Transgender rights in the United States
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In the United States, the rights of transgender people vary considerably by jurisdiction. In recent decades, there was an expansion of federal, state, and local laws and rulings to protect transgender Americans; however, many rights remain unprotected, and some rights are being eroded, with significant federal restrictions since 2025. Since 2020, there has been a national movement by conservative and right-wing politicians and organizations against transgender rights. There has been a steady increase in the number of anti-transgender bills introduced each year, especially in Republican-led states. Transgender employees are nationally protected from employment discrimination following a 2020 ruling where the Supreme Court held that Title VII protections against sex discrimination in employment extend to transgender employees. Attempts to pass a proposed Equality Act, if ever successful, would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service.
Repeated attempts to pass a Transgender Bill of Rights have failed but, if ever successful, would amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, enforce prohibitions on discrimination in health care on the basis of gender identity and amend federal education laws to ensure that trans students are protected from discrimination. This bill would also specifically allow students to join sports teams that match their gender identity and protect access to gender affirming care for minors and adults, which would subsequently overturn various bans passed at a state level by conservative legislatures across the country. It would also federally ban conversion therapy practices and forced surgery on intersex children and would invest in community services to prevent violence against trans and nonbinary people and would require the attorney general to designate a liaison within the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice dedicated to advising and overseeing enforcement of the civil rights of transgender people.
Most states allow change of sex on birth certificates and driver's licenses, although some require proof of gender-affirming surgery or prohibit updating these fields altogether. Some states legally recognize non-binary citizens, and offer an "X" marker on identification documents. Gender self-identification (including an "X" option) was permitted for passports between 2022 and 2025, but was subsequently repealed. Laws concerning name changes in U.S. jurisdictions are also a complex mix of federal and state rules. The Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges established that equal protection requires all jurisdictions to recognize same-sex marriages, giving transgender people the right to marry regardless of whether their partners are legally considered to be same-sex or opposite-sex. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, of 2009, added crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability to the federal definition of a hate crime. However, only some states and territories include gender identity in their hate crime laws.
Throughout the United States, transgender rights have increasingly been a target of conservatives and the Republican Party. Since 2022, many red state governments have restricted or eliminated transgender residents' access to gendered public accommodations, gender-related medical care, and accurate identification documents. Bans or restrictions on drag performances as well as those on queer-related literature and academic curricula (e.g. gender and sexuality studies) in public schools have also been instituted by several state governments.
After Donald Trump's inauguration as president in January 2025, he signed executive orders to prohibit federal recognition of genders beyond male or female assigned at birth, gender-related medical care for people under 19, military service by openly trans people, support of social transition and instruction on gender-related topics in schools, and the inclusion of trans women in women's sports. Two judges have temporarily blocked the under-19 gender-affirming care ban, and other aspects of these orders have faced legal challenges.
On June 18, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Skrmetti that bans on gender-affirming care for minors did not violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, thus sending the issue to the states.