Fighting Back Against Anti-Transgender Legislation in the States
The bad news: Across the country, there's been a rise in hateful legislation that attacks the basic dignity and humanity of transgender youth.
The good news: These bills have already been stopped in states including South Dakota and Florida, and there are resources to help in every state!
The bottom line? Transgender young people know who they are and all of the data shows that when they are affirmed in their gender they have comparable outcomes to their peers. By contrast, when denied treatment and affirmation, transgender people experience high rates of suicidality and negative health outcomes. These bills are based on false and/or deliberately misleading notions of health care for transgender youth and on fear of trans inclusion in public life.
Please reach out if you would like support defeating these bills in your state.
Anti Trans Bill in the States: A Conversation
Jessie Ulibarri, SiX Co-Executive Director teamed up with Chase Strangio from the ACLU, Katrina Karkazis from Yale University and Florida State Rep. Carlos Smith for a conversation about these bills. Watch or listen below.
Audio: Anti Trans Bill in the States: A Conversation
Inspiration from South Dakota and Florida
Check out this video of FL Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith taking down the false claim that care for transgender youth is experimental or unproven:
As with any issue, stories are the most powerful messengers. If you have five minutes, check out this story from 17-year-old Quinncy Parke, one of the many heroes who helped stop South Dakota's #HB1057, which sought to ban transition-related care like puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for trans minors.
No matter where we come from or what our color, most of us work hard for our families. But today, our families, local economies, and communities are being exploited by certain greedy CEOs who are stealing billions of dollars in wages earned by working Americans.
Fortunately, thanks to progressive state legislators, anti-wage theft policies are being advanced across the nation to punish greedy employers and support workers. Check out our brand new Wage Theft Policy Playbook for communications and messaging guidance, a menu of policy solutions, and additional resources to support your efforts to combat wage theft in your state.
See the playbook for more information about the problem, the solution, and how to advocate for workers.
Health Care Messaging Strategy Briefing for Colorado Legislators
Application for Interested Legislators
Join SiX for a strategy meeting on Tuesday, February 18th, from 11:00-12:00 at the Colorado State Capitol. SiX is excited to bring nationally renowned pollster Celinda Lake to Denver to support legislators on health care messaging. Celinda will present national-level health care research and work with legislators on adapting her findings to a Colorado audience. This is an open invitation to state legislators to participate – all state legislators are welcome to apply. SiX encourages applicants to apply based on their belief and support for policies that ensure economic security for working families, an open and accessible democracy, affordable and accessible health care, and safe schools and communities. Given that there are limited spaces in this training, we will prioritize applicants with a demonstrated commitment to these issues and highly encourage diverse candidates to apply.
Wage theft is a catchall term for a range of situations in which an employer fails to pay an employee. It can take many forms—from employers paying employees less than the minimum wage or failing to pay overtime to withholding tips, not providing employees with their final paycheck, or requiring employees to work off the clock. These forms of theft hurt working families by threatening basic living standards and causing economic instability, reducing tax revenues, and harming local economies and businesses that follow the rules.
To improve upon federal protections, states have enacted legislation to address wage theft, including increasing the cost to employers for violating wage and hour laws, targeting bad actors to prevent repeat offenses, empowering state and local wage enforcement authorities, and improving small claims court administrative processes for wage theft cases. While these measures have begun to address the problem in certain states, wage theft remains a significant issue in most of the country, with one study finding that 68% of respondents had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the last week alone.
Wage theft covers a variety of infractions that occur when working people do not receive their legally or contractually promised wages.
Our Wage Theft “Policy Playbook” is a summary of resources that we have compiled from state and national advocates, organizers, and leading policy organizations across the country. Here you will find communications and messaging guidance, a menu of policy solutions, legislative language, and national organizations and experts who can support your efforts.
As a reminder, legislators are always encouraged to work with state partners to assess the local and state dynamics and to craft the strongest and most feasible legislation for their state—ensuring alignment with the work of groups in the field. On a related note, this resource is not meant to supersede working with advocacy organizations and policy experts to chart the most effective path for introducing such legislation. To get connected to state and national groups or individual experts on this topic, or to receive support on legislative research or drafting, please contact SiX Action at: helpdesk@stateinnovation.org.
