100 Bills Became 1,020
In 2019, about 100 anti-trans bills were introduced across the country. Eight passed. In 2021, the number jumped to 184. By 2023, it was over 500. In 2025, 1,020 anti-trans bills were under consideration in state legislatures across the country. 29 states now have at least one anti-trans law on the books.
1,020 anti-trans bills introduced in 2025. Up from 100 in 2019.
That is not 29 states independently arriving at the same conclusion. That is a supply chain.
The Template
An AP investigation found that many of the bills restricting trans healthcare came from a handful of far-right groups. A Pavement Pieces analysis found that roughly 200 anti-trans bills — about 20% of all bills tracked — use identical or near-identical language. Same sentences. Same definitions. Same enforcement mechanisms. Different state letterheads.
86% of anti-trans bills target children. Not adults. Children.
A coalition called Promise to America’s Children, made up of 23 organizations, runs a website where state legislators can download ready-made bills targeting trans youth healthcare, trans athletes, and bathroom access.
Who Writes Them
Four organizations produce most of the model legislation, fund the litigation, and run the political ads.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a legal advocacy group with annual revenue over $300 million. The Southern Poverty Law Center designates it a hate group. ADF drafts model bills, funds test cases, and provides legal strategy to state legislators. When a trans healthcare ban gets challenged in court, ADF is often the organization defending it.
The Heritage Foundation runs on $140 million a year and produced Project 2025, the 900-page federal policy manual that includes banning gender-affirming care, excluding trans people from military service, removing federal nondiscrimination protections, and permitting faith-based discrimination against LGBTQ people. Heritage Foundation president Kevin D. Roberts wrote in the forward that “children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism.”
The Family Research Council has a $30 million annual budget and spends over $1 million a year on lobbying. Also designated a hate group by the SPLC.
The American Principles Project is a 501(c)(4) political organization that spent over $10 million on anti-trans political ads in 2024.
Combined budget: roughly $485 million a year.
$215 Million in Ads
In the 2024 election cycle, Republicans spent $215 million on anti-trans TV ads. The Trump campaign alone spent $21 million in a single month — October 2024 — on ads targeting trans people. At one point, anti-trans ads accounted for one-third of all Republican TV ad spending.
$215 million spent on anti-trans TV ads in one election cycle. $134 per trans person in the country.
There are roughly 1.6 million trans people in the United States. That is $134 per trans person spent on TV ads alone.
For context: fewer than 10 trans athletes compete in NCAA sports out of 510,000 total athletes. The sports bans cost roughly $21,500 per trans athlete targeted.
What It Bought
29 states with anti-trans laws. 24 states with healthcare bans affecting 382,800 trans youth — 53% of all trans youth in the country. 24 states with sports bans. 12 states with bathroom bans. 5 states with pronoun restrictions.
A reinstated military ban affecting 4,240 service members. A defunded crisis line that was handling 70,000 contacts a month. Rainbow crosswalks erased in cities where 59% of residents support marriage equality.
This is not a culture war. It is a business model. The organizations raise money by targeting trans people, spend it on legislation and ads, and use the resulting laws to raise more money. The bills are the product. The outrage is the revenue.
59% of Texans Disagree
PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas surveyed 22,000 adults. In Texas, 59% support same-sex marriage. 69% support nondiscrimination protections. In Florida, 64% support marriage equality. In Ohio, 65%. Only two states — Mississippi (47%) and Arkansas (50%) — lack majority support. 71% of all Americans agree that transgender people deserve the same rights as other Americans.
The Texas legislature introduced 200 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2025. Eight passed. 120 targeted trans Texans specifically.
The bills do not reflect the voters. They reflect the funders.
Read more on the LGBTQ Rights hub and the Project 2025 series.