Good news, but hold off on the celebrations for now.
A bill that would prevent transgender Texas children from joining school sports teams that match their gender identity failed to advance out of a House committee Tuesday, signaling potential trouble for one of several anti-LGBTQ bills in the Legislature.
The Senate has advanced a handful of bills that LGBTQ advocates say threaten the rights and mental health of transgender children in Texas, including restricting their access to school sports and medical care. Senate Bill 29, the sports bill, is the first anti-trans Senate bill to get a committee vote in the lower chamber.
House legislation banning gender confirmation health care for children, signed by 45 Republicans, was passed out of the lower chamber’s Public Health committee last week but has yet to reach the full House floor. Senate-approved legislation labelling the treatment as child abuse is set to go before the same committee, which is made up of six Republicans and five Democrats.
When members of the House Public Education committee — made up of six Democrats and seven Republicans — took up sports bill SB 29 on Tuesday, it failed to advance in a 5-6 party-line vote.
Opponents of the legislation were relieved by vote.
“We thank the members of the House Public Education committee for their votes today against SB 29,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “We did the right thing today for all the children of Texas by standing up for trans kids.”
See here and here for some background; that second link is about the House companion to SB29. I should note that the House Public Education Committee has seven Republicans and six Democrats on it, so either two Republicans were absent or they abstained. Fine by me either way.
As noted, there are other bad bills out there. While SB29 may be dead, it can be attached to another bill as an amendment, which is a common legislative tactic. And of course we are going to have at least one special session for redistricting, and I guarantee there will be pressure on Greg Abbott to add anti-trans legislation to the agenda – he did that in 2017 for the bathroom bill, so it’s not like this would be out of character for him. So do celebrate this win, but celebrate responsibly. We’re a long way from being out of the woods. The Chron and the Texas Signal have more.
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