Legislative Agenda

In the 89th Legislative Session, Equality Texas remains committed to securing full equality for LGBTQIA+ Texans. Our only mission is to safeguard core Texas values: Privacy, Liberty, Respect, Safety, and Community. Our values and our purpose remain unpolluted by attempts to undermine our unity or our resolve. The lives of our trans and queer neighbors are on the line, and we will exhaust every effort to defend our fundamental rights.

Privacy

Bathrooms should be private. We stand firmly resolved against any government intrusion into private spaces like bathrooms. Trans Texans should not be subjected to heightened scrutiny simply for daring to access a restroom in a public building.

Liberty

Our nation stands on the vanguard of medical technology and treatment, yet lawmakers are abusing their authority to restrict access to essential medical care. If medical care is available in the United States, it should be accessible to every trans person in the state. We will not tolerate any attempt to narrow, exclude, or eliminate health care for trans Texans.

Respect

There was a time when “Mister” and “Missus” were an ordinary part of Southern hospitality, and when a mistake of gender would solicit a gushing apology. Today, respect has eroded so far that lawmakers argue even pronouns shouldn’t be respected. We are resolved against any attempt to erase or rewrite the names, pronouns, or salutations of trans and gender expansive Texans.

Safety

While ID documents are a mundane part of most people’s life—perhaps even a nuisance if updating a maiden name to a married name—accurate ID docs improve the safety and quality of life for trans people. If a trans person’s ID doesn’t match their face, their name, or their outfit, sharing that ID could create a tense, even dangerous, encounter with law enforcement. Accurate ID’s help police do their job better by having correct names and genders on government documents. We are firmly resolved against any attempt to demean trans people and jeopardize their safety by forcibly outing or deadnaming them on government documents.

Community

In the past few years, a narrow worldview has been encroaching on Texas public schools—erasing the histories of Black and brown, immigrant, and queer Texans from our history books. School Boards have developed policies that compel teachers to out their students, even if the student might be living in an unsafe home. And most recently there has been a concerted push to police social transition of young trans students. Social transition means allowing kids to wear clothes that feel right to them, get a hairstyle that makes them feel good, and start using a name that works for them. If we start policing social transition, will we start enforcing 1950’s gender roles where only girls can play with kitchen sets and only boys can play with trucks? We’ve evolved beyond this primitive and outdated perspective on gender roles, and we resolutely defend the teachers and schools who create safe spaces for their LGBTQIA+ students.