Latest news with #EqualityTexas
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas bill requiring insurance companies to cover gender detransitioning heads to governor
A Texas Senate bill requiring insurance companies to cover all follow-up care and treatment for potential adverse effects to patients who receive gender affirming care, including "therapy necessary to manage, reverse, reconstruct from, or recover from" such care is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott to become law after the House passed the proposal Monday and the upper chamber signed the measure Tuesday. The House on Monday also advanced to the Senate a proposal limiting the definition of sex to male and female. The proposal acknowledges intersex people, or those born with a combination of male and female biological traits, though it specifies there is no third gender, instead the proposal calls for special accommodations as per federal and state law. Several rights groups and LGBTQ advocates have been fighting the proposals, which they say will erase the lived experiences of transgender Texans and hurt their health. Equality Texas, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, organized a rally Friday at the Capitol with dozens of rallygoers to oppose the measures that they say are anti-LGBTQ. The group is tracking more than 200 bills this legislative session that it says are harmful to LGBTQ Texans. The number of such proposals in Texas tops similar legislative considerations compared with any other state, CEO Brad Pritchett said at the rally. House Bill 229 by Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, would require government entities to only recognize the sex of an individual at birth, prohibiting the agencies from accepting the gender identities of transgender Texans or of a person who identifies as nonbinary, meaning they neither identify as a man nor a woman. "It affects every aspect of our daily lives," said Shelly Skeen, South Central director of Lambda Legal, about the bill's potential effect on identities. "Mismatched IDs out you and that can immediately lead to violence," not getting paid for work, not accessing health care and more. About 1.6 million people over the age of 13 in the U.S. are transgender, including 92,900 adults in Texas, according to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute. Beyond individuals who transition to a different gender than the one assigned to them at birth, the United Nations estimates that about 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits. Troxclair has dubbed her bill the "Women's Bill of Rights," saying the definition of sex needs to be clarified and codified to help and protect women whose gender aligns with their sex at birth. "We can't have women's rights if we don't even know what a woman is," she said in a Texas Public Policy Foundation video earlier during the legislative session. "We need to define what a woman is to bring clarity, certainty and uniformity in the way women are treated under Texas law." All world health and major medical associations recognize transgender youth, according to GLAAD, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ rights, and many have rejected insurance exclusions or limitations on gender-affirming care. Many of those organizations have asserted that gender-affirming care can be life-saving for those who suffer from gender dysphoria, severe mental distress for people whose sex at birth does not align with their gender identity. Senate Bill 1257 by Mineola Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes wouldn't limit gender affirming care explicitly, but it would put health insurance agencies on the line for "all possible adverse consequences" related to a gender transition and all follow-up appointments to monitor the health of the patient. In a statement to the American-Statesman, state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who carried the companion legislation in the House, said SB 1257 is about "basic fairness and responsibility in health care coverage." 'If an insurance plan chooses to cover gender reassignment procedures, it must also cover the side effects and provide care for those who later seek to reverse those procedures," Leach said. "We've heard directly from brave individuals who have detransitioned—people whose pain and healing journeys are real and cannot be ignored. Their voices matter, and this bill ensures they are not abandoned in their time of need by the very systems that once supported their transition.' But advocates fear the bill will make it so burdensome for health care providers to treat transgender patients that they could deny coverage. "It doesn't just lead into gender affirming care. It leads into health care that we all need, that we all deserve, that the state needs to make it great, to have our population healthy," said Emmett Schelling, executive director for the Transgender Education Network in Texas. Rox Sayde, a 30-year-old nonbinary advocate who is also a field intern at Equality Texas, said they are speaking out for their late partner, Amelia, a transgender Texan who died by suicide and could not access the mental health services she needed. When Sayde speaks out, they feel Amelia with them, and know she would be proud. "I'm here because of her. Every day I think of her, and it keeps me going," Sayde said. "I'm not that spiritual of a person, but I think that the people we lose are still with us, when we think about them, and in the way that she shapes my life." Sayde, who is nonbinary and is seeking gender affirming care, said they don't know if their health care will be possible because of SB 1257. "They're trying to legislate transgender people out of public life," Sayde said. "I'm just here because I have so much love for my community ... look at how beautiful we are." Mandy Giles, a mom of two transgender children who are now young adults, came to the Capitol from Houston to testify and fight against bills she said would hurt transgender Texans. The proposals have created a tremendous amount of stress for her family. "This is our home," Giles said. "To feel like our family is being split apart because my kids are being targeted" and they don't want to live here. Giles cried at the rally Friday, she said, because she became overwhelmed by the "bittersweet" nature of being united with people who will fight for her kids, but also because of the need to fight in the first place. Seeing her kids be their authentic selves is a "beautiful journey" that makes her happy and hopeful, and she wished more people would help protect their rights. "I wish there were more allies here, because it's a terrible burden for transgender community to bear," Giles said. "To not be erased." Democratic state Reps. Aicha Davis of Dallas and Ron Reynolds of Missouri City attended the rally Friday in support of LGBTQ Texans and fight against the bills. State Rep. Venton Jones, the vice chair of the House's LGBTQ Caucus and a Democrat from Dallas, promised advocates that though there are people who push legislation that hurts transgender people, there are "so many more that love you, that accept you, that will do anything to protect you." "As a Black gay man living with HIV, it's not the easiest to come into this building every day. It's not the easiest to work across the aisle when someone was actively making legislation to make not only your life worse, but the lives of the people that you love and that you give everything for every day," Jones said. "And so I just want to say to you all, when you think about the thoughts around leaving this state how important it is for us to stay." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers OK bill mandating insurance coverage for detransitioning
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
LGBTQAI advocates protest Texas House bills targeting transgender rights
Equality Texas organized a rally on Friday with several advocacy partners to protest House Bill 229 and House Bill 778, which speakers argued would negatively impact the lives and freedoms of transgender Texans. House Bill 229, led by Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Borne, would require each government entity to only record the sex at birth of individuals, prohibiting such agencies from recognizing a transgender individual's gender identity or a person who identifies as "non-binary," meaning they do not identify as either male or female. Troxclair dubs it the "Women's Bill of Rights," saying the definition of sex needs to be clarified and codified to protect women, a common talking point to exclude transgender women. "We can't have women's rights if we don't even know what a woman is," she said in a Texas Public Policy Foundation video earlier this session. "We need to define what a woman is to bring clarity, certainty and uniformity in the way women are treated under Texas law." Of course, sex and gender can be far more complicated. The United Nations estimates that about 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits, meaning sexual characteristics that "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies." Furthermore, the Williams Institute estimates about 1.6 million people over age 13 identify as transgender in the U.S. alone, including 92,900 adults in Texas. Major medical groups reject insurance exclusions or limitations on gender-affirming care, and all world health and major medical associations recognize transgender youth, according to GLAAD, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ rights. House Bill 778, led by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, would put health insurance agencies on the line for "all possible adverse consequences" related to a gender transition and all follow-up appointments to monitor the patient's health. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: LGBTQ advocates rally against Texas House Bills 229, 778. Here's why
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House considers bills aimed at transgender life, legal documents; advocates respond with rally
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas House of Representatives will meet Friday to consider a number of bills, and could vote on two bills aimed at transgender life in Texas, according to the chamber's calendar for the day. House Bill 229 and House Bill 778 drew attention from a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, who will rally Friday in opposition to the bills, according to a joint press release issued by Equality Texas on Thursday. The rally will include civil rights nonprofits and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including: ACLU of Texas, Equality Texas, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Texas Freedom Network and the Transgender Education Network of Texas. HB 229 would mandate a gender binary and define it in Texas law. It would also require Texas governmental agencies to define every person as either male or female on records. 'The legislature finds that males and females possess unique immutable biological differences that manifest prior to birth and increase as individuals age and experience puberty,' the original bill reads, 'biological differences between the sexes mean that males are, on average, bigger, stronger, and faster than females … leav[ing] females more physically vulnerable than males to specific forms of violence, including sexual violence.' The bill does not include an exception for intersex Texans. 'Under HB229, all Texas agencies and Departments would be required to enforce a narrow definition of gender that excludes trans and intersex Texans,' wrote Equality Texas in the release. 'This would complicate the work of any department that uses such records, and would make ordinary daily life exceedingly complicated for trans people who would not be permitted to update their government documents.' When the House State Affairs committee heard the bill on April 25, 26 people spoke against the bill and 210 people registered their opposition. Six people testified in support and three others registered support, according to the Texas Legislature's website. According to the Legislative Budget Board, implementing HB 229 could cost the state $2.5 million in order to update computer systems at DSHS and the Texas Department of Public Safety. HB 778, filed in November 2024, was one of the earliest bills of the session, as KXAN previously reported. The bill would require health insurers who cover gender transition therapy, medications and surgeries to also cover treatment to 'manage, reconstruct from, or recover from' gender transition. Bill author Rep. Jeff Leach reported to the committee that 'individuals who have reversed their transition' told him that 'they chose to do so due to … adverse consequences,' according to the bill's analysis. 'HB 778 seeks to ensure adequate health care coverage and assistance to those individuals dealing with adverse effects from undergoing gender transition treatment or procedures or have decided to reverse their transition,' Leach's bill analysis states. While the bill appears to potentially increase coverage for transgender Texans by including hormone level tests and recovery from surgeries, opponents said they fear the bill would have a chilling effect on insurers. 'If implemented, HB778 would increase liability for any insurer that covers trans health care, making them responsible for infinite possible outcomes after such care. In practice, this would make trans care prohibitively expensive for most people, and would likely drive many insurers to drop coverage for such care,' Equality Texas said. The bill had a public hearing on April 2. Twelve people spoke in favor of the bill, with five other attendees registering their support; 14 people spoke in opposition, and 156 people registered as being against the bill, according to legislative records. If the bills pass in the House, they will head to the Texas Senate for consideration. If enacted into law, both bills would take effect on September 1. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Straits Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
US states seek to roll back LGBTQ+ rights like never before
First in the firing line among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans are trans rights. PHOTO: REUTERS US states seek to roll back LGBTQ+ rights like never before BERLIN - US states are on track to introduce a record number of Bills restricting LGBTQ+ rights in 2025, with conservatives targeting hot topics from Pride flags to bathroom bans. First in the firing line among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans are trans rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 'It seems like our new normal in the United States is simply having over 500 pieces of legislation really attempting to push transgender people specifically out of public life altogether,' said the ACLU's Gillian Branstetter in a video call. Texas leads the way among US states in proposing anti-LGBTQ+ laws, with the ACLU tallying the total of hostile Bills nationally at 575 as of April. The targets of the hostile Bills range from drag acts to trans athletes, child custody laws to ID cards and the scope of state health benefits offered to LGBTQ+ Americans. Proponents of the new Bills say these pieces of legislation will protect children as well as women and girls from the rise of what they call 'gender ideology'. 'The right in the US is finding trans people to be politically useful,' Ms Diana Adams, executive director of the non-profit Chosen Family Law Center, told Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'They are scapegoating this group that's around 1 per cent of the US population and making them the focus of distraction and propaganda.' Texas is debating a first-of-its-kind Bill that would make it a felony to claim a gender different to the sex assigned at birth in any dealings with government or an employer. 'Gender identity fraud' - which could be punished with two years in jail and a US$10,000 (S$12,960) fine - is the latest in a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ Bills to emerge since 2020 as social conservatism gained increasing traction among voters. 'We've seen an increase in the variety of attacks on trans people living in Texas,' said Mr Jonathan Gooch, a spokesperson at the LGBTQ+ non-profit Equality Texas. Movement Advancement Project (MAP), an LGBTQ+ think tank, said about 92 per cent of state Bills that target LGBTQ+ Americans do not pass. But even when Bills are voted down, activists say their very existence can stir hatred and spur discrimination. 'When lawmakers and public officials use this anti-trans rhetoric, it does have real-world consequences whether or not the Bills are passed,' Gooch said. Equality Texas reported an uptick in LGBTQ+ hate crimes between 2022 and 2023, the latest data available - be it the bullying of students, harassment of teachers or prohibition on householders flying Pride flags. 'New normal' The Bills come as President Donald Trump launches a battery of measures against LGBTQ+ Americans, from executive orders scrapping the recognition of gender-neutral passports to a ban on the use of federal funds to 'promote gender ideology'. Texas tops the ACLU list of states proposing anti-LGBTQ+ Bills, with 88 laws under consideration, followed by 39 in Missouri, 29 in West Virginia, and 26 in Oklahoma. Bills are not just growing in number, said Mr Logan Casey, director of policy research at MAP, but also widening in scope. In 2017, North Carolina rolled back the country's first state law banning trans people using their chosen restroom. The volte face followed public opposition to the law, after which Texas conservatives gave up on their plans for a similar ban. But now, Republican lawmakers across the country are passing the same sort of bathroom Bills, citing the need to protect women in single-sex spaces. And they are not stopping there. In March, Utah scored a US first by prohibiting the flying of Pride flags at schools and government buildings, while Iowa became the first US state to remove gender identity protections from its civil rights code a month earlier. In Georgia, a Bill introduced in February would, if enacted, stop trans state workers from getting hormone therapy under their state health insurance. A Bill proposed in New Hampshire would let the state detain trans people in correctional or mental health facilities that match their sex at birth; Alabama is debating a Bill protecting educators who refuse to use a student's preferred name. Experts in the field say the legislative efforts underway to curtail LGBTQ+ rights may not translate into many new laws - but could well shape social attitudes among ordinary Americans. 'What they're trying to pass is an idea,' said LGBTQ+ university researcher Diego Garcia Blum. 'They're trying to dissuade people that this is natural diversity ... into thinking that this is some kind of foreign and malicious ideology.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here's why hundreds of LGBTQ Texans rallied against anti-trans bills: 'We have to show up'
Decked in colorful decor, sparkly drag attire, formal suits and rainbow heart-shaped pins, hundreds of LGBTQ rights activists rallied at the Texas Capitol on Monday to protest hundreds of bills they decried as harmful to queer Texans — and to emphasize the importance of joy, authenticity and fight in this time. Activists marched from South Congress Avenue to the Capitol's south steps holding signs promising "We will not be erased." A blue sign, decorating the podium at the south steps, boldly declared "Trans Texans are Beautiful," as LGBTQ, transgender and American flags bellowed in the breeze. "When I say people, you say power," Brigitte Bandit, an LGBTQ activist and drag performer dressed in ruffly pink and purple chaps and a sparkly pink hat, called. "People!" "Power!" the group resounded. The "All in for Equality Advocacy Day" at the Capitol united activists from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin as well as from advocacy organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Human Rights Campaign, Lambada Legal, the Texas Freedom Network and Black Freedom Factory to meet with lawmakers and rally outside the pink dome to demand justice for LGBTQ Texans. Equality Texas, the state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization which led the advocacy day event, has identified 205 "anti-LGBTQ" bills proposed in Texas this year, including proposals to limit education of queer and diverse populations, prohibit teachers from recognizing a transgender student's chosen pronoun or from connecting students to LGBTQ affirming resources, make medical support for gender affirming care a criminal offense, and deny gender changes on identity documents. "This is legislation that serves no purpose other than to attempt to confine us into boxes that just don't fit and deny us the right to live authentically," said Brad Prichett, interim CEO of Equality Texas. More: For 15 years, Austin's Cheer Up Charlies has been safe place to feel 'less like an other' Activists at the rally warned of the injurious effect the proposed state bills could have on LGBTQ Texans, on top of President Donald Trump's executive orders directing the U.S. government to recognize only male and female sexes as well as eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in federal agencies. Speakers at the event also peppered their remarks with messages of hope. Pritchett celebrated the rally as the largest LGBTQ advocacy day in Texas history and promised that no state action would stop anyone from being "anything other than our true authentic selves." "Once upon a time we would say these attacks were unprecedented. That is not the case anymore," Pritchett said. "If we were going to break as a community, it would have happened by now. And guess what? It hasn't and it won't. "We are going to get louder. We are going to be more visible and even more fabulous." More: Texas 'most extreme' in anti-LGBTQ bills, advocates say. How supporters plan to fight back Numerous state lawmakers spoke in support of queer advocacy and its ties to civil rights. Rep. Venton Jones, the vice chair of the Texas LGBTQ Caucus, an LGBTQ Texan and a Democratic lawmaker from Dallas, emphasized the importance of centering transgender people in today's fight for justice, as conservative lawmakers from the presidential administration to the Texas Legislature target their health care, rights and visibility. "Remember that this movement has been on the backs of trans people, and right now, we have to show up for that community," Jones said. "This is a trans conversation. This is a queer conversation. This is a gender non-conforming conversation, and we as a community have to not be afraid to say that." More: 'In crisis mode': Rights groups petition UN to intervene for LGBTQ+ people in Texas Morgan Davis, a volunteer with the Human Rights Campaign who made headlines in 2022 when he and several Texas Department of Family and Protective Services workers resigned in protest after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the agency to investigate parents of transgender kids. In his remarks Monday, Davis held up the Human Rights Campaign's equal sign logo, promising that the symbol meant there were 3 million people on LGBTQ Texans side. "Not a president, not a senator, not an attorney general, will change the fact that my name is Morgan H Davis," said Davis, a transgender man. "You are the light, you are the ones that are going to win." Shelley Skeen, the south-central regional director of Lambda Legal, said the organization has fought and won on numerous legal actions threatening LGBTQ Texans' rights and it is prepared to do so again. "Lambda Legal and the All-In for Equality Coalition will fight, and we will defeat the vast majority of the legislation that seeks to prohibit us from participating fully in society," Skeen said. "Lambda Legal fights for civil rights of everyone, because when you restrict the rights of anyone, you restrict the civil rights of everyone." More: 'We are not going away': Queer joy persists at UT, St. Edward's after Texas DEI ban This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature: LGBTQ Texans protest anti-trans bills at Capitol
