This year, Texas legislators are expected to discuss a number of bills that could drastically impact the lives of Texans who identify as gay or transgender.
Republicans have proposed legislation that would restrict the types of medical care that are available to transgender children, the sites where drag shows are permitted, and the times when sexuality and gender identity are taught in schools.
The law places a particular emphasis on children and young adults. Legislation relating to the college sports teams transgender students can play on and the medical care that can be given to transgender children were given top priority in the Senate by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Greg Abbott, the governor, has hinted that he will forbid woke agendas in schools.
LGBTQ advocates and numerous Democratic politicians are preparing for a lengthy battle. Many claims that the planned changes amount to attempts to limit people’s rights and diminish queer expression.
One such group, Equality Texas, has already found more problematic legislation this year—more than 90—than it did in 2021 during the regular session plus three special sessions. They claim that even if a small number of them do, the harm will be significant.
In a poll conducted in January, the Trevor Project, a national organization devoted to preventing LGBTQ youth suicide, discovered that 71% of LGBTQ teenagers and 86% of transgender adolescents reported adverse mental health effects from legislation that affected their way of life.
A survey conducted in 2021 by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 72% of Texas favors the right of LGBTQ people to live without prejudice.
READ ALSO: Texas Lawmakers to Discuss Several LGBTQ+ Bills; Families’ Concerns Outburst
LGBTQ Advocates Tout Texas’ Discrimination
Democrats and supporters intend to protest at the Capitol once more in opposition to the scores of proposals that Republican state legislators have sponsored that would discriminate against Gay Texans.
According to activists, more than 100 pieces of legislation have been submitted that would support LGBTQ people, including ones that would automatically test individuals for HIV, restrict discrimination based on sexual orientation, and prohibit “conversion therapy.”
The majority of the bills have little chance of passing in the Senate, where Lt. Governor Dan Patrick last month unveiled a list of 30 priority bills that included measures to ban drag shows for kids, take obscene books out of school libraries, prevent transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care like puberty blockers, and prevent transgender student-athletes from competing in college sports that correspond to their gender identity.
Republicans assert that the measures will protect kids from offensive or sexualized information, and they claim the sports ban is required to maintain a level playing field.
In the past two years, GOP lawmakers have objected to a number of library books that cover sexuality and gender identity and were written by LGBTQ writers.
The measure is similar to rules prohibiting children from getting tattoos in Texas because of their life-altering permanence, according to state senator Donna Campbell, a Republican from New Braunfels and one of several authors of bills this session to outlaw gender-affirming care.
Opponents claim that these ideas will hurt an already vulnerable community that has been affected by deceitful propaganda and cultural conflicts.
Several options have been put out by Democratic members, but many of them won’t be heard this session.
READ ALSO: Texas Drag Shows Debate Intensifies; Here’s Anti-Drag Bills’ Status in US
