Samiksha Malvade
18th October 2021: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is all set to sign a bill restricting transgender youth from participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. The Bill requires public schools from elementary to collegiate levels to assign athletes based on the sex present on their birth certificates. It was passed by the Republican-controlled House in scores of 76-54 , then went to the state Senate, where it passed 19-12. Finally returning to the House for reconciliation, it was approved with a majority of 76-61.Lawmakers are justifying the ban on the basis of protecting female Texan athletes from fraudulent male athletes trying to gain a nefarious advantage, while human rights activists in the LGBTQ advocacy groups of Texas are of the opinion that the lawmakers, in particular governor Greg Abbott, are only trying to score political points by attacking transgender youth. This bill has followed all the legislative rules of the Texan State Government and even went under the review of the House Public Education Committee. Several other States have seen similar bans which have inspired many lawsuits and appeals in the respective states’ LGTBQ cohorts. Bans like these attract violations under the Education amendments act of 1972, the first amendment rights and basic human rights.
It is yet to be confirmed whether the HRC or the LGBTQ community of Texas plans to file any lawsuits against the bill, however social activist representatives of the community have said that “There have been lawsuits filed in other parts of the country over laws like this, we may see that’s next in Texas.”
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