Texas Anti-Trans Sports Bill Goes Into Effect
House Bill 25 requires student-athletes to play on teams that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificate, which must have been issued near the time of birth.
The Lone Star state joined Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, and Tennessee in passing such legislation last year.
Idaho and West Virginia adopted a similar law, but those are temporarily blocked by court action. The governor of South Dakota has issued executive orders with the same effect, and a bill has been introduced this year.Bills like HB 25 have been vetoed by the governors of Kansas, Louisiana, and North Dakota.According to the Trevor Project, a country-wide suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, about 1 in 3 LGBTQ+ youths report participating in sports.
Of that number, trans youth are less likely to compete compared with LGB peers, Casey Pick, Trevor Project’s senior fellow for advocacy and government affairs, told The Texas Tribune.“Many of these youth tell us that they didn’t participate in sports because of fear of harassment discrimination, so that is a reality,” Pick explained. “But some of the youth who do participate tell us that it is their one source of relaxation, their place to find camaraderie and teamwork, that they have a lot of fun and sometimes it’s the place they feel best about their bodies and who they are.”LGBTQ+ rights activists have continued to condemn the bill. “Lawmakers have willingly ignored the overwhelming harm that this bill and bills like it has already caused in favor of exploiting our differences and the lack of familiarity that some people may have about transgender people,” Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, told The Texas Tribune. “This we know stokes.
