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States in the Resistance: Summer 2025
From the Trump administration’s looming shutdown of the LGBTQIA+ youth crisis lifeline to Congress’s passage of a devastating federal budget that directly undermines critical support for social programs, education, health care, and working families, the consequences of harmful federal actions continue to pervade communities across the country.
But as many state legislative sessions begin to wind down, a clear trend is emerging: while the federal government persists in its attacks on gender justice, state lawmakers and advocates are showing up for their communities.
Florida advocates successfully defeat all anti-LGBTQIA+ bills filed this year
Florida advocates and legislators defended their communities and successfully prevented all anti-LGBTQIA+ bills filed this year from passing. With record breaking attendance for the largest advocacy week in Florida history—over 400 citizen lobbyists showed up—advocates strategically fended off votes for bills that targeted LGBTQIA+ rights including bills banning Pride flags from public spaces, censoring conversations about LGBTQIA+ people in workplaces, and more.
Colorado enacts bill protecting access to gender-affirming health care
The Trump administration has issued multiple executive orders directly targeting transgender people, with gender-affirming medical care at the center of their attacks. The Colorado legislature, however, has doubled down on its commitment to trans rights by passing a bill reinforcing existing insurance coverage requirements for gender-affirming care and ending the tracking of testosterone prescriptions in the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. A broad coalition of over 30 LGBTQIA+ rights, health, faith, reproductive rights, youth, and economic justice groups came together to push for the bill, which was signed into law on May 23rd.
Delaware legislature passes bill to require pay transparency
With many wage equality initiatives halted at the federal level, Delaware lawmakers are taking action to fill the void by passing a pay range transparency bill that requires employers to include pay ranges in job announcements. Research shows that when pay is kept secret, women—especially women of color—lose out, but disclosing pay range for a position may help close gender wage gaps. Read more about how pay transparency is critical for driving pay equity and how other states are leading the way here.
Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, and Virginia amend laws to protect survivors from retaliatory lawsuits
This year alone, a quickly growing number of states—including Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, and Virginia—have amended their anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws to shield survivors who speak out about sexual assault, harassment, and/or other discrimination from defamation and/or other civil lawsuits. These lawsuits are a retaliatory tactic increasingly used by harassers and abusers to intimidate or silence their victims by filing meritless suits against them. To learn more about the rise of retaliatory lawsuits and how survivors are fighting back, see our Survivors Speaking Out toolkit (with a forthcoming update in July/August 2025).
Connecticut lawmakers invest in Early Childhood Education Endowment
While the Trump administration continues to threaten funding for early education programs, Connecticut celebrated the signing of a bill that creates an Early Childhood Endowment to fund expansion of the state-funded Early Start program. This monumental investment aims to create an additional 16,000 state-funded PreK and infant toddler spaces over the next five years, eliminate out-of-pocket costs for families earning below $100,000, and cap costs at 7% of income for families making more than that.
Tennessee codified the right to contraception and fertility treatments into law
Sixty years after the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to birth control, attacks on the right to contraception still persist, making explicit protections for access to reproductive health care crucial at the state level. Reflecting this urgency, Tennessee signed a bill into law codifying the right to contraception and fertility treatments. Tennessee is the first southern state to pass such a bill, marking a necessary step towards protecting reproductive autonomy.
Through our States in the Resistance series, we’re here to remind you that this is a fight we can win—a fight not only for gender justice but for democracy. The resistance is here, and it’s only growing stronger.
