It’s no secret that Texas is one of the most “extreme state legislatures on LGBTQ+ issues in the country,” as the senior director for legal policy for The Human Rights Campaign told the Austin American Statesman. In the first few weeks of the 89th session, organizations like GLAAD, Equality Texas, and the Transgender Education Network of Texas have come together to form a coalition of sorts to rally and stand up together to fight for LGBTQIA+ rights.
“I’m really excited that (GLAAD is) now investing their work in the south, like Texas,” Jacob Reyes, Texas-based GLAAD representative and news coordinator, told The Barbed Wire. “We’re really concerned about the upcoming legislative session. We have been monitoring the filing of the bills, and we, along with our friends at Equality Texas, saw over 30 anti trans bills filed for the first day of the 2025 legislative session.”
Equality Texas is the largest nonpartisan statewide political advocacy organization working for the elimination of discrimination targeting the LGTBQ+ community, according to their website. Every legislative session, they create a tracker that follows bills targeting the LGBTQIA+ community. Already this session, Equality Texas has tracked more than 50 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills.
“We are in really, really troubling times right now,” Reyes said. “But you know, looking at what I’ve seen in the last few months, especially after the election, there are good people here in Texas that want to ensure that community is upheld no matter what legislation is passed.”
Bills that could “restrict trans lives” or “so-called bounty bills” — which would enable private citizens to sue for cash if they catch a trans person using the “wrong” bathroom — have left many fearful about the potential impact of such legislation. “I get more angry than scared, though, because lawmakers and anti-trans activists use bullshit reasons to attack us, claiming they’re protecting women’s spaces,” Marcus, a trans Texas teen wrote in a powerful essay for Truthout.
Andrea Segovia, Senior Field and Policy Director at Transgender Education Network of Texas, has been tracking anti-transgender bills in Texas since 2017, when our state’s first bathroom bill was introduced. The bill would have regulated who can use which restroom but never passed — and neither did a handful of reincarnations.
“I think it’s really important to remember, as these bills are getting pre-filed, that a lot of legislators are doing this for clout,” Segovia told The Barbed Wire. “So they can make money off the backs of trans people and trans youth to say, ‘Hey, look, I did something. And you see the bill number, and it’s a legitimate thing.’”
Bathroom access is back on the docket this session — House Bill 239 would regulate who can enter a restroom in government buildings that doesn’t match their “biological sex.” Another bill would require “genetic testing” for students suspected of having a different sex than their sex assigned at birth in order to play on sports teams. Still another would solidify policies put in place last year banning people from changing the sex on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses through the regulation of gender on government documents.
Segovia says many folks in the trans and LGBTQIA+ community are panicked — she admits the transgender education network is too — but explains that many lawmakers’ tactics early on in the session are to get as many bills filed to see what sticks.
“They’re trying to get the temp check. Where are their colleagues? Where is the general public? What is the media talking about in terms of the subjects? And that’s how they’ll figure out what their big bills will be to attack trans people, trans youth,” Segovia said.
“You’re gonna see a lot of bills be filed so that people can get tally marks from their donors, their supporters, because attacking trans people, attacking trans youth, is a very popular thing to do, and some would say even more popular than being an anti abortion person,” Segovia continued. “You’ll see a bill that will come through probably the later part of February. It will have pretty strong people in both the House and the Senate, and those will be the bills that will really be the ones that they’ll try and pass to become laws.”
GLAAD’s Texas representative says the organization is also keeping a close eye on House Bill 1123, the legislation that would impose stricter laws on school sports by requiring athletes to undergo chromosome testing. That bill was filed by State Rep. Janie Lopez, a Republican who represents District 37 in the Rio Grande Valley and has a degree in mental health.
“That’s really concerning, because there’s a level of privacy that we want to ensure for our trans brothers, sisters, and siblings here in Texas,” Reyes said. “We’re keeping a pulse on everyone. We’re not here to speak out against a political party or any side of the political aisle. What we are looking at is making sure that when these sessions are held, that LGBTQ Texans are properly heard, and through these legislative filings, it’s so clear that LGBTQ Texans are often not considered when these bills are filed, there’s so much injustices and misinformation filed in these laws and that’s a concern.”
Advocates with Transgender Education Network of Texas wonder if a bill requiring genetic testing could realistically pass, given the state of school funding in Texas.
“As organizations, we’re doing everything we can to fight back. But at the end of the day, no law is going to erase trans people. Trans people have always been here and will always be here, despite what the state and federal governments might try to do,” Segovia said.
Here’s a look at the bills LGBTQIA+ organizations in Texas are keeping an eye on:
HB239: Would allow for Texans to sue any local government that does not force people to use bathrooms or private spaces “based on the person’s biological sex”. The bill, filed by 67-year-old Rep. Valerie Swanson, a Republican from Spring, also mentions spaces like locker rooms and family violence shelters.
“It talks about bathrooms and segregated facilities, and really goes into wanting to define biological sex, which can open Pandora’s box in terms of what amendments could be added.”
– Andrea Segovia, Transgender Education Network of Texas
HB1106: The bill, filed by 59-year-old Rep. Matt Shaheen, a Republican from Plano, would stipulate that child abuse and neglect would not include when parents, guardians or other people in charge of children, like medical professionals or teachers, refuse to “affirm the child’s expressed sexual orientation or gender identity” or refuse to “address the child according to the child’s preferred name or pronoun(s).”
“The main concept is that they want to put trans people in boxes. They want to say, I want to know exactly what you mean when you talk about a father and a mother and a male and a female. Which really is a big red flag for a lot of parents and families.”
– Andrea Segovia, Transgender Education Network of Texas
HB778: Filed by 42-year-old Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican from Plano, the bill would require health insurance companies that provide coverage for gender transition to also cover all “testing or screening necessary to monitor the mental and physical health of the enrollee” and cover “any procedure or treatment necessary to reverse gender transition procedure or treatment.”
“That is a really large alarm again, because again, we’re talking about more finite things that the state of Texas is trying to come into your own personal medical information and say you’re not allowed to do XYZ things.”
– Andrea Segovia, Transgender Education Network of Texas
HB1123: Filed by 46-year-old Rep. Janie Lopez, a Republican from San Benito, the bill would force the University Interscholastic League, to set requirements for students to undergo physical exams by doctors and genetic testing if a doctor suspects that a child is competing in a gendered sport that is not consistent with their sex listed on their birth certificate.
“To impose on a person’s privacy in this way is really concerning. It’s unfortunate that we have to continuously face these setbacks in our state legislature.”
– Jacob Reyes, GLAAD Texas
SB 84: The bill, filed by 82-year-old Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood, would only allow government documents to “reference two sexes, male and female, when requesting or providing information regarding an individual’s sex.”
“The current ID situation with Texas not allowing people to change their state ID and birth certificate that is going to be trying to be codified, as well as not allowing people to get that change in a court because currently you still can get your court amended document documents, but there’s multiple bills trying to stop those things from occurring.”
– Andrea Segovia, Transgender Education Network of Texas
