Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed House Bill 229, otherwise known as the “What is a woman bill” or the “Women’s ill of rights” into law.
The law strictly defines what a man and woman are according to their biological birth, which opponents call an attack on trans, non-binary and intersex Texans.
“Governor Abbott has had many opportunities to stand up for all Texans, and has continued to turn his back on Texans that he just doesn’t like.” Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of Equality Texas, said.
Pritchett says House Bill 229 follows a pattern of increased attacks on the LGBTQ community over the last several years.
“Since 2021, we had 70 something bills. In 2023, 140,” Pritchett said. “This time, over 200 bills.”
The law requires Texans to be defined in state records by the sex they were assigned at birth, codifying an existing legal opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton calling on state agencies to ignore court orders when listing someone’s sex on documents like birth certificates and driver’s licenses.
“This is an escalating attack that is designed to prevent trans, non binary and intersex Texans from being able to participate in public life.” Pritchett said.
Director of Government Relations Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas Values says its not about erasing rights, but protecting them.
“This is a very important law because it makes sure that women opportunities in education, private spaces, sports, they’re protected because woman is clearly defined in law.” Castle said. “It’s very important to protect those opportunities so women can excel, but also feel safe as well.”
Her organization was heavily involved in crafting the bill and getting it passed.
“So many women are being harmed whenever their opportunities are taken away because someone is claiming their gender identity trumps their biological sex.” Castle said.
The law also applies to those who have already legally changed those documents. Pritchett says it creates confusion that will be nearly impossible to enforce.
“There’s a whole slew of problems with how this gets rolled out, and bills like this don’t really spell out for agencies how you should go about doing what the bill says.” Pritchett said. “The reason for that is these bills are ideological at nature, right?”
Castle says now that there’s a legal framework, education and policy can be used to clear up any confusion.
“You think about school districts that have different policies where the term sex is used, now we can be certain that those policies, whether at schools or maybe local cities, that they have the correct definition for sex.” she said.
With legal challenges in other states that have passed similar legislation, Pritchett says the fight isn’t over yet.
“What I would say to trans, non-binary, intersex folks who are in Texas who are worried about this bill and other bills that were passed in the session is, just because those bills are signed by the governor, does not mean that’s the end of the story. There is always another fight to be had.” Pritchett said. “We are not giving up. We’re going to continue to do that work, and we will find ways to uplift the community despite these bills.”
Content from The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.