Texas is trying to make being trans a crime and we have to say something about it
The Texas legislature has proposed a bill that that would make identifying as trans a state crime.
The Texas State Legislature has just proposed a bill, HB 3817, that would make being trans a crime. I didn’t mistype. That is a real bill that was proposed in the Texas State Legislature.
Lets go over it.
The bill is relatively short, with it only containing this:
I don’t know what to say for this. I really don’t. It says it right there in black and white, A person commits an offense if the person knowingly makes a false or misleading verbal or written statement to a governmental entity or the person's employer by identifying the person's biological sex as the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth.
Meaning not only can you not get your driver’s license updated in the state, as well as other documents, you also cant change your birth certificate in Texas, or tell your employer:
Hey, I’m trans, by the way.
They have classified this crime as a state jail felony, which in Texas, is punishable by 2 years in jail, and a 10k fine.
I am in shock, genuine shock, awe and anger. The representative who authored this, Tom Oliverson, hasn’t said anything publicly, so I don’t have his response to this at the moment. Ill update this when he says something publicly.
Getting back on topic for a minute, just how fucking bigoted is the state of Texas to put this in writing, that all of the trans people in Texas are committing so called “gender identity fraud”, that they are defrauding the government, like what?
How on Earth is this fraud? Who is this defrauding? The government? How exactly is this defrauding or lying to the government?
Oh wait, it isn’t. They only used the guise of fraud to hide what they really want to do, eradicate trans people. Texas has, in this legislative session, proposed over 170 anti-LGBTQ bills. 170.
If this doesn’t show that the Republican Party wants us eradicated, I don’t know what does.
This all comes after Rep. Brent Money (yes that’s his real name) introduced a bill that would ban HRT flat out in the state, with this halfassed statement in response to the criticism:
“I want to make it clear that my heart goes out to those struggling with gender dysphoria,” he said, referring to the medical term for the severe emotional distress caused by the misalignment between one’s gender identity and birth sex. “These individuals deserve compassion, support, and real solutions to address their pain — not irreversible procedures that leave them scarred for life. This legislation isn’t about judgment; it’s about accountability.”
First off, nearly every single medicinal org in the States, from the American Medical Association, to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, have all given their stamps of approval, and recommend HRT for trans people, with then all riling against laws restricting it, so I don’t know how this would hold doctors accountable. Also when he says that “These individuals deserve compassion, support, and real solutions to address their pain”, it just gives the feeling that they see that HRT is a real solution, and they just want to send trans kids to conversion camps to “pray the gay away.”
It’s depressing and sickening. To say that they need real solutions to address their pain, and then restrict the solution that has been proven by every single medicinal organization in America is not only backwards, since, you would think that if a trans child needed a solution to gender dysphoria, a solution which, again, has been proven to work and has been given the stamp of approval by every single medicinal organization in America, you wouldn’t restrict it, right? Not only is it backwards, it is a slap in the face to trans youth in Texas. To say,
“Yeah, you guys need a solution to the problem that your facing. Let me restrict the drug that has been proven to work and make these kids lives better and make them happier by extension. Why? Because I’m a hateful bigot!
is just giving those trans kids a massive “F**k you”. But I digress.
To all my peeps in Texas reading this, email your state reps. Tell them the damage that this bill could potentially cause to the trans people in the state. This isn’t exclusive to people in Texas or Florida either, everyone should not only be emailing their state reps not to pass anti trans laws, since those affect not only their constituents, but also at the federal level, where any anti trans or anti LGBTQ law would have a far greater reach.
We need to be emailing our representatives and asking them to make an unequivocal and concrete stance on trans rights, not this half baked, “Yeah, we cant support you, the climate isn’t good enough.” No! Full support of trans rights, or no support.
Someone put it best in response to my recent article:
“Trans rights, or get primaried.”
This single quote, while short, is an almost flawless encapsulation of my point. Majority of the Democratic brass, after the election, looked inward for a solution, and rather than coming to the conclusion that the party brass needed to get younger (which it does), or something else, parts of the Democratic party, both at the time, and now, are placing the blame of their election loss at the feet of us in the trans community, and in the process, spouting transphobic rhetoric. That, the blatant betrayal of trans people and stabbing us in the back at the time when we are facing a campaign of eradication from the right is giving us another enemy in this.
So, to all of the wolf in sheep’s clothing in the Democratic Party, who claim that they are on the side of trans rights but do things that directly contradict and hurt the community, I’m just gonna say this:
“Trans rights, or get primaried.”