When extreme state legislators attempted to limit the toilets available to transgender individuals eight years ago, moderate Republicans silently defeated the idea during a special session.
That seems like a faraway memory less than ten years later. Now that they have the Legislature firmly under control, the far-right is preparing to use the recent election to make rising anti-trans sentiment the session’s major issue.
[Adults also lost care after Texas prohibited hormones and puberty blockers for trans children.]
By forbidding medical transitioning before the age of 18 and preventing trans students from participating in sports teams that do not correspond with their biological sex, Republicans have effectively promoted these laws across the country as a means of protecting children.
To date, Texas has followed its conservative cousins’ lead in enacting legislation targeted at children. However, some MPs are attempting to severely limit the lives of trans individuals by submitting measures pertaining to funding for gender reassignment surgery, gender identification markers on official papers, and toilet use.
Representative Brian Harrison, a staunch conservative from Midlothian, told The Texas Tribune that “the American people and especially Texans that I represent, they’ve had enough of it.” “They’re forcing you to celebrate something that’s at odds with objective reality, and in many instances, forcing tax dollars to fund it.”
Since Texas is unlikely to encounter federal opposition like it did under the Biden administration, conservative lawmakers will determine how far the state will go on this subject. Donald Trump, the incoming president, has pledged to keep “transgender insanity the hell out of our schools” and to urge Congress to adopt a bill stating that there are only two genders.
“I don’t see any reason the state would moderate its position at this point,” says Andrew Proctor, a professor of political science who specializes in LGBTQ political issues at the University of Chicago. “If anything, the things they want to pursue will be easier now.”
A message is born
After the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country in 2016, conservatives started looking for a new social cause to support. They focused on the small but expanding trans community and the gradual protections against discrimination they had acquired under the Obama administration.
A few dozen anti-trans legislation were introduced in state legislatures nationwide the following year, in 2017. Many failed, such as the Texas bathroom bill. Society has gone “too far” in tolerating transgender persons, according to 57% of Republicans at the time.
They then focused on kids. The message surrounding this topic was shaped in part by Terry Schilling, head of the right-wing political advocacy group American Principles Project. According to him, conservatives are prepared to be “polite” to transgender persons up to a certain extent.
“Once you go into my daughter s athletics or in her locker room or showers, once you start giving kids gender transitions that mutilate them and sterilize them, then we re in a whole different world,” he told the Texas Tribune following the election.
The distress a person may experience when their physical appearance doesn’t correspond with the gender they identify with is known as gender dysphoria, and it is recognized by all major medical societies as a legitimate medical condition that is best treated with therapy that is gender affirming. This can include medical therapies like hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgeries, as well as social transitions like changing one’s pronouns or attire. Rarely do minors have surgery to transition, and all choices are discussed with their parents and healthcare providers.
Still, the conservative message struck a chord. Even though Texas was inactive last year, 669 anti-trans legislation were submitted in state legislatures across this year, despite nearly 80% of Republicans believing that society had gone too far in tolerating transgender individuals.
However, it’s unclear exactly what Americans want their government to do in response to this dramatic rise in anti-trans sentiment. Nearly as many Republicans support protecting transgender persons from discrimination in public places, employment, and housing, and more than half oppose outlawing gender-affirming care for kids.
Medical organizations, physicians, advocates, and transgender individuals have denounced Texas’s bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for kids, calling it “dangerous,” “cruel and grotesque,” and “devastating.” The ban was approved by all Republicans and a few Democrats.
Advocates, transgender individuals, and medical professionals are now preparing for the future.
According to Elana Redfield, federal policy director at the Williams Institute, a research center on gender identity law and public policy at the University of California Los Angeles, “it’s almost necessary, based on their framework and the way they frame these cases, that they would argue that access to care for adults would be a violation in the same way as for children.” “Texas has already made it pretty clear they intend to do that.”
The next frontier
Other Republican states surged ahead in 2024, a year when the Texas Legislature was off, laying out the agenda for what lawmakers might achieve when they meet again in January. While certain states, like Florida, have severely limited the availability of gender-affirming care, no state has completely prohibited adults from receiving it, which deters both patients and physicians.
Legislators in Texas are already drafting legislation to address these problems. Both Rep. Ellen Troxclair, a Republican from Austin, and Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican from Edgewood, have introduced proposals mandating that government records show that there are only two genders, strictly defining male and female by reproductive organs. Other legislation would make it illegal for transgender people to change their gender identity on their birth certificates.
The result of these regulations is “erasing transgender people altogether,” according to Redfield. A portion of this has already begun: Under Attorney General Ken Paxton’s watch, the Texas Department of Public Safety started to refuse to alter a driver’s license’s specified sex earlier this year, despite a court ruling. Additionally, the agency started gathering the names of those who wanted the change.
In addition, lawmakers want to reinstate the bathroom problem and mandate that transgender inmates be housed in jails or prisons according to the sex assigned to them at birth.
Harrison, a Republican from Midlothian, has introduced a bill that would prohibit transition-related care from receiving state funds.
When Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of endorsing taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery during the presidential race, this notion gained momentum. A few federal prisoners have prevailed in legal challenges that compelled the federal government to cover their transition-related medical expenses.
Harrison added that the media presents these as social issues, but his concentration is solely on how tax monies are spent.
“We are making the lives harder for Texans of all stripes when we make them poorer, and we certainly shouldn’t make them poorer in the pursuit of leftist ideology,” he stated.
Federal shifts
Tennessee’s gender-affirming care ban for children is being challenged in a lawsuit that could decide how far states like Texas can go with these limitations. The issue will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit, claiming that the statute discriminated against women in violation of the Constitution.
The lawsuit was one of the Biden administration’s multiple attempts to shield transgender individuals from the effects of conservative state legislation.
“The Biden administration has been the most explicitly protective administration for transgender people,” Redfield stated. “We can anticipate the incoming president will claw back as much of that as possible.”
During his first administration, Trump repealed numerous Obama-era anti-discrimination laws and expelled transgender individuals from the military. He emphasized this record in his current presidential campaign, which culminated in an advertisement that read, “Kamala is for they/them.” You have President Trump on your side.
Many others expect that Trump would follow the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy framework, which calls for limiting gender-affirming care for all age groups and eliminating the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from all federal laws, rules, and regulations.
Advocates and transgender individuals are bracing for the potential actions of the White House and Congress, as well as the potential actions of state legislatures without federal supervision to control them. Many organizations advise transgender persons to plan to relocate states or leave the country if necessary, stock up on transition-related medications, and proactively update their government documents to reflect their gender identity, where permitted.
Texas is anticipated to take this matter even farther, regardless of Trump’s actions.
“Texas better do at least as good a job as Washington, D.C. is going to do on that front,” Harrison stated. “And that’s what I’m committed to ensuring happens.”
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!