House speaker orders gallery cleared, TFN activist arrested as anti-trans vote looms
This screen cap from Spectrum News 11 reporter Charlotte Scott’s video of the incident outside the House Gallery earlier today shows three Texas DPS troopers holding down trans activist Adri Pérez, who is laying face down on the floor.
One trooper appears to be handcuffing Pérez, while one holds the activist’s feet and a third sits on their back. See more screen caps from the 33-second video below and watch it on Scott’s Twitter feed. As members of the Texas House of Representatives prepared today (Tuesday, May 2) to vote on legislation that would ban gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors in the state, LGBTQ advocates and allies jammed into the House gallery began chanting, singing and unfurling banners calling for the anti-trans bill to be defeated.
That prompted Speaker of the House Dade Phelan to order the state police to clear the gallery just minutes before the vote on SB 14 was delayed until later this week.
But protesters stayed in the lobby outside the House gallery, continuing to chant and sing until a state trooper using a bullhorn ordered them to leave and other officers began ushering them down the stairs.
