In Texas, Activists Resist Bathroom Ban Scheme
Leading Off this week, the state of Texas is seeking a statewide ban on trans people using appropriate bathrooms for their gender, and Gender Liberation Movement showed up to protest the infringement on trans people’s privacy and dignity. Also, a new attempt to ban gender-affirming care for youth in Alaska.
by Assigned Media
It’s been a hectic time in the Texas legislature, which is attempting to ram a nakedly partisan mid-decade gerrymander through to ensure they elect even more Republicans in the next election. In response, over 50 Democratic lawmakers left the state, denying the legislature the quorum needed to pass new legislation.
Now the Texas Democrats are back, and subject to police-state tactics to prevent a repeat of the gambit. The legislature passed their gerrymander and is moving on to other business, meaning:
Texas legislators will attempt a statewide bathroom ban. On Friday, the Texas House heard activists and citizens argue both for and against House Bill 52, the latest of these proposed bills. HB 52 is one of two bills, the other being Senate Bill 8, that Texas Governor Greg Abbott pushed to be added to special session agendas.
These bills seek to ban trans people from using bathrooms matching their gender identity from schools and government buildings across Texas. The bill threatens a $5,000 fine for fines governments or other entities that do not enforce biological sex segregation in bathrooms or locker rooms, increasing to $25,000 fine for a second offense. (CORRECTION NOTE: An earlier version of this paragraph incorrectly stated that the law would impose fines on individuals.)
Gender Liberation Movement is standing in opposition, with co-founder Raquel Willis stating, “Bills like SB 8 are not about safety—they are about control.” She would go on to compare laws like these to the segregation of black Americans.
After the hearings, Gender Liberation Movement staged a sit-in in the Capitol bathrooms in protest of the bill, mirroring a similar protest held in Washington D.C. last December. The group occupied the Texas bathrooms for an hour, and the demonstration wrapped up without arrests.
In a press release, Gender Liberation Movement said that this bill “would ban bathroom access to individuals based on gendered expectations, intensifying policing based on appearance.”
In Alaska, the Republican appointed medical board that regulates healthcare voted unanimously on a draft legislation to effectively ban gender affirming care for minors. Were this gender affirming care ban to pass, it would rule that providing gender affirming care for a minor would be considered “unprofessional conduct.” The penalty for which varies, but can result in a revoked medical license.
Separately, the all male board also stated that it believes that late term abortions are “not ethical medical practice and do not embody the values of Alaskans,” going on to, confusingly, state that many Alaskans are “unaware of this.”
Currently, Alaska is one of eight states without any restrictions on abortion, with the supreme court having set a precedent that abortion care is covered by the Alaska Constitution.
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