Latest news with #HouseBill229
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texas Senate Passes Bill Defining ‘Man' And ‘Woman' Based On Biology
On Thursday, the Texas Senate voted 20-11 to pass House Bill 229, known as the 'Women's Bill of Rights.' This bill, which defines 'man' and 'woman' based on biological reproductive systems for state records such as birth certificates and driver's licenses, now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law. Authored by Rep. Ellen Troxclair (R-Lakeway) and carried in the Senate by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), the bill aligns with efforts by President Donald Trump to enforce a biological definition of sex, including an executive order targeting 'transgender' participation in women's sports. HB 229 requires state agencies to classify individuals as male or female based on whether their reproductive system is developed to produce ova or fertilize ova, respectively. An amendment clarifies that intersex individuals are not a third sex but must receive accommodations under state and federal law. Supporters argue the bill protects women's single-sex spaces, such as locker rooms and shelters, and clarifies legal definitions. 'With this bill, women and girls will know that Texas has their back and will not allow hard-fought rights to be eroded by activists who seek to erase them,' Troxclair said, The Texas Tribune reported. M. E. Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, a Christian advocacy group, praised the vote: 'The message is clear: You don't mess with Texas women. HB 229 makes sure that the reality and truth of the two sexes is clear in Texas law and never altered by school districts, local cities, or bureaucrats ever again!' Opponents, including LGBTQ rights advocates, argue the bill marginalizes 'transgender' and intersex individuals. Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) called it a 'form of state-sponsored discrimination,' telling the Texas Tribune, 'If a law forces non-binary Texans, who are real people, into categories that don't reflect their lived experiences or identities … that would actually become discrimination in practice.' Sarah Corbin of the ACLU of Texas questioned its enforcement: 'The question of the hour is how will [HB] 229 be enforced and applied. What we do know is that it's incredibly disrespectful to so many Texans the Legislature represents, and completely disregards their identity.' The bill's legislative intent section, which does not alter statutes but guides interpretation, emphasizes 'immutable' biological differences, noting women's historical vulnerability to violence and the need for single-sex spaces. Critics, like Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, raised concerns about intersex individuals and women unable to conceive, arguing, 'We should not be boiling down a human's existence into one's ability to reproduce, because this is harmful, it is dangerous, and it is really just freaking insulting.' Troxclair countered that the bill applies to systems designed for reproduction, 'whether or not they are fully developed, whether or not they are capable of functioning.' With more than 120,000 Texans identifying as 'transgender,' advocates worry about practical impacts. Shelly Skeen of Lambda Legal said mismatched identification documents could force 'transgender' individuals to out themselves in everyday situations, such as voting or banking. Heather Clark, whose wife is 'transgender,' testified that carrying a driver's license misaligned with appearance would be 'untenable,' creating 'ample daily opportunities for discrimination' against her. Texas becomes the 14th state to pass such a law, following states like Kansas and Montana, where similar measures have faced legal challenges. Laura Lane-Steele, a University of South Carolina law professor, noted potential constitutional issues, including privacy and free speech violations, calling the law's application a 'big fat question mark.' Montana's law was struck down in February for violating privacy and equal protection rights, while Kansas' law faces ongoing ACLU challenges. The bill lacks civil or criminal penalties and focuses on record-keeping, but its broader implications remain unclear. Corbin said the ACLU of Texas is monitoring whether it will be narrowly applied to documents or used for wider policy changes. 'If it starts being used that way, they'll definitely hear from us,' she said. A 2022 survey found that 63% of Texas voters, including 87% of Republicans, support defining gender by birth certificate sex.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texan Goes Viral For Calling Out Legislators Over Anti-Trans Bill
A Texas resident gave an impassioned speech against an anti-trans bill during a Texas Senate committee hearing, asking legislators if they're tired of being on the wrong side of history. 'If we were sitting here like 50 years ago, maybe 60 years ago, instead of talking about trans women going into bathrooms, you'd be talking about Black women going into white bathrooms,' Nick Mollberg said at the May 15 committee hearing. 'Do y'all ever get tired of being on the wrong side of history? Opposed to women's suffrage, as you were, conservatives, throughout history? Opposed to interracial marriage, opposed to civil rights.' Mollberg was speaking in opposition to Texas House Bill 229, which gives general definitions for only two sexes, male and female, excluding intersex and trans people. The bill states that 'only females' can get pregnant, as well as 'males are, on average, bigger, stronger, and faster than females.' Mollberg asked the state senators what their grandkids would say to them in the future. 'They're going to look at you the same way the grandchildren of segregationists looked at their bigoted grandparents,' he said. He continued: 'It was bigotry then. It's bigotry now. You don't care about actually about helping women in Texas. If you did, you wouldn't be letting them bleed out because they can't get access to abortion care. You wouldn't be letting them die of gun violence and not lifting a finger to help them.' A clip of Mollberg has gained attention on social media, racking up more than 1 million views on TikTok and more than 2 million on Instagram. Mollberg did not respond to HuffPost's request for comment. Several transgender people also testified against the bill, including Autumn Lauener, vice president of The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars, a group that promotes inclusiveness toward different gender identities and expressions in public policy. She said House Bill 229 'accomplishes nothing.' 'It does not protect children,' Lauener said. 'It does not support families. It serves only to erase, to attempt to write transgender and intersex people out of the story of Texas. But our existence is resistance, and we will never stop resisting. Our community will not be erased. Nothing this legislator does can end who we are. We have always been here, and we are not going anywhere.' During the 2025 Texas legislative session, Texas Republicans have introduced more than 120 anti-trans bills, according to Axios. During his testimony, Mollberg said he remembered when Republicans 'for years' thought gay marriage was 'going to end the world' until public opinion shifted and they had to pick a 'new scapegoat.' Mollberg added that if any lawmakers were going to vote for the bill, he would look them in the eye while they were doing it and call them a bigot and coward. 'It's not that you can sit here and actually do the business of the people, make lives better for Texans like me,' Mollberg said. 'No, no, no, there's no time for that. We got to bully 1% of the population. We've got to harm them as badly as we possibly can.' He continued: 'You are not interested in helping or protecting women. Period. Full stop. You're here to hurt trans people. No other reason.' Elon Musk Is Leaving The Trump Administration After Criticizing 'Big Beautiful Bill' California Sports Org Expands Finals Eligibility After Trump Tantrum Over Trans Athlete High School Runner Slams 'Bully' GOP Lawmaker For Targeting Race's Trans Winner
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texas just defined man and woman. Here's why that matters.
The Texas Legislature has passed a bill that strictly defines man and woman based on reproductive organs. The bill has no civil or criminal penalties attached, but instead will take these new definitions and apply them across state records. When Gov. Greg Abbott signs House Bill 229, Texas will become the 14th state to implement one of these so-called 'sex definition' laws in recent years. Supporters of the legislation say it's necessary to protect women's rights and spaces, and the immutable differences between the sexes. Opponents say it's an attack on trans people, erasing them from state records as the gender they identify as and forcing them to live as the sex they were assigned at birth. They criticize the bill as problematic for intersex people who are born with characteristics from both sexes. But mostly, there's widespread confusion about what will actually change as a result of this law. 'The question of the hour is how will [HB] 229 be enforced and applied,' said Sarah Corning with the ACLU of Texas. 'What we do know is that it's incredibly disrespectful to so many Texans the Legislature represents, and completely disregards their identity.' The bill defines 'female' and 'woman' across the government code as an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova. A 'male" and "man" are individuals whose systems are developed to fertilize the ova of a female. After an amendment added in the House, the bill says intersex people are not considered a third sex, but 'must receive accommodations in accordance with state and federal law.' All government entities are directed to collect data based on this binary. The bill contains a legislative intent section which doesn't change state statute but is included as guidance on interpreting the bill. It says that men and women possess 'immutable biological differences,' including that women can get pregnant, give birth and breastfeed children, and men are, on average, bigger, stronger and faster than females. Women are more physically vulnerable to violence and have historically suffered discrimination, warranting the creation of single-sex spaces, like locker rooms, bathrooms, prisons and shelters. It also says that 'in the context of biological sex … separate is not inherently unequal.' 'With this bill, women and girls will know that Texas has their back and will not allow hard-fought rights to be eroded by activists who seek to erase them,' said bill author Rep. Ellen Troxclair, a Republican from Lakeway, in a statement. 'There are pages and pages of references to 'man' and 'woman' in Texas code, which now refer to a specific, clear definition," Since 2017, Texas lawmakers have been attempting to legislate strict applications of sex in specific zones, like school sports and bathrooms. Some of these proposals have gotten wide support from the Republican-dominated chambers, while others have stalled out amid partisan fighting. In the last two years, however, state legislatures across the country have begun considering these sex definition laws, which have a more sweeping application across state statute. At least thirteen states have passed legislation like this, many, including Texas', based on model language from a group called Independent Women's Voice. The national political advocacy group has support from conservative activists like Riley Gaines, who lost out on a fifth place swimming trophy to a trans athlete and has said she was exposed to male genitalia in a women's locker room. The push to strictly divide everyone into two sexes, male and female, based on biological differences, got a boost from President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order in January. Abbott followed suit, directing all state agencies to ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices and other actions 'comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes — male and female.' Texas voters are, largely, on board with this type of legislation — seven in 10 voters, and 94% of Republicans, believe the sex listed on a birth certificate should be the only way to define gender. More than 120,000 Texans identify as trans, meaning the gender they identify as differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Many of them have physically transitioned; some have obtained court orders to change their birth certificate or drivers' licenses. Abbott's executive order, which was followed by an opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton, directed state agencies to no longer recognize those court orders. Lawyers representing trans people anticipate that the state will not go back and reissue documents, but rather require they be changed when they need to be renewed. This will inevitably lead to mismatched documents, Shelly Skeen, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, said earlier this month. Someone who presents as a man but has a driver's license that says they are female will have to out themselves every time identification is required. Plus, they may have other documents, like a passport, school records or medical documents that align with their gender identity, worsening the confusion, legal experts say. Heather Clark, an Austin woman whose wife is transgender, told a Senate committee that it would be 'untenable' for her to carry documents that said she was a man. 'Anytime that she is required to show her driver's license, she could be compelled to explain why her appearance doesn't align with her documentation,' Clark said, adding that could happen anytime she flew, took money from the bank, applied for a job or voted. 'That creates ample daily opportunities for discrimination.' Trans people and their advocates are preparing for the changes to drivers' licenses, birth certificates and other identity documents. But they're also trying to prepare for the unknown — all the other ripple effects this bill will have across their lives. Laura Lane-Steele, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who studies gender and sex discrimination laws, said the application of these sex definition laws tend to be a 'big fat question mark.' To fully understand the implications would require combing through state statute and applying this definition every time the words male and female are used. The language of the bill indicates it was motivated by keeping trans people out of bathrooms that align with their gender identity, but it doesn't attach criminal or civil penalties for using an opposite sex bathroom, for example. 'We'll have to see if the legislators really looked at the code to understand what unpredictable, unexpected implications this will have,' she said. 'You could foresee there being changes that are unanimously considered bad, no matter your political ideology, that they just weren't prepared for.' One possible unintended consequence is for the approximately 1.7% of people who are intersex or born with chromosomal and physical differences to their reproductive organs, Democrats have argued. They raised examples of people with various conditions that would prevent them from falling into this definition based on reproductive organs. 'We can't forget that a certain population exists, and you can't necessarily force them to choose one or the other,' Dallas Rep. Jessica González said on the House floor. Troxclair and others have argued that intersex people have long had a singular sex indicated on their birth certificates and drivers' licenses, and this would not change that. The bill that passed the Senate indicates that they are not to be considered a third, or separate, sex. Democrats also raised questions about women who can't conceive, are post-menopausal, or are born without a reproductive system designed to produce ova. Troxclair said the bill should be interpreted to mean people who have systems that, if normally developed, would fit into these two categories — 'whether or not they are fully developed, whether or not they are capable of functioning.' 'We should not be boiling down a human's existence into one's ability to reproduce, because this is harmful, it is dangerous, and it is really freaking insulting,' González said. When Kansas, Tennessee and Montana led the nation in passing these sex definition laws in 2023, they faced potential backlash from the federal government. Fiscal analysts in Montana estimated it would risk $7 billion in federal anti-discrimination funds, and Tennessee worried about $2 billion in federal education and health funds. Texas is passing this law in a very different political climate, with a very different administration holding the purse strings. In April, the Trump administration briefly froze Maine's access to federal child nutrition funds because the state refused to bar trans athletes from youth sports. 'The federal government is definitely pushing a worldview similar to these state laws,' said Paisley Currah, a professor of political science at City University of New York. 'And that's concerning for people across the country, not just the states that have adopted these laws.' Montana's sex definition law, which listed out more than 40 places it would be applied across state statute, was struck down by a state judge in February, who said it was 'facially unconstitutional' because it violates privacy protections and equal protection rights for trans people. Kansas' law is facing legal challenges from the ACLU, which say the law is unconstitutionally vague and should be interpreted in such a way that protects trans people. Lane-Steele said there's a number of potential constitutional arguments against these laws, from privacy to free speech. Corning said the ACLU of Texas is closely watching to see how far Texas goes to implement this law. It's not clear to them whether it will narrowly apply to statistics and documents, as the language of the law says, or be used to pursue broader policy changes based on the legislative intent. 'If it starts being used that way, they'll definitely hear from us,' she said. For mental health support for LGBTQ youth, call the Trevor Project's 24/7 toll-free support line at 866-488-7386. For trans peer support, call the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate committee holds late night public comments hearing on gender definition bill
AUSTIN (KXAN) — In a late night meeting of the Texas Senate State Affairs committee Thursday, advocates spoke for hours against a bill that would codify a gender binary in Texas law, if passed. House Bill 229 would require state government officials to identify Texans in official records as male or female. It would also define those terms in Texas law as being based on a person's genitals. It passed a third vote in the Texas House of Representatives on Monday. Previous: House moves forward with bills affecting transgender health care and identity It was the last bill heard during the Texas Senate's State Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday. The bill's sponsor in the Senate, Mayes Middleton, laid out the bill to the committee. 'This bill responds to a growing concern that definitions of sex and public policy are being rewritten without legislative input or public debate,' Middleton said. 'HB 229 makes it clear there are only two sexes and that legal definitions must reflect biological reality and not political trends. Texans deserve to know their laws are based on objective, verifiable standards, not ideology.' Some of the bill's opponents voiced concerns that it would erase intersex people from records. And, many biologists argue that a sex binary is overly simplistic and ignores the complexity of human life, according to reporting by the magazine Nature in 2015. Multiple testifiers who held doctorates spoke against the bill on these grounds. Despite the patience of Texans who waited all day to testify, committee members seemed disinterested in hearing them out, according to Transgender Education Network of Texas Policy Coordinator Landon Richie. 'It's frankly an insult to our integrity that you, who care so little about the harm you're causing, are either absent altogether or here on your phones, ignoring the people who you work for. It's childish, and it tells us everything we need to know,' Richie said. 'Even if this bill becomes law, it doesn't change the fact that a world without trans people has never existed and never will.' While numerous opponents spoke during the rest of the hours-long hearing — a repeat of the bill's April 25 public hearing in the Texas House — just four attendees spoke in favor of the bill. One of the bill's supporters spoke on the Christian concept of Imago Dei, the belief that God created humans in Their image. Christian denominations vary in how they apply the concept — some use it in support of gender expansive people. The bill couches its necessity in a claim of being supported by science, and does not make a faith-based argument. Mary Elizabeth Castle, government relations director for the religious advocacy organization Texas Values, said that 'sex is the most basic way that we define reality.' 'It may seem that in 2025 is the surprise that such law is needed to define man and woman, but over the past decade, the biological reality of sex has been redefined by gender ideology, and the most egregious example has happened over the past four years with the Biden administration rewriting Title Nine and basically erasing women's rights guaranteed by that law.' A seminary student, who identified as non-binary, spoke against the bill during the hearing: 'This bill would pigeonhole me into a category that doesn't fit who I truly am, and it does that without making me any safer, as it purports to do,' they said. 'If we are made in God's image, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made, shouldn't that include all our permutations and shouldn't our records reflect the beautiful diversity of humanity?' The bill, as passed in the Texas House, states that men are 'bigger, stronger, and faster than females' It uses this and other claims to argue that biology necessitates men and women require sex segregated restrooms, changing rooms and prisons. 'The legislature finds that … in the context of biological sex, 'equal' does not mean 'same' or 'identical' and separate is not inherently unequal,' the bill reads. Castle took issue with opponents calling this wording segregationist language and argued it was 'the whole reason' behind Title XI of the Civil Rights Act. 'That's just to basically clarify that men and women deserve their separate spaces, but in order for women to have equal opportunities … in education and sports because of those biological difference,' she said. 'That's not to be confused with separate but equal, which is the phrase used in Plessy v. Ferguson, which was separate facilities and separation of people, and claiming that those separate things were equal and so those things aren't the same.' The bill, which doesn't restrict access to sex segregated spaces, makes no mention of how the state would ensure equality across those spaces. While HB 229 does not attempt to enact a ban, its supporters have referred to it as an important step towards such a ban. '[Trans people] represent unbridled freedom and the possibility; no, inevitability; of another world, a world that is beautiful and fluid, that invites interpretation and expression and individuality, a world that allows for existence without constraint, without rigidity, without the idea that a sexed existence is predestined and immutable, a world that frees not just us, but everyone,' said Richie as he concluded. The bill was left pending Thursday night. The Texas Senate has until May 28 to consider the bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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
