AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) – Three bills dismantling multiple aspects of the transgender agenda are making their way through the Texas Legislature to the frustration of LGBT activists.
“Houston’ LGBTQ Magazine,” OutSmart, reported on the progress of HB1066, which clarifies that a parent’s refusal to “affirm the child’s expressed sexual orientation or gender identity” or “address the child according to the child’s preferred name or pronoun(s)” does not constitute “abuse and neglect”; SB 1257, which requires insurance companies that cover transition procedures to also cover detransitioning; and HB 229, which establishes the biological definitions of sex-specific terms such as “female,” “boy,” and “mother” in state law.
HB 1066 and 229 passed the House and are now pending before the Senate, and SB 1257 has cleared both chambers and now awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign.
OutSmart complained that the bills prioritize “biological essentialism” and codify “broader philosophical views on gender and identity in state law,” something the pro-LGBT side has not been shy about doing in the opposite direction. Supporters of such measures argue they simply recognize factual reality and protect the rights and welfare of those who affirm it and live accordingly.
A significant body of evidence shows that “affirming” gender confusion carries serious harms, especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the decisions being pushed on them, or full knowledge about the long-term effects of life-altering, physically transformative, and often-irreversible surgical and chemical procedures.
Studies find that more than 80% of children experiencing gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence, and that even full “reassignment” surgery often fails to resolve gender-confused individuals’ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide — and may even exacerbate it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.
Many oft-ignored detransitioners attest to the physical and mental harm of reinforcing gender confusion as well as to the bias and negligence of the medical establishment on the subject, many of whom take an activist approach to their profession and begin cases with a predetermined conclusion that “transitioning” is the best solution.
“Gender-affirming” physicians have also been caught on video admitting to more old-fashioned motives for such procedures, as with a 2022 exposé about Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Clinic for Transgender Health, where Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said outright that “these surgeries make a lot of money.”
Texas law already bans gender “transition” procedures on minors, excludes gender-confused males from women’s sports, restricts diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and criteria from public institutions, and forbids changing one’s sex on driver’s licenses and state identification on “gender identity” grounds.