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Wyoming’s rugged terrain is almost a nation away, geographically and culturally, from the suburbs and swamps of Florida. But as Wyoming lawmakers meet for the legislative session, the influence of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is looming large over the state Capitol in Cheyenne. GOP lawmakers in the Equality State have introduced a proposal to ban references to sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, replicating chunks of a controversial law that DeSantis implemented in Florida. (Craig, 2/9)

Republican lawmakers in more than half the states are continuing a party-line push to restrict doctors and other medical providers from offering some gender-affirming health care to minors, even with parents’ consent. (Barrett, 2/9)

An Indiana House committee on Thursday passed sweeping language to rein in the Department of Child Services that some warned could have unintended consequences apparently inspired solely by the department's decision to remove a single transgender child from their parents' care. (Dwyer, 2/10)

Missouri’s senior senator and the state’s new attorney general both announced investigations Thursday after publication of allegations that a transgender clinic in St. Louis was providing substandard care to children and teens. The allegations, published online Thursday by The Free Press, were made by Jamie Reed, a 42-year-old native St. Louisan, who said she worked at the Washington University Transgender Center as a case manager between 2018 and 2022. (Munz, 2/9)

One in five parents went back in the closet in some capacity — including some who no longer hold their partner’s hand in public. More than half considered leaving Florida. Nearly nine out of 10 parents said they worried the bill would make their kids less safe. Those numbers are the stark findings from a study on the effects of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law just released by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. (Rummler, Luterman and Sosin, 2/9)

It was a cold, snowy day in Missoula, Mont., last year when Zooey Zephyr, a candidate for the state House of Representatives, was invited inside a voter’s house to shelter from the weather while canvassing. Not knowing that Zephyr herself was transgender, the woman proceeded to share that she had a trans grandson, and he was afraid to come home to Montana because of anti-trans bills in the legislature. (Fulton and Villa de Petrzelka, 2/9)