In the video player above: Gender-affirming care further explained

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has highlighted efforts by Republican governors and statehouses across the country to embrace proposals limiting the rights of transgender people, signing new restrictions as he moves closer to a presidential bid.

The restrictions are spreading quickly despite criticism from medical groups and advocates who say they're further marginalizing transgender youth and threatening their health.

Here's what's happening:

FLORIDA'S RESTRICTIONS

DeSantis on Wednesday signed bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict pronoun use in schools and force people to use the bathroom corresponding with their sex assigned at birth in some cases.

DeSantis also signed new restrictions on drag shows that would allow the state to revoke the food and beverage licenses of businesses that admit children to adult performances. The DeSantis administration has moved to pull the liquor licenses of businesses that held drag shows, alleging children were present during lewd displays.

The rules on gender-affirming care also ban the use of state money for the care and place new restrictions on adults seeking treatment. They take effect immediately, along with the drag show restrictions. The bathroom and pronoun restrictions take effect July 1.

DeSantis has been an outspoken advocate for such restrictions, and championed a Florida law that restricts the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. Florida has expanded that prohibition, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law, to all grades.

WHERE BANS STAND NATIONALLY

Hundreds of bills have been proposed this year restricting the rights of transgender people, and LGBTQ+ advocates say they've seen a record number of such measures in statehouses.

At least 17 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and several other states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban care. Proposed bans are also pending before Texas and Missouri's governors.

These bans have spread quickly, with only three states enacting such laws before this year.

Before DeSantis signed the latest ban, Florida was one of two states that had restricted the care via regulations or administrative action. Texas's governor has ordered child welfare officials to investigate reports of children receiving such care as child abuse, though a judge has blocked those investigations.

Three transgender youth and their parents who are suing to block Florida's earlier ban on the care for minors expanded their challenge on Wednesday to include the prohibition DeSantis signed into law.

Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans and supported the medical care for youth when administered appropriately. Lawsuits have been filed in several of the states where the bans have been enacted this year.

STATES POISED TO ACT

A proposed ban on gender affirming care for minors is awaiting action before Republican Gov. Mike Parson in Missouri. The state's Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, this week withdrew a rule he had proposed that would have gone further by also restricting access to the care for adults.

Bailey cited the bill pending before Parson as a reason for eliminating the rule, which had been blocked by a state judge.

Nebraska Republicans on Tuesday folded a 12-week abortion ban into a bill that would ban gender affirming care for minors, potentially clearing the way for a final vote on the combined measure as early as this week.

Not all states are adopting restrictions, and some Democrat-led states are enacting measures aimed at protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ youth.

Michigan Democrats plan to introduce legislation Thursday that would ban conversion therapy for minors, a discredited practice of trying to "convert" people to heterosexuality.

The legislation is expected to move quickly with Democrats in control of all levels of state government. Democratic state Rep. Jason Hoskins, a sponsor of the bill, told The Associated Press that he hopes the legislation passes by the end of June, which is Pride Month.

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Associated Press writers Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida; Margery Beck in Lincoln, Nebraska; Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, Missouri; and Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.

As the owners of Darkhorse Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee, Shannon Wood and her husband, Peter Kurland, have worked hard over the last three decades to make sure their quaint black box theatre is inclusive to anyone who walks through the front doors.

But while they love drama, they prefer for it to be on their stage and not in the place where it has unexpectedly started unfolding, the bathroom.

"No one has ever complained about our all-gender bathroom," Wood said while sitting inside the theatre which has been closed for nearly a year because of COVID-19.

Under a new state law passed in Tennessee, it's possible that Darkhorse Theatre could have to put up signs on their bathrooms, saying they let transgender people use the multipurpose restrooms here.

"What happens if someone goes into a bathroom and it’s not the gender they were assigned at birth? Are they gonna put those people in jail? Are they going to send police officers to inspect people? It’s not only mean, it’s totally impractical and ridiculous," Wood added.

As the CEO of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce in Nashville, Joe Woolley has worked hard over the last decade to push back again legislation that discriminates against the LGBT community. He’s been successful in this deeply conservative state by playing the economic angle.

"I talk to businesses on a weekly basis and they’re concerned about what it’s like for LGBT people to live here in the South, to live here in Tennessee," Woolley said about a recent string of legislative bills targeting the LGBT community.

For years, Woolley and other LGBT groups partnered with small businesses and major corporations who lobbied lawmakers hard to not support things like the bathroom bill and it worked.

"It harms businesses' ability to attract and retain the talent they need," he noted.

This year though something changed.

"It’s been tough, and I will tell you I’m exhausted, Woolley said.

"For the first time ever, the business voice was not listened to. Businesses were told to shut up, stay out of politics. I think it was an eye-opening moment.”

So far, 2021 has been a record year when it comes to anti-transgender legislation. Thirty-three states have passed more than 100 bills all aimed at curbing the rights of transgender people.

Arizona, Montana, Texas, and Florida are among a handful of states who’ve introduced legislation that prevent minors from receiving gender-affirming healthcare. Only Arkansas has made the bill into law.

Woolley is concerned about the kind of long-term financial impact these pieces of legislation will have on state economies, as businesses and conventions go elsewhere.

"These bills are targeting transgender people and transgender youth because it’s easy; they picked one of the most marginalized groups in the country, and we need to wake up," Woolley said.

As for Shannon Wood and her husband, they have no plans on changing their all-gender bathroom signs because they know the message that it sends to anyone who walks into the theatre.

"There's an act and an intermission. People want to go the bathroom; they don’t care about where they’re going to the bathroom."