Support the ACLU: Stand Against Anti-Trans Bills & Advance LGBTQ Equality

WHO WE ARE:

The ACLU works to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, & queer people belong everywhere and can live openly and authentically without discrimination, harassment, or violence. The ACLU has a long history of advancing LGBTQ equality, including a Supreme Court victory to secure the right for same-sex couples to marry. Today, the ACLU brings more LGBTQ rights cases and advocacy initiatives than any other national organization. We need your support as we continue to defend the right of all LGBTQ people to live freely and be themselves.

Below are critical updates on recent cases:

B.P.J. v. WEST VIRGINIA and HECOX v. LITTLE

Becky is 15 years old and is in the 10th grade. When Becky isn’t hanging out with her friends, playing with her three dogs, or marching in her high school’s marching band, she’s throwing discus and shot put for her school’s track and field team. Becky is transgender. Becky has known that she is a girl for as long as she can remember, and in 2019, she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. At the onset of her puberty, Becky began taking puberty-delaying medication to prevent the distress that would occur if she experienced physiological changes inconsistent with her female gender. By fourth grade, she was recognized as the girl she is both at home and at school.

In 2021, the West Virgina legislature passed a law banning all trans girls and women from participating in school sports – not just on competitive teams, but also intramural and non-competitive clubs.

Becky, with the support of her mom, decided to challenge this discriminatory law because she wants transgender kids to know that she has their back, and because she believes that all kids, including transgender kids, should be able to participate in and benefit from school sports. “Trans kids deserve better,” she said.

Unfortunately, in June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can ban transgender girls from school sports in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox — brought to the Supreme Court by states defending categorical bans on transgender women and girls participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams. The Supreme Court upheld Idaho and West Virginia’s sports bans, holding that these laws do not violate either Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause.

The decision is narrowly confined to the sports context. The Court did not grant what we know the politicians driving this issue wanted from the start – a broad precedent restricting the freedom of all transgender people in our schools, workplaces, and communities.

In the wake of this devastating setback, Becky’s mom Heather reminded us all that Becky’s “bravery, her joy and her stubborn insistence on seeing the good in people shine as brightly as ever, and those attributes are a beacon for every other kid out there, and for plenty of adults, too.”

PROTECTING HEALTH CARE ACCESS

- In June 2026, the ACLU, NYCLU, and Lambda Legal filed Coe v. Blanche, a federal class-action lawsuit to challenge the Attorney General’s and U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to compel healthcare institutions in New York City, including NYU Langone Hospitals, to hand over the identities and sensitive health information of transgender youth who received gender-affirming medical care between 2020 and 2026. Earlier in July, we secured a preliminary injunction to bar the disclosure of our plaintiffs’ and class members’ health information. This case is ongoing.

- In May 2026, the ACLU and the ACLU of Kansas won a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of a Kansas law that would have banned gender-affirming care for transgender people under 18. The law had been in effect since February 2025, and our injunction in Loe v. Kansas means that 7,300 transgender youth and their parents again have the right to make medical decisions based on their doctor’s recommendation and without the interference of politicians.

- In March 2026, the Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments in Moe v. Yost, a case challenging the state’s law banning gender-affirming medical care for trans youth and prohibiting trans women and girls from participating in sports. The ACLU and ACLU of Ohio initially filed this lawsuit in March 2024, and a lower court allowed the ban to take effect in August 2024. The ban remains in place while we await the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision.

- We continue to litigate PFLAG v. Trump on behalf of PFLAG National, GLMA, and trans young adults and their families, challenging the Trump administration’s executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers and institutions that offer gender-affirming medical treatments to anyone under 19. The judge ruled from the bench in our favor on the same day we argued the case in February 2025, putting in place a nationwide temporary restraining order, later extended through a preliminary injunction.

ENSURING ACCESS TO ACCURATE IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS

We are continuing our lawsuits to decrease or eliminate the hurdles transgender people face in securing identity documents with the name and gender that accurately reflect their identity.

- In November 2025, the Supreme Court granted a request from the Trump administration to stay a preliminary injunction in Orr v. Trump, allowing the government to enforce a discriminatory passport policy against transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people while our class-action lawsuit continues. This overturns our lower-court wins blocking a portion of President Trump’s first anti-trans executive order and allowing our nationwide class to apply for or renew accurate passports. During the seven months before the Supreme Court ruling, the ACLU worked in coalition with organizations nationwide to ensure that as many people as possible were able to obtain updated passports that showed their accurate gender. Our lawsuit continues in district court.

ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS TO FACILITIES AND PUBLIC SPACES

We are continuing to fight for equal access to restrooms and other same-sex spaces.

- In June 2026, in Jackson-Edney v. Labrador, we secured a preliminary injunction blocking parts of a new state law in Idaho prohibiting trans people from using sex-designated public restrooms consistent with their gender identity in government-owned buildings and private businesses that are open to the public. Idaho is the first state to pass a restroom ban applying to public businesses. The law was set to go into effect on July 1; the order limits enforcement of the law to protect access to some restrooms while the case challenging it proceeds. This means that trans people in Idaho will be able to use single-user restrooms consistent with their gender identity and multi-user restrooms when a single-user restroom is not available (including when it is occupied).

- In May 2025, in Perkins v. State of Montana, the ACLU, ACLU of Montana, and Legal Voice won a preliminary injunction in state court blocking House Bill 121, one of the broadest anti-transgender bathroom bans in the country. The preliminary injunction blocks the law during the lifetime of the case and allows people to use restrooms and public facilities that align with their gender identity. We are defending this injunction before the Montana State Supreme Court.

Regardless of who you are, what you look like, how you dress, or where you're from, you deserve the right to move freely in the world without facing discrimination or harassment. These policies aren't just wrong and harmful – they're also illegal.

Thank you for your continued support.