Our Commitment to Trans Rights & Justice

Women’s Law Project stands in full solidarity with transgender and gender-expansive people.

We are unwavering in our commitment to advancing trans rights, defending access to gender-affirming healthcare, and opposing all efforts to surveil, control, or endanger trans and gender-expansive Pennsylvanians.

This work is not new to us—it is a continuation of our decades-long fight against gender-based discrimination and government control over bodily autonomy. Laws and rhetoric that attack the rights and personhood of transgender and gender-expansive people stem from the same systems of power that have long policed and restricted the lives of all women. The fight for reproductive freedom for all and the struggle for trans justice are fundamentally intertwined.

Bodily autonomy means everyone must be free to make decisions about their body, identity, and healthcare—without government interference or punishment.

WLP works in the Capitol, the courts, and the community—often in collaboration with LGBTQIA+ direct service organizations—to protect and expand trans rights in Pennsylvania and beyond.

Questions or want to collaborate? Contact [email protected]

Click the bill number to view its current status in the process of advancing through the General Assembly. To be notified when these bills are scheduled for a vote, sign up for WLP updates and action alerts.

We support and advocate for protective LGBTQIA+ legislation by:

Drafting and reviewing bills
Providing legislative testimony
Educating the public
Mobilizing supporters to take action

We support:

House Bill 300: The Fairness Act (Rep. Kenyatta – D) would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act with language explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

[Fact image] Without an explicit statewide law, Pennsylvania is a patchwork of local LGBTQIA+ protections. Currently, at least 76 local and county governments across Pennsylvania have adopted an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance, including at least 72 of Pennsylvania’s 2,560 municipalities and four of the state’s 67 counties.

Pennsylvania Youth Congress tracks local nondiscrimination ordinances across Pennsylvania here.

WLP opposes anti-trans legislative efforts by advocating in the Capitol, providing legislative testimony and support, and working to educate and mobilize the public to respond to these proposals. Strategic political efforts to stigmatize and scapegoat transgender people began with “bathroom bans” in 2016. In recent years, political attacks on transgender people expanded into sports restrictions and efforts to deprive transgender and gender-expansive people of access to lifesaving healthcare.

We oppose:

Senate Bill 843 (Sen. J. Ward – R) and House Bill 1033 (Rep. B. Roae – R) target gender-nonconforming young people to deprive them of gender-affirming care in defiance of every major medical organization. It interferes in family life by blocking parents of transgender kids from helping their child access certain lifesaving medical care in Pennsylvania. It bans public funds from covering gender-affirming care and restricts doctors from giving referrals.
Senate Bill 9: Targeting gender-nonconforming students to restrict sports participation (Sen. J. Ward – R) would restrict transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming students from participating in sports and activities designated for girls and women. It specifically targets students with femme gender expressions and would enshrine an arbitrary, unscientific definition of sex into state law. The bill fails to address enforcement, which could involve invasive physical exams and inspections of children’s bodies. If implemented, SB9 would conflict with other state laws and would violate federal law and our state constitutional rights.

WLP’s policy agenda for 2025-26 is here.

WLP Files Complaint Against UPMC Children’s Hospital for Denying Gender-Affirming Care to Trans Patients Under 19

On September 23, 2025, on behalf of a group of minor transgender patients represented by their parents and two 18-year-old transgender patients, Women’s Law Project filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission against UPMC Children’s Hospital for unlawfully denying gender-affirming care to patients under 19.

While the hospital continues to provide puberty blockers and hormone therapy to cisgender youth, it has cut off access to transgender patients. Our complaint argues this action is unlawful discrimination based on sex (which includes gender identity and expression under state law) and disability.

Gender-affirming care is legal in Pennsylvania, supported by major medical associations here in the United States. Families affected by the policy are demanding that UPMC immediately reinstate care for transgender youth and compensate patients for the harm caused.

Learn more in our press release and this one-page explainer.

Landmark Win Expands Gender-Affirming Care in Rural Pennsylvania

In January 2025, we achieved a landmark client settlement that expanded gender-affirming care in rural Pennsylvania in partnership with client Maeve Plummer, who alleged she was unlawfully denied treatment at Conemaugh Health System, one of the biggest hospital systems in west-central Pennsylvania.

Women’s Law Project partnered with Community Justice Project, a state-wide public interest legal aid organization, to represent Plummer in litigation.

As part of the settlement, Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, which denies all allegations of wrongdoing, agreed to engage in a comprehensive, concrete plan to improve the provision of healthcare to LGBTQ+ patients that includes:

providing gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender patients through its Family Medical Center

hiring a Healthcare Equity and Patient Experience Navigator to improve healthcare equity and LGBTQ+ patient experiences; undertaking training by The Fenway Institute, a national expert in health and well-being for sexual and gender minorities (SGM)

establishing an Equity and Patience Experience Task Force that meets at minimum four times a year

participating in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI)

taking practical steps to achieve “Top Performer” tier over the next five years

updating its virtual and physical environments to be more welcoming to LGBTQIA+ patients.

You can read Maeve’s story here.

Mahmoud v. Taylor

Mahmoud v. Taylor is a U.S. Supreme Court case centered on whether public schools violate parents’ religious rights by offering age-appropriate LGBTQIA+-inclusive books without allowing opt-outs.

In April 2025, Women’s Law Project and Community Justice Project filed an amicus (“friend-of-the-court”) brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in this case on behalf of Lebo Pride, Education Law Center, and Pennsylvania Youth Congress supporting inclusive curricula.

Unfortunately, in a 6 – 3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools must provide notification and opt-out options, despite evidence opt-outs undermine the protective effect of inclusive curricula on all students.

Tatel et al v. Mt Lebanon School District, et al.

In February 2024, Women’s Law Project and Community Justice Project filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Tatel et al v. Mt Lebanon School District, et al. on behalf of Lebo Pride, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance visibility, education, celebration, and inclusion of queer, gender diverse, and other marginalized groups.

The brief supported Mt. Lebanon School District’s right to implement LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, policies, and practices and outlined the well-documented harms of failing to fulfill that obligation by enacting policies such as the “opt-out” policy sought by plaintiffs.

Unfortunately, the Court ruled against the school district.

Open Letter to the PIAA

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is a governing body of high school and middle school athletics in Pennsylvania.

On February 19, 2025, the PIAA board of directors voted to remove the “Transgender Policy” from its policy and procedures manual and to amend the “Mixed Gender Participation” provisions of its by-laws that address when a student’s sex is questioned, adding a requirement that member schools “consult with their school solicitors relative to compliance” with Presidential Executive Order 14201, which has been universally enjoined.

In March, Women’s Law Project and Education Law Center sent an open letter to Dr. Robert A. Lombardi, executive director of the PIAA and the PIAA board of directors, stating that any districts that restrict transgender student athletes’ participation in middle and high school athletics would violate both state and federal law.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, Fairness Pennsylvania, GLSEN, Planned Parenthood Association of Pennsylvania, and Public Education Advocates of Lancaster County also signed the letter, which you can read here.