Legislative trackers report that 2026 is on pace to extend what has already been described as a multi-year record streak of state-level bills targeting transgender people in the United States. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 813 bills affecting transgender and gender-nonconforming people were under consideration across 43 states and at the federal level as of late June 2026, a figure the organization says continues to grow as state legislative sessions proceed. The American Civil Liberties Union separately reported tracking more than 500 bills targeting LGBTQ+ people broadly in its own 2026 database.

Advocates and legal researchers tracking the bills say many follow near-identical language circulated by national conservative legal advocacy organizations and replicated with minor changes across multiple statehouses. Bills cluster around several recurring categories: restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare, participation in school sports, identity document policies (such as updating gender markers on IDs), bathroom access, and curriculum or library content related to LGBTQ+ topics. Missouri has again emerged as one of the states introducing the highest volume of such legislation, while Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia have seen a concentration of healthcare-specific proposals this session.

Not every bill introduced becomes law, many stall in committee or fail outright, but researchers note that even unsuccessful bills can have a chilling effect on transgender residents and signal legislative priorities for future sessions. The trend follows a broader pattern that accelerated nationally starting around 2015 and saw its first major surge in 2023, when the number of bills introduced nationally more than tripled the previous year’s record.