Transgender youth are Texas Governor Gregg Abbott’s newest target in his agenda to give citizens of Texas more of a reason to want to vote him out. The new Texas sports bill was part of the legislation that Republicans made priority to get passed by the senate and signed by Abbott.
House Bill 25, which restricts K-12 transgender youth from participating in school sports teams that correlate with their gender identity, was recently signed into law by Governor Abbott and is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 18.
The law states that students who would like to play in interscholastic athletic competitions can only do so in accordance to their biological sex listed on their birth certificate. The bill aims to “further the governmental interest of ensuring that sufficient interscholastic athletic opportunities remain available for girls to remedy past discrimination on the basis of sex.”
Supporters of the bill claim that transgender girl athletes have an unfair advantage when it comes to playing against other female students.
According to pediatrician Dr. Eric Vilain, this is because testosterone gives males a 10-12 percent performance advantage over women. “It’s very important that we protect everything that women have gained in the last 50 years,” State Representative Valoree Swanson said.
However, opposers of the bill argue that this limits opportunities for the state’s trans youth.
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that supports the LGBTQ community, attacked the law by saying it only creates more of a risk for transgender and nonbinary youth who already suffer from mental health challenges in schools by their peers.
This year alone, Texas lawmakers have proposed about 70 anti-LGBTQ bills in which 40 target trans and nonbinary youth. This new law is one of the many in Texas that will slowly deprive us of human rights.
The law itself is ignorant and close minded to the fight that trans youth have so far had to overcome.
We have to take action now so the kids of tomorrow can have a better and brighter future.
The way to do that? Vote Governor Abbott out next November.