As readers may know, Pennsylvania has been without a state budget for nearly three months at this writing. The Office of the Budget has issued this Q&A about the impasse which began on FY July 1, 2025. Understandably, the General Assembly’s focus at this writing is our (lack of) state budget.
As a result, nothing is happening on PA4SBR’s good and bad bills. PA4SBR has been tracking many bills during the 2025-2026 legislative session, and all of them are stalled in committees. These bills range from the egregious (SB 477: Removal of Sex from Birth Certificates) to the outstanding (HB 158: Protect Women's Sports Act and SB 9: Save Women's Sports Act.) PA4SBR will keep readers updated on these bills as we receive new information.
At the federal level, Kara Dansky reported that US Representative Nancy Mace, R-SC, has proposed four amendments protecting women's facilities to the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). All of these amendments made it into the House’s final version (HR 3838), and — prepare yourselves, readers — 17 Democrats voted YES on HR 3838 containing Mace's amendments.
IKR??!! What is happening??!!
The 17 Democrats voting in favor of reality are listed here. Spoiler alert: no PA Democrats are among them.
The US Senate needs to pass its own version of NDAA, and then both chambers need to agree on a final version. However, that 17 Democrats voted in favor is very good news. We hope that the final version retains Mace’s amendments.
According to Your Author’s cursory search, 73 federal bills have been filed concerning “trans rights” and “gender identity” in the 2025-2026 Congressional session. As readers might expect, these bills are very partisan. PA4SBR will keep readers updated as necessary.
Thank you! Wow, this is a lot of bills.
It looks like one of the worst ones (aside from the Equality Act) is the GLOBE Act (S. 2231). Among many other things, it would require reporting on whether goods distributed through U.S. funding are used as evidence when prosecuting "sex work" (not "sex workers," but "sex work," which could include pimps, Johns, etc.), provides for identity documents that include "X" ("nonbinary") designation, and seems to allow for the custom-ordering of children through foreign surrogacy without any biological connection to a parent in the United States. (I'm not saying biological connection would make it better, but lack of need for connection is emphasized in the bill.)
Oh, my god, too, look at this:
"The Secretary of State shall ensure that information focused on LGBTQI children of all ages (including transgender and gender nonconforming students) is included in post reports, bidding materials, and Office of Overseas Schools reports, databases, and adequacy lists."
This is on top of a lot of language that could end up barring anyone who has engaged in anti-gender identity activism entry into the United States, and which lumps countries that criminalize "gender-affirming treatments" in with countries that criminalize same-sex relationships.
What a lot of mess, all in one bill. There's a little something for every misogynist: gender identity, "sex work," and even surrogacy.
Another notable one is H.R. 3974, which would make the statement, "Black women and girls are individuals who identify as a woman, female, or femme," part of U.S. law. This one is actually co-sponsored by Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, as well as the Democrat Summer Lee, just to name those from Pennsylvania.
There are so many bad ones, though, that it's hard to highlight all the least favorites. Thanks so much for reporting on all this.