The Canadian government issued a travel advisory to its LGBTQ+ citizens warning against traveling to the United States. A national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans was also issued in June by the Human Rights Campaign, a U.S.-based advocacy group.

This advisory come after U.S. state governments have proposed almost 500 anti-trans bills throughout 2023, compared to less than 200 in 2022, according to Trans Legislation Tracker.

Dr. Joanna Schwartz, professor of marketing, is the first out trans professor to work in the University System of Georgia and began her transition while working at GC.

“In the country overall, there’s been a really heavy conservative legislative push against LGBT people,” Schwartz said. “Someone from outside could look at that and see that there really is potentially a large segment of our population, no matter what state you’re in, who might not respect you as a person, and you might not feel safe to travel there.” 

The bills being proposed in many southeastern states are targeted at stripping rights away from the LGBTQ+ community, specifically trans and non-binary people. However, Georgia is not passing bills at the same rate as Florida or Alabama. 

Alabama only has laws in place protecting LGBTQ+ citizens from basic in-school bullying and from being denied acceptance to colleges within the state due to their gender or sexuality. 

Florida has laws in place specifically targeting the LGBTQ+ community, but also has many laws specifically against them, having passed sodomy laws, HIV/AIDS criminalization laws as well as laws excluding transgender people from being included in sports or talked about in schools. 

“The current legislative environment in the United States is still trying to protect our rights,” Schwartz said. “If the country moves really far to the right and the kind of things that are passed in Florida pass nationwide, at that point, just as I said, I might have to move out of Georgia. It’s perfectly possible I might have to move further than that.” 

Georgia has similar laws against the LGBTQ+ community as Florida but offers more healthcare coverage and higher protection of LGBTQ+ youth, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

“In comparison to where I was living five years ago [Puerto Rico], I do feel like I’ve found a lot of freedom; I don’t face as much discrimination or harassment,” said Sebastián Emanuelli, senior liberal arts major. 

In Emanuelli’s experience, he finds that the U.S. still offers more protections than many other countries throughout the world.  

“In the U.S., there are a lot more rights for LGBTQ+ people,” Emanuelli said. “However, I do feel like moving to a southern state wasn’t to my advantage. Systematically, I do receive more protections, I believe, and I do feel safer here presenting as lesbian, bisexual, trans, whatever than in Puerto Rico.”

The U.S. is a historically progressive country where some states are currently working to reduce the rights of some citizens. Legislation is being proposed, and tracked by the American Civil Liberties Union, that directly confronts the ideals of both acceptance and inclusion that the country was founded upon. The LGBTQ+ community needs – and deserves – respect for their rights.