Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott approved House
Bill 25, which states students can only take part in school sports based on their gender “at or near” the time of birth.
Republican state representative Valoree Swanson,
who authored the bill, said she was “overjoyed” at its passing on Monday and said it was necessary to uphold federal Title IX
legislation and ensure competition within girls sports remains fair,
per Allyson Waller of the Texas Tribune.
“It’s so very, very important that we
protect everything that women have gained in the last 50 years,” Swanson said at a committee hearing.
As a result of Texas’ new law, transgender girls can no longer
participate in girls’ sports and transgender boys can no longer
participate in boys’ sports, unless there is no corresponding girls sport available at their school.
Texas’ prior University Interscholastic
League policy stated students could participate in sports based on
their birth certificate, but the new law prevents schools from
accepting amended birth certificates, per ESPN’s Katie Barnes.
A spokesperson for Texas’ Department of
State Health Services told Barnes an amended birth certificate “would
not be apparent,” making it unclear how the state plans to
enforce the law.
Opponents of the legislation, which
figures to face legal challenges, are worried about the message the
law sends to transgender children.
Andrea Segovia, the field and policy
coordinator for Transgender Education Network of Texas, told Barnes it’s an example of “adults bullying kids.”
“At the heart of it is this body
legislating trans people out of existence. We’re talking about public
accommodations,” Segovia said. “Trans people exist in these
spaces. When you’re letting bills like this become law, the message
is, ‘We don’t want you in these spaces.'”
Ricardo Martinez, the CEO of Equality
Texas, told Walker his organization is focused on “providing healing to
transgender children” in the immediate aftermath of the law being
passed and will work to find more state legislators who can help transgender children in the future.
“Our organizations will also begin to
shift focus to electing pro-equality lawmakers who understand our
issues and prioritize representing the vast majority of Texans who
firmly believe that discrimination against trans and [LGBTQ] people
is wrong,” Martinez said.
The law is scheduled to go into effect
Jan. 18 in the middle of the 2021-22 school year.
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