MAHA Moms Turn Against Trump, and More States Rush to Limit Transgender Rights
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The New York Times app has all this stuff that you may not have seen. The way the tabs are at the top with all of the different sections. I can immediately navigate to something that matches what I'm feeling. I go to games always. Doing the mini, doing the wordle. I loved how much content it exposed me to. Things that I never would have thought to turn to a news app for. This app is essential. The New York Times app. All of the times, all in one place. Download it now at nytimes.com slash app.
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, February 20th. Here's what we're covering.
The societal norm that we're talking about is that men go in men's rooms and women go in women's rooms. That's a societal norm that needs to stand.
In state houses across the country, The Times is tracking how Republican lawmakers are pushing a wave of hundreds of new bills aimed at limiting transgender rights. The highly controversial transgender bathroom bill will now become a law in Kansas. In Kansas this week, lawmakers passed a law allowing people to sue transgender individuals who use public bathrooms that don't match their sex assigned at birth. Florida's workers should not be forced to choose between their conscience and their jobs. Some Florida lawmakers are trying to ensure public employees cannot be required to use their coworkers' preferred pronouns. House Bill 404, sex-designated housing amendments by representatives... And in Utah, bills are moving forward that would remove protections against discrimination in housing and employment for transgender people.
The moves are in line with the Trump administration's push at the national level to limit trans rights. They also reflect a shift in focus. While many of the restrictions and court fights in recent years have centered on minors, whether they can receive gender-affirming treatment or play on different sports teams, these new bills mostly apply to adults. In some cases, they question whether, for the purposes of state law, a person can be trans at all. The Kansas bill, for example, would also invalidate people's driver's licenses if they've ever changed their gender in the state's ID system. Advocates pushing for these bills argue they are necessary to protect women and say they reject the idea of a trans identity, with one Utah lawmaker saying, quote, There is no such thing as gender.
It's a made-up word and term. It's actually just two sexes. There's male and female. Supporters of trans rights, however, say the efforts are discriminatory and that even debating them makes it harder for people to openly identify as trans. In recent years, polling shows Americans have become more supportive of restrictions like barring trans athletes from women's sports, though a majority still want trans people to have protections from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces. New data released this week by the government shows that overall in 2025, the country's trade deficit in goods hit a record high. Essentially, the gap between the huge amount of physical products the U.S. imports and the smaller amount it exports has never been wider.
President Trump has repeatedly promised his steep tariffs would shrink that deficit by boosting U.S. manufacturing and turning people off overseas goods. But the data shows that's not happening yet. In some cases, the tariffs actually caused imports to spike as companies went into stockpiling mode, trying to bring in as much as they could before the surcharges kicked in. And while Americans have notably bought less from China, they bought more from the rest of the world, Vietnam, Mexico, India. That's raised questions about whether the U.S. is becoming less dependent on imports or just shuffling around where it gets them from.
What recent actions are Republican states taking to limit transgender rights?
The latest numbers are consistent with other data that shows companies have so far not brought production back to the U.S. en masse. In the past year, American manufacturers cut 80,000 jobs. The president could soon need to overhaul his trade policy.
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