We Keep LGBTQ+ Women & Girls Up-To-Date
In Texas, a recent legislation has been enacted which prohibits transgender young individuals from joining school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.
Last year, Texas became the tenth U.S state to approve a measure that prohibits transgender youth from playing sports on teams matching their gender identity.
The House of Representatives passed House Bill 25, authored by State Republican Representative Valoree Swanson, by a 76-54 vote during the legislative session in October 2021. Then the Senate passed it by a 19-12 vote before Governor Abbott, who has been an opponent to LGBTQ rights for years, signed this bill into law.
The pretext for such a discriminatory law was always the same: protection of women’s sports from “unclean” competition.
So House Bill 25 now requires all transgender Texans to join school sports teams corresponding with the sex listed on their birth certificate and “entered at or near the time of the student’s birth.”
The law allows exceptions for women to compete in men’s interscholastic sports programs if a corresponding program is not offered or available.
This law is another example of the unfair treatment transgender people are subjected to in the United States. The bill’s supporters claim it is intended to protect women’s sports, but in reality, this bill only embodies an exclusionary attitude towards transgender youth. The message this legislation sends is that transgender people are not worthy of being treated equally and with respect. I am convinced that this kind of law does more harm than good for women’s sports.
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