2026 Legislative priorities

The following priorities for Connecticut’s 2026 legislative session were developed with community input, including healthcare providers, educators, legal NGOs, reproductive equity organizations, and a host of other experts and people with lived experience.

LGBTQ+ Justice & Opportunity Network:
Equality Connecticut will continue to champion the success and resourcing of the LGBTQ+ Justice & Opportunity Network. Specifically, we are supporting legislation to update its governance and membership eligibility.

Gender-affirming care:

  • Updating Connecticut’s Shield Law to include:
    • More explicit protection for interstate telehealth: add clear language stating that CT-licensed providers are protected when delivering telehealth services to patients regardless of a patient’s location, as long as the care is legal in CT and meets CT standards of care.
    • Protect providers of reproductive health or gender-affirming health care by allowing them to request using a clinic or practice name instead of the provider name on prescription labels.
    • Strengthening protections against application or enforcement of other state’s anti-trans laws in CT.
  • Prescription Drug Monitoring Reform:
    • Limit data sharing through PDMP (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program) with states that criminalize gender-affirming care to prevent providers and patients from being targeted through interstate prescription monitoring agreements.
    • Remove testosterone from the list of controlled substances.
  • Increasing Access to Prescription Hormone Therapy by allowing 12-month supply of hormone therapies.
  • Expanding eligibility of Connecticut’s Address Confidentiality program to providers of reproductive and gender- affirming care.

HIV Policy:

  • Exempt people with HIV from medicaid work requirements passed under HR1.
  • Require commercial health insurers to allow providers to bill for long-acting injectables as either a medical or pharmacy benefit.

Education:
Connecticut’s public school students are navigating an unprecedented moment of vulnerability, as their equal access to education faces growing threats from the federal level. At the same time, gaps in local nondiscrimination policies here in Connecticut are weakening protections that our state Constitution guarantees.
As a result of these loopholes, 67% of Connecticut students are currently left without clear, consistent safeguards against discrimination. This is not a theoretical risk—it is a real and immediate failure that leaves students exposed and undermines their ability to learn in safe, supportive environments.
The legislature has an opportunity and a responsibility to act. Closing this loophole will refocus education policy on what matters most: protecting students’ rights and well-being, rather than prioritizing administrative convenience or legal maneuvering by school districts. Connecticut must reaffirm its commitment to equal access to education for every student, in every community.

Reproductive Freedom for LGBTQ+ People:
We believe that LGBTQ and single people should have unfettered access to the health care they need to build their families. We have once again joined the Fertility Access Connecticut (FACT) campaign, which is working to expand fertility health care coverage for LGBTQ and single people.

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