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Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Classrooms into closets': LGBTQ student club ban clears Texas Legislature
Texas Legislation billed as empowering parents will harm LGBTQ public school students, Democratic lawmakers said during a May 31 debate. The wide-ranging education bill, Senate Bill 12, cleared its final hurdles before heading to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, after the latest version of legislation, crafted in a conference committee of House and Senate members, advanced from both chambers on Saturday. 'SB 12 isn't about protecting children or parental rights,' said Rep. Jessica González, a Dallas Democrat who serves as vice-chair of the Texas House LGBTQ+ Caucus. 'It's about silencing them. It's about erasing families, banning truth and turning our classrooms into closets.' Democrats called particular attention to a portion of the bill banning LGBTQ clubs at public schools. The bill, called the 'Texas Parent Bill of Rights' by supporters, says student clubs cannot be 'based on sexual orientation or gender identity.' Public schools also cannot provide instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, the bill says. The measure sparked a tense exchange between Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Driftwood Democrat, and the bill's House sponsor Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican. Zwiener asked whether the bill bars students from organizing gay-straight alliance clubs. During the back and forth, Leach said the bill will not allow 'gay clubs' or 'straight clubs' in schools. 'We shouldn't be sexualizing our kids in public schools, period,' Leach said. 'And we shouldn't have clubs based on sex. I believe that, and that's what the bill does.' That doesn't mean students have to hide who they are or that he believes in bullying or discrimination, Leach said. 'If a student is struggling with their sexuality or their identity, and they want to talk to their friends at school about it, or talk to a teacher or talk to a counselor, that's fine, if they have the parent's consent,' Leach said. 'But we do not need to have school sponsored and school sanctioned sex clubs. Period.' 'Wow,' Zwiener said. These clubs are the place where LGBTQ students feel safe and can build a social network where they're not bullied, Zwiener said, sharing that she came out to one friend when she was 16 and didn't tell anyone else for a decade. There's been a generational change since then, and teenagers who are LGBTQ are feeling safe enough to come out, in a way that didn't exist when she and Leach were in school, Zwiener said. Leach countered that schools were not 'hyper-sexualized' the the way they seem to be moving today. Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, called the bill 'bad policy.' Clubs for LGBTQ students are no more about sex than the 4-H club, ROTC or the basketball team, Anchia said. Anchia said his daughter served as the vice president of her school's Pride club. 'They'd get together, and they'd watch movies,' he said. 'They'd color. They'd go to musicals. It was about a kid who felt weird who found her people.' Leach later apologized for remarks offending anyone or being taken in a way that wasn't intended. Leach said he misspoke. 'I apologize for that word blunder,' Leach said. Leach said he believes strongly in the bill. Parents should have a 'seat at the head of the table,' when it comes to their child's education, he said. His daughter is in a club called PALS, which stands for peer assisted leadership, Leach said. There's an array of students who are struggling with issues teenagers face, and who think and believe different things, he said. Leach's daughter has learned 'not to separate yourself with people that you agree with,' but to learn how to reason with each other and be respectful and kind, Leach said. 'Those clubs are the clubs that we should be promoting, and those are the clubs that this bill protects,' Leach said. 'And I would hope that a student would feel eager to join those clubs. Feel eager to be free to express themselves and wrestle with the things they wrestle with, and to do life with their fellow students.' Among its various measures, the legislation outlines a ban on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives in public schools. It says school districts cannot assist with 'social transitioning,' banning the use of 'a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person's biological sex at birth.' The bill also requires school boards to let parents submit comments electronically and adopt a policy for grievances. It says a school district cannot withhold information about a child from parents, and outlines parents' right to information about their child's health, including mental health. Districts must give parents information about their rights when they first enroll their child in a district, among other required notices. Near the start of the legislation is a prohibition on the 'infringement of parental rights.' It reads: 'The fundamental rights granted to parents by their Creator and upheld by the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution and the laws of this state, including the right to direct the moral and religious training of the parent's child, make decisions concerning the child's education, and consent to medical, psychiatric, and psychological treatment of the parent's child ... may not be infringed on by any public elementary school or secondary school or state governmental entity' unless the infringement is to 'further compelling state interest, such as providing life saving care to a child' and is 'narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that compelling state interest.' This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas House votes to strictly define man and woman, excluding trans people from state records
Dozens of trans people and their allies gathered in the outdoor Capitol rotunda Friday, chanting at the top of their lungs. They will not erase us. The next day, the Texas House of Representatives preliminarily passed a bill that aims to do just that. House Bill 229 strictly defines men and women based on the reproductive organs they were born with, and orders state records to reflect this binary. The bill, titled the 'Women's Bill of Rights,' lays out the 'biological truth for anybody who is confused,' said author Rep. Ellen Troxclair, an Austin Republican. The bill passed on second reading 86-36 after an at times tense debate, and is expected to be finally approved next week before going to the Senate, which has already passed several bills with a similar focus. Surrounded by a cadre of Republican women, Troxclair said the goal of the bill was to ensure women's rights aren't 'eroded by activists' as more people come out as trans and nonbinary. Democrats argued against the bill for almost three hours with Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, saying 'it is harmful, it is dangerous, and it is really freaking insulting.' If this bill becomes law, more than 120,000 trans Texans would be forced to be defined in state records by the sex they were assigned at birth, rather than the gender they identify as, even if they've already legally changed their birth certificates and driver's licenses. Saturday's debate rehashed a deep fracture over sex and gender that has animated the Texas Legislature, and much of the country, for the last five sessions. In previous years, legislators focused on tangible questions of bathroom access, youth sports and gender-affirming care for minors. This year, the proposals that have gained the most traction reflect a more fundamental question: what is a woman? For conservative lawmakers, the answer is simple, and best defined by reproductive organs. For trans people and their allies, the answer is simple, and best left to an individual's assertion of their gender identity. Only one of those groups controls the Texas Capitol. 'We're a state that believes in truth, and we're a state that honors the hard-won achievements of women, the women who fought for the right to vote, to compete in sports and to be safe in public spaces, to be treated equally under the law,' Troxclair said on the floor. 'But if we can no longer define what a woman is, we cannot defend what women have won. We cannot protect what we cannot define.' In the bill, a woman is defined as 'an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova,' and a man is 'an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.' Democrats criticized this as overly simplistic, excluding trans people, but also intersex people and those who can't conceive children. 'Any biologist knows there are variations in sex chromosomes, hormone levels and other traits … where an individual's biological characteristics don't align with typical male or female categorization,' said Rep. Jon Rosenthal, a Democrat from Houston. 'The real question is, do you believe that all people have the basic rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of their own personal happiness?' This bill aligns with an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott, who declared in January that Texas only recognizes two sexes, male and female, and a non-binding legal opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said state agencies should not honor court opinions to change someone's sex listed on official documents. At the Capitol rally on Friday, Lambda Legal senior attorney Shelly Skeen said revoking these changed documents, and preventing people from changing them in the future, 'affects every aspect of our daily lives.' Having a birth certificate or drivers' license that reflects a different sex than their physical presentation, or that doesn't align with their passport or other documents, could leave trans people in a legal limbo and potentially open them up to violence, she said. It could impact the state facilities, like prisons, they are sorted into, the bathrooms and locker rooms they are supposed to use and the discrimination protections they are entitled to, Skeen said. Unlike other bills, like the so-called 'bathroom bill,' this legislation does not have civil or criminal penalties for using a facility that doesn't align with one's sex. Troxclair did accept one amendment, by El Paso Democrat Rep. Mary González, to clarify how intersex people, who are born with both sets of reproductive organs, fit into these definitions. The chamber also preliminarily approved Senate Bill 1257, which would require health insurers that cover gender-affirming care also cover any adverse consequences and costs of detransitioning. The bill, authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes and sponsored by Rep. Jeff Leach, passed 82-37. Leach said he brought this bill on behalf of people who were left with tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills because their health insurance wouldn't cover the costs of detransitioning. 'The illustration that I think best describes this is, if you take somebody to the dance and they want to go home, then you have to take them home,' Leach said during the debate on Saturday. The bill says that any insurance company that covers gender-affirming care must cover all detransition-related costs for its members, even if that person wasn't on the health insurance plan at the time they transitioned. Democrats filed more than half a dozen amendments to narrow the scope of the bill, critiquing the bill as a health insurance mandate. None of the amendments passed. Last session, Texas lawmakers outlawed gender-affirming care for minors. Trans advocates worry that raising the cost of covering gender-affirming care will result in health insurers not covering the treatments for adults, either. 'If you can make it painful enough for providers and insurers, health care is gone,' said Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas. 'It doesn't just feed into gender-affirming care. It bleeds into health care that we all need, that we all deserve.' Speaking on the floor Saturday, Rep. Ann Johnson, a Houston Democrat, said the Legislature was telling insurance companies not to cover gender-affirming care. "The reality is this bill, however you couch it, is about eliminating the existence of trans individuals in Texas,' Johnson said. 'Stop pretending that you're for freedom. Stop pretending that this is about the kids." 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!
