Arizona’s 2026 Session Opens With Renewed Push to Restrict LGBTQ+ Rights

Arizona lawmakers opened the 2026 legislative session Monday with a familiar slate of culture-war bills targeting LGBTQ+ people — proposals that largely failed in past years but are resurfacing with new legal tactics and higher stakes.

LOOKOUT is tracking nine proposed bills so far that would restrict the civil rights of queer Arizonans. Most of the bills have formerly failed at the Capitol, mostly by veto from Gov. Katie Hobbs. 

One of them, sponsored by Rep. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) — a lawmaker who has platformed QAnon conspiracies and was spotted at the Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — would make doctors personally liable for the cost of gender-affirming surgeries if a patient later detransitions.

The bill persists despite a substantial body of research showing detransition is rare and less commonly regretted than many routine medical procedures, like knee or back surgery, where doctors are not forced to foot the bill if a patient changes their mind.

That bill — also sponsored by Shamp — passed through the statehouse last year but vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs last year. 

Still, doubling down on misleading narratives about mass detransition has proven to be a point of policy for the lawmaker. Shamp introduced another piece of legislation that would also force insurance companies to cover all costs related to detransition, while also creating a government registry of people who have undergone the procedure.

Other proposals this year lean on the language of “parental rights,” including bills that would allow parents to access minors’ confidential medical records, even in cases involving sexually transmitted infection testing or treatment, where privacy has long been considered critical to public health.

This year’s session also includes new efforts to weaponize the courts against LGBTQ+ inclusion. One bill would allow private citizens to sue organizations with damages of $100,000 for adopting diversity policies, including respecting pronouns that differ from a person’s sex assigned at birth. The measure, HB 2135, is sponsored by Rep. Michael Way (R-Queen Creek), who in the past helped push through legislation that would have eliminated DEI programs across state agencies, public schools and universities — a bill Gov. Katie Hobbs ultimately vetoed.

Among the most aggressive proposals are new bills being introduced in the state, including one from from Sen. Mark Finchem (R-Yavapai County) that would ban gender-affirming care for minors outright, including hormones and therapy. Arizona law already restricts surgical care for minors — procedures for which there are few (if any) documented cases in the state.

Finchem’s bill goes further, targeting some of the most basic forms of care available to trans youth, including hormones, puberty blockers, and therapy — interventions that have been proven to be safe and effective in treating gender dysphoria.

But the bill drawing the most attention from LGBTQ+ advocates is a Senate resolution from Sen. John Kavanagh (R- Fountain Hills). After years of unsuccessfully pushing bathroom bills and pronoun bans through the Legislature, Kavanagh is trying a different tactic: sending the issue straight to voters. 

Similar measures have passed lawmakers before, only to be vetoed by Hobbs. As a resolution, this one would bypass the governor entirely and land on the November ballot if approved.

A nearly identical proposal came within one vote of passage in 2024 before Sen. Ken Bennett of Prescott broke ranks and killed it. That vote kept the measure off the ballot — and, in the end, cost Bennett his seat.

On the opposite end, Rep. Brian Garcia (D- Tempe), who is part of the Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, is proposing two bills that would expand rights for queer people, including eliminating the requirement to show proof of a sexual assignment surgery to change someone’s birth certificate, a move that would align the state’s rules with recent court precedent.