more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced in 2026, they all failed to become law, according to Erin In The Morning. That includes bills that were changed from focusing on home health care workers to banning puberty blockers for youth, that would have criminalized a librarian giving a LGBTQ+ book to a minor and a forced outing bill for queer students.
Connecticut
While Connecticut has experienced setbacks in LGBTQ+ support and care, including some hospitals voluntarily shutting down services for trans youth in 2025, the state is widely considered a leader in supporting LGBTQ+ rights. In 2026, the state passed legislation that will make it easier to pursue prosecution of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals and require private insurers to cover fertility care for LGBTQ+ single individuals and couples.
In addition, the state banned certain legal defenses for people who commit violent crimes against gay and trans people, created a LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network, ensured both parents in LGBTQ+ families are automatically considered legal parents, imposed protections from other state’s attacks on reproductive and gender affirming care and made it illegal for health care providers to discriminate based on gender identity or expression.
By Joe O’Leary