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Texas Senate approves anti-trans bathroom bill

White House won’t comment, says proposal is a state issue

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Religious Freedom, gay news, Washington Blade

The Texas Senate has advanced an anti-transgender bathroom measure. (Photo by Daniel Mayer; courtesy Wikimedia)

The Texas Senate gave final approval Wednesday to legislation that would enable sweeping discriminationĀ against transgender people in the state, barring them from accessing the restroom in public spaces consistent with their gender identity.

The chamber approved the legislation, Senate Bill 6, by a 21-0 vote after giving tentative approval to the billĀ Tuesday by the same vote margin following a five-hour debate. Made a priority for defeat by national LGBT organizations, the measure now heads to the House for approval before goingĀ to the desk of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The legislation would forbid cities from enacting measures to bar discrimination against transgender people in restrooms and prohibit transgender people from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity in public spaces, such as schools and government buildings. The measure, which is a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, would gut non-discrimination ordinances in cities like Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.

According to Time Magazine, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), the primary sponsor of the bill, gave an emotional speech Tuesday in favor of the measure, insisting its purpose was to ensure privacy in the state.

“I will tell you as a woman, this is not a joke,” Kolkhorst said. “This is about dressing rooms, lockers, showers and restrooms. This is about privacy and protection for all people,” Kolkhorst is quoted as saying. “Itā€™s not perfect. Itā€™s not easy when we talk about these issues. Cisgender. Transgender. How many genders are there? Are we created man and woman? Or do we internalize something different?”

Matt McTighe, executive director ofĀ Freedom for All Americans, said in a statement the legislation will “hurt transgender people ā€“ especially transgender kids ā€“ all across Texas.”

ā€œThis Senate vote was driven by one motive, and one motive only ā€“ discrimination,” McTighe said. “Itā€™s more important than ever to support transgender youth, and instead some Texas lawmakers are bent on making life even harder and scarier for them. Weā€™re committed to ensuring this bill doesnā€™t ever move out of the House, but thereā€™s no doubt that today is a dark day for the Texas Senate.ā€

Although proponents of the measure say it’s needed for privacy in Texas, the stateā€™s two largest law enforcement organizations ā€“ the Texas Municipal Police Association and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas ā€” have said thereā€™s no need for SB6.

JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and political affairs forĀ the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Senate passage of the bill ignores the nearly 20 nearly of testimony against the measure when it came before a committee earlier this month.

ā€œAfter hearing an outpouring of opposition to this bill during nearly 20 hours of citizen testimony last week, itā€™s outrageous that the Texas Senate would advance SB 6 to the House,ā€ Winterhof said. ā€œThis measure is another product of Dan Patrickā€™s anti-LGBTQ agenda, and itā€™s troubling that lawmakers in the Senate cannot see it for what it truly is: An attack on their transgender neighbors, coworkers and friends who deserve the same dignity and rights as anyone else. We hope the House members recognize this and stop SB 6 in its tracks.ā€

Senate Bill 6 has been compared to North Carolina’s House Bill 2, an anti-transgender measure that has resulted in an economic boycott costing the state an estimated $400 million. The Texas Association of Business has warned that anti-LGBT legislation, including SB 6, could cost the state $8.5 billion and more than 100,000 jobs.

President Trump expressed differing views on the campaign trail about the issue of bathroom access for transgender people. On one hand, he’s said transgender people should use the restroom they think is right for them, but he’s also said the issue should be addressed byĀ the states. The Trump administration has revoked Obama-era guidance barring schools from denying transgender kids access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokesperson, said the White House has no comment on the anti-transgender state legislation in response to a request forĀ comment from the Washington Blade.

“Because this is a state issue at this point this is not something we will comment on,” Huckabee Sanders said.

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State Department

Transgender, nonbinary people file lawsuit against passport executive order

State Department banned from issuing passports with ‘X’ gender markers

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(Bigstock photo)

Seven transgender and nonbinary people on Feb. 7 filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.

Ashton Orr, Zaya Perysian, Sawyer Soe, Chastain Anderson, Drew Hall, Bella Boe, and Reid Solomon-Lane are the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and the private law firm Covington & Burling LPP filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The lawsuit names Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as defendants.

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an ā€œXā€ gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed the executive order that overturned it shortly after he took office on Jan. 20. Rubio later directed State Department personnel to ā€œsuspend any application requesting an ā€˜Xā€™ sex marker and do not take any further action pending additional guidance from the department.ā€  

ā€œThis guidance applies to all applications currently in progress and any future applications,” reads Rubio’s memo. “Guidance on existing passports containing an ā€˜Xā€™ sex marker will come via other channels.ā€

The lawsuit says Trump’s executive order is an “abrupt, discriminatory, and dangerous reversal of settled United States passport policy.” It also concludes the new policy is “unlawful and unconstitutional.”

“It discriminates against individuals based on their sex and, as to some, their transgender status,” reads the lawsuit. “It is motivated by impermissible animus. It cannot be justified under any level of judicial scrutiny, and it wrongly seeks to erase the reality that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people exist today as they always have.”

Solomon-Lane, who lives in North Adams, Mass., with his spouse and their three children, in an ACLU press release says he has “lived virtually my entire adult life as a man” and “everyone in my personal and professional life knows me as a man, and any stranger on the street who encountered me would view me as a man.”

ā€œI thought that 18 years after transitioning, I would be able to live my life in safety and ease,” he said. “Now, as a married father of three, Trumpā€™s executive order and the ensuing passport policy have threatened that life of safety and ease.”

“If my passport were to reflect a sex designation that is inconsistent with who I am, I would be forcibly outed every time I used my passport for travel or identification, causing potential risk to my safety and my familyā€™s safety,ā€ added Solomon-Lane.

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Federal Government

Education Department moves to end support for trans students

Mental health services among programs that are in jeopardy

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The U.S. Department of Education headquarters in D.C. (Photo courtesy of the GSA/Education Department)

An email sent to employees at the U.S. Department of Education on Friday explains that “programs, contracts, policies, outward-facing media, regulations, and internal practices” will be reviewed and cut in cases where they ā€œfail to affirm the reality of biological sex.ā€

The move, which is of a piece with President Donald Trump’s executive orders restricting transgender rights, jeopardizes the future of initiatives at the agency like mental health services and support for students experiencing homelessness.

Along with external-facing work at the agency, the directive targets employee programs such as those administered by LGBTQ resource groups, in keeping with the Trump-Vance administration’s rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the federal government.

In recent weeks, federal agencies had begun changing their documents, policies, and websites for purposes of compliance with the new administration’s first executive action targeting the trans community, ā€œDefending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.ā€

For instance, the Education Department had removed a webpage offering tips for schools to better support homeless LGBTQ youth, noted ProPublica, which broke the news of the “sweeping” changes announced in the email to DOE staff.

According to the news service, the directive further explains the administration’s position that ā€œThe deliberate subjugation of women and girls by means of gender ideology ā€” whether in intimate spaces, weaponized language, or American classrooms ā€” negated the civil rights of biological females and fostered distrust of our federal institutions.”

A U.S. Senate committee hearing will be held Thursday for Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for education secretary, who has been criticized by LGBTQ advocacy groups. GLAAD, for instance, notes that she helped to launch and currently chairs the board of a conservative think tank that “has campaigned against policies that support transgender rights in education.”

NBC News reported on Tuesday that Trump planned to issue an executive order this week to abolish the Education Department altogether.

While the president and his conservative allies in and outside the administration have repeatedly expressed plans to disband the agency, doing so would require approval from Congress.

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State Department

Protesters demand US fully restore PEPFAR funding

Activists blocked intersection outside State Department on Thursday

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HIV/AIDS activists block an intersection outside the State Department on Feb. 6, 2025. They were demanding the Trump-Vance administration to fully restore PEPFAR funding. (Photo courtesy of Housing Works)

Dozens of HIV/AIDS activists on Thursday protested outside the State Department and demanded U.S. officials fully restore President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding.

The activists ā€” members of Housing Works, Health GAP, and the Treatment Action Group ā€” blocked an intersection for an hour. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell told the Washington Blade that police did not make any arrests.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to an executive order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. Rubio later issued a waiver that allows PEPFAR and other ā€œlife-saving humanitarian assistanceā€ programs to continue to operate during the freeze.

The Blade on Wednesday reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding.

ā€œPEPFAR is a program that has saved 26 million lives and changed the trajectory of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said Housing Works CEO Charles King in a press release. “The recent freeze on its funding is not just a bureaucratic decision; it is a death sentence for millions who rely on these life-saving treatments. We cannot allow decades of progress to be undone. The U.S. must immediately reaffirm its commitment to global health and human dignity by restoring PEPFAR funding.” 

ā€œWe demand Secretary Rubio immediately reverse his deadly, illegal stop-work order, which has already disrupted life-saving HIV services worldwide,” added Russell. “Any waiver process is too little, too late.”

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