On November 3, the school hosted a discussion titled, “Anti-LGBTQ Legislation – What It Is and How Do We Combat It?” Led by Corrine Goodwin, board member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Trans Equity Project (EPTEP), the info session explained exactly that. 

EPTEP, in addition to providing services to trans youth and educating communities with events like the one at Dickinson, engages in political advocacy on both the state and local level, which brings them into contact with anti-LGBTQ legislation. Goodwin described anti-LGBTQ legislation broadly as any bill or other legal measure that specifically disadvantages the LGBTQ community. 

This type of anti-LGBTQ legislation often tries to define gender and sex to exclude trans identities, restrict legal protections and access to medical care and justify itself by claiming to protect women and children. Many of the examples Goodwin gave focused specifically on trans people, such as North Carolina’s Bathroom Bill from 2016. 

The law was repealed in 2017, but while it was enacted, it required that bathrooms be designated for one biological sex, as written on a person’s birth certificate, and explicitly permitted discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Now, a bill similar to this one is back in consideration in North Carolina, with the potential to cause harm.

Goodwin cited numerous statistics that showed an increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. For instance, 996 anti-LBGTQ bills were introduced overall this year (as of November 3), while only 701 were introduced in 2024, only 615 in 2023 and only 174 in 2022. As steep as this increase may be, Goodwin shared another statistic: 87 percent of all these bills are never passed due to the efforts of activists. 

If students would like to support the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project or learn more about them, their website is https://www.patransequity.org.