Texas

Here Are the New Anti-LGBTQ Bills Texas Passed into Law

Published

7 months ago

June 4, 2025

Here Are the New Anti-LGBTQ Bills Texas Passed into Law

Johnathan Gooch did a lot of wishful thinking throughout this legislative session. Most recently, he’s been wishing for soundproof walls.

“The worst thing about being queer in Texas right now is having neighbors, because I just want to scream all the time,” said Gooch, the communications director for Equality Texas, an LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group.

This session, the group identified and tracked over 200 anti-LGTBQ+ bills, more than any other state in any point in history, Gooch said. A dozen of those bills were ultimately passed by the Legislature and have made it to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk or already been signed into law. Those various bills could threaten to negatively impact queer Texans with restrictions targeting public schools and healthcare and new legal standards that could create unsafe environments for LGBTQ+ people, particularly children.

Though the deluge of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation isn’t anything new (in 2023, legislators filed 160 such bills), Gooch said that this session, the bills that gained the most traction tended to seem less overtly harmful. “[The harmful provisions are] sometimes buried in other bills or deal with complicated policy areas that might not be immediately evident to queer people or allies across the state who are concerned about what’s going on,” Gooch said.

One such bill is Senate Bill 1257, which will require insurance providers to cover any adverse consequences relating to gender-affirming healthcare, including procedures to reverse or recover from a gender transition. These procedures are uncommon: According to a 2021 study, about 1 percent of trans people regret gender-affirming surgeries. The bill may cause risk-averse health insurers to stop covering gender-affirming healthcare, Gooch said, making it more difficult for adults to access or afford. Abbott signed SB 1257 into law on May 24 and it will go into effect on September 1. This bill follows the state’s 2023 ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Other bills, like House Bill 1106, enact seemingly innocuous changes in legal language that could have devastating impacts. HB 1106 amends the Texas family code’s definition of child abuse to explicitly exclude a parent who refuses to affirm a child’s gender identify or sexual orientation. “This exception, unfortunately, could enable a lot of harmful behavior,” Gooch said. “There’s a long history of using a variety of violent, physically abusive tactics to ‘reform’ young queer people. … If a parent is so aggressively opposed to their child’s orientation or gender identity … where is the limit? What are they allowed to do to force them not to be queer?”

Senate Bill 412, which the governor signed on May 19, similarly tweaks language, removing a legal protection that previously exempted parents, teachers, and librarians from prosecution for providing kids with material that could be considered “harmful” if it was done with an educational intent.

Emily Witt, a communications strategist for the Texas Freedom Network, said bills that put more power in the hands of parents are part of a larger project of “weaponizing parental rights.”

“Parents love their kids and want what’s best for their kids, and if they’re being told that there is this harmful agenda, or that there is something wrong with their kid being trans or LGBTQ+ … I think that parents are a lot more likely to go along with that.”

This weaponization extends into schools, particularly with Senate Bill 12 and Senate Bill 13, two of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s priority bills. Witt said going after public schools is the first way to change the overall mindset of a population. “It has to do with how foundational our schools are,” Witt said. “Making our public schools places where kids can’t be fully accepted or don’t feel like they can talk to their teachers or be who they are is just another piece of how Republicans are attacking our public education system and changing it from what it’s supposed to do, which is serve our kids.”

Senate Bill 12, dubbed the “parental bill of rights,” would prohibit teachers from teaching LGBTQ+ topics and from helping students “socially transition” by using a name or pronouns that don’t align with their biological sex. The final version, which passed over the weekend, also clarifies that school districts may not authorize or sponsor clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also allows parents to have access to their child’s mental health records, which Gooch of Equality Texas said could pose serious risks to queer children.

“If a young queer person fears that their parents might not be affirming, they need an outlet to process that,” Gooch said. “Having access to counselors at school can be a lifeline to young queer people who are trying to make sense of how they fit in the world and also trying to maintain a healthy relationship with their parents.”

SB 13 would allow parents to access student library records and prevent their children from checking out certain books. It would also establish procedures to remove books with “indecent or profane” content. According to PEN America, of the most commonly banned books in the 2023-2024 school year, 39 percent featured LGBTQ+ people and characters. SB 13 was approved by both chambers over the weekend.

House Bill 229, one of several proposed bills seeking to classify people along binary definitions of biological sex, would codify the terms “male” and “female” and require government agencies to abide by these definitions in sex-based data collection. Witt said this bill could pose problems for trans Texans whose gender identity does not align with their biological sex and intersex Texans who do not fit into binary definitions of biological sex. “That’s just another way that we’re seeing lawmakers try to erase Texans and try to really attack freedoms,” Witt said. “They’re trying to control every aspect of trans and queer Texans’ lives. This kind of legislation really just feels like a way to push people out of the state and make them feel like they don’t belong here.”

Senate Bill 1188 similarly relies on the idea of biological sex, requiring health agencies to create a new field in medical records for sex assigned at birth. It doesn’t, however, prohibit health agencies from including gender identity information.

Still, the majority of anti-LGBTQ+ bills died during the legislative process, including Senate Bill 18, one of Patrick’s priorities, which made it to the House calendar but didn’t get a reading before the May 27 deadline. SB 18 would have prohibited public libraries from hosting “drag queen storytime” events, and Senate Bill 2920, which would have classified gender-affirming hormone treatment as prohibited steroid use for athletic competitions in the University Interscholastic League, met the same fate.

Though not much about the session surprised Witt—she said the amount of anti-LGBTQ+ bills was to be expected—she said lawmakers seemed less interested in listening to the testimony of Texans during hearings. “I think they are aware that they’re wasting time attacking a small community instead of passing meaningful legislation that actually affects most Texans,” Witt said. “They just think that they’re in charge and they don’t have to listen to the public anymore, and I think that they’re going to see that that’s a big mistake when it comes election time.”

Despite the onslaught of bad bills, Texans continued to show up, even at the end of the session: Witt said over 100 people came to a “read-in” protest of SB 13 over Memorial Day weekend.

“This is a minority of people who are extremists and have been given millions of dollars to push forth this anti-trans legislation, but they don’t actually reflect Texas,” Witt said. “We still have so many people who are willing to show up for each other and keep each other safe, and I saw that throughout the entire session.”

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Texas

Arizona State transfer RB Raleek Brown commits to Texas

Published

8 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Arizona State transfer RB Raleek Brown commits to Texas

Recruiting a running back out of the NCAA transfer portal wasn’t clean and simple after the winter window opened last week, but the Texas Longhorns were able to land a huge commitment from Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown on Thursday.

The 5’9, 196-pounder has one season of eligibility remaining.

Texas offered Brown out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana (Calif.) when he was a top-100 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. A consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 3 running back nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Brown committed to home-state USC without taking any other official visits.

Brown’s career with the Trojans didn’t go as planned, however — after flashing as a freshman with 227 yards on 42 carries (5.4 avg) with three touchdowns and 16 receptions for 175 yards (10.97 avg) and three touchdowns, Brown moved to wide receiver as a sophomore and only appeared in two games, recording three catches for 16 yards and a touchdown.

Wanting to play running back again, Brown transferred to Arizona State in 2024, but was limited by a hamstring injury to 48 yards of total offense.

In 2025, though, Brown finally had his breakout season with 186 carries for 1,141 yards and four touchdowns, adding 34 receptions for 239 yards and two touchdowns. Brown forced 53 missed tackles last season, 67 percent of the total missed tackles forced by Texas running backs, and more than half of his rushing yardage came after contact.

Brown ran a sub 4.5 40-yard dash and sub-11 100-meter dash in high school and flashed that explosiveness with runs of 75 yards and 88 yards in 2025, so Brown brings the speed that the Longhorns need with 31 yards over 10 yards, as well as proven route-running and pass-catching ability.

At Arizona State, the scheme leaned towards gap runs, but Brown has the skill set to be an excellent outsize zone back if Texas head coach Steve Sarksian decides that he wants to major in that scheme once again.

With one running back secured from the portal, the question becomes whether Sarkisian and new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke want to add a big-bodied back to the roster or are comfortable with rising redshirt sophomore Christian Clark and incoming freshman Derrek Cooper handling that role.

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Texas leaders react to fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Published

20 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Texas leaders react to fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

article

Texas lawmakers are lighting up social media with opinions about the fatal shooting of a woman in a car in Minneapolis by an ICE officer on Wednesday morning.

Reports from officers differ drastically from those of uninvolved eyewitnesses — the official DHS stance is self-defense against a “domestic terrorist,” while bystanders tell a story of an innocent woman trying to leave peacefully.

The political internet arena Texas is divided along party lines. Republicans generally condemn Minnesota leaders’ reactions to the shooting, while Democrats are calling for ICE to be investigated for the possible murder of a civilian by an anonymous officer.

Texas Republicans react

Among the most vocal of the Texas GOP members after Wednesday’s shooting, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Houston) was quick to question Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s dismay at the incident. Hunt posted the following to X, formerly Twitter:

“We’ve hit a breaking point in this country when an ICE officer is rammed by a lunatic in an SUV and the Mayor of Minneapolis responds not with condemnation, but by telling federal law enforcement to “get the f*ck out!”

UNITED STATES – JANUARY 22: Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Hunt, currently in the running for U.S. Senate, later reposted a Fox News video of Gov. Tim Walz’ reaction. Hunt compared Walz to Jefferson Davis before posting a full statement later in the evening that reads, in part, as follows:

“The radical left isn’t turning the temperature down, they’re cranking it to 450 degrees. When leaders normalize this kind of rhetoric, the outcome isn’t hypothetical. It’s dangerous. It’s reckless. And it puts lives at risk. If violence follows, responsibility doesn’t belong to the officers enforcing the law, it belongs to the politicians who lit the fuse.”

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was more to the point with his criticism of Minnesota leaders, reposting a different video of Walz and referencing the recent fraud scandal within the state.

Walz in the video said Minnesota is “at war with the federal government.” Cruz replied, “Is that why y’all stole $9 billion?”

Texas Democrats react

The other side:

State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), another candidate for the same U.S. Senate seat as Hunt, rang in from the other side of the aisle.

“At our town hall last night, I called for a full investigation into ICE,” Talarico said in his post on X. “Today, an ICE agent shot and killed a civilian. We should haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces.”

State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas and US Senate candidate, during a campaign event in Houston, Texas, US, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. Talarico is jumping into the Democratic primary for US Senate in Texas, taking on a former

Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, yet another Senate hopeful, also expressed his ire for the actions in Minneapolis.

“As a civil rights attorney, I’m outraged by today’s ICE shooting in Minnesota that took a woman’s life,” Allred said on X. “No family should lose a loved one this way. No community should live in this fear. ICE has become a rogue agency — operating recklessly, terrorizing communities, and now taking lives. To every community terrorized by these tactics: I see you. I stand with you. And I won’t stop fighting until you’re safe.”

Minneapolis fatal ICE shooting

The backstory:

An ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning.

Federal officials are claiming the agent acted in self-defense, but Minnesota leaders disagree. The shooting happened around 9:30 a.m. in the area of East 34th Street and Portland Avenue. The woman died at the hospital.

Witnesses told FOX Local that a woman got into a red vehicle and there was one ICE agent on either side of the vehicle trying to get in, and a third ICE agent came and tried to yank on the driver’s side door. One of the agents on the driver’s side door backed away, and then opened fire, shooting three times through the driver’s side window, witnesses said. One witness said the vehicle wasn’t moving toward the agents. However, federal officials said ICE officers were “conducting targeted operations” when “rioters” blocked officers. One of the “rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.”

Officials said an ICE officer who was “fearing for his life” fired “defensive shots” to save himself and his officers, killing the woman.

A video of the shooting shows a red Honda Pilot blocking the roadway as an ICE squad approaches. When agents approach the vehicle, the Pilot attempts to drive away, moving towards an agent. When that happens, the agent fires three shots at the driver. Police say the driver was struck in the head. The agent appears to mostly avoid the vehicle as it speeds past and ends up crashing into a parked vehicle.

The Source: Information in this report comes from public statements made by Texas lawmakers on social media. Background comes from FOX 9 coverage in Minneapolis.

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Texas investigations into Charlie Kirk posts spark free-speech lawsuit

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

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Texas investigations into Charlie Kirk posts spark free-speech lawsuit

A Texas teachers union has sued the state over what it said was a trampling of educators’ free speech rights when hundreds came under investigation for their comments after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers filed the federal lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner Mike Morath on Jan. 6, the union said. The suit claims investigations into at least 350 teachers after Kirk’s death were “unlawful” and that a letter issued by Morath to superintendents around the state targeting “reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media” prompted punishment and retaliation against teachers.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The cofounder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth-focused organization, Kirk was a close ally of President Donald Trump. Shooting suspect Tyler Robinson has been charged with his murder.

After Kirk’s death, a wave of backlash came in response to online posts condemning his views or otherwise criticizing him. Right-leaning public figures and prominent social media accounts called for firings of people whose posts they deemed inappropriate.

Morath’s letter on Sept. 12 directed superintendents to report “inappropriate conduct being shared” to the Texas Education Agency’s Educator Investigations Division, which investigates teachers for allegations of misconduct, the Texas AFT said in its suit, which was reviewed by USA TODAY. The union said teachers were investigated not for speech made in classrooms, but for posts made on their personal, often private social media pages.

“In the months since, the consequences for our members have run the gamut from written reprimands and administrative leave to doxxing and termination from their jobs,” AFT Vice President and Texas Chapter President Zeph Capo said at a news conference.

The Texas Education Agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Jan. 7.

Lawsuit claims teachers were disciplined for exercising free speech

The lawsuit filed by the Texas AFT claims that teachers in public schools have a constitutionally protected right to free speech, and that their speech in their personal capacity, such as on social media, is protected. The suit claims that teachers’ rights were violated when they were investigated or faced disciplinary action for their posts about Kirk. It also alleges that the policy to report teachers for “inappropriate” content was unfairly vague.

“These teachers were disciplined solely for their speech, without any regard to whether the posts disrupted school operations in any way,” the lawsuit reads.

Teachers whose cases are mentioned in the lawsuit were kept anonymous, Capo said, to protect them from further harassment. Many teachers are fearful to express any more opinions, effectively silencing their speech, he said.

One of the teachers, who made a post described in the lawsuit as one that “simply raised questions about the circumstances of Mr. Kirk’s death and did not promote violence in any way,” was shared by a lawmaker who used it as part of an election campaign and called for the teacher’s dismissal. The high school English teacher, who has taught for 27 years, was placed on administrative leave and later fired. She settled a wrongful termination claim with the school district, the lawsuit said.

Another teacher of 16 years and a military veteran who previously won “Teacher of the Year” in his school district and made posts criticizing Kirk for his views on Black Americans is under an ongoing investigation by the state agency, the lawsuit said.

“We denounced Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we denounced violence after Uvalde. We denounce violence,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “What happened in the next few days (after Kirk’s killing), wasn’t about violence or denouncing violence, it was about muzzling the expression of constitutionally protected nonviolent speech.”

Dozens lost jobs over posts about Kirk

In the wake of Kirk’s death in September, USA TODAY counted dozens of examples of people who lost their jobs, were suspended or investigated over posts or comments they made about the conservative podcaster, including educators, lawyers, doctors, first responders and others.

They include a dean at Middle Tennessee State, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, who was fired for a social media post saying she had “zero sympathy” for Kirk; a Marine who called Kirk a “racist man” who was “popped”; and Jimmy Kimmel, whose ABC show was temporarily suspended after he made comments about Kirk.

Some educators who lost their jobs filed lawsuits alleging their free speech rights were violated. A teacher in Iowa who compared Kirk to a Nazi; a South Carolina teacher’s assistant who posted a Kirk quote and said she disagreed with him but called the death a “tragedy”; and an employee of an Indiana university who said Kirk’s death was wrong and condemned some of his beliefs all filed suits on free speech, according to reporting from the USA TODAY Network. Each case kicked up a flurry of social media outrage and calls for the educators’ firings.

In Tennessee, a tenured theater professor at Austin Peay State University was reinstated after originally being fired for comments he made online after Kirk’s killing, the Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, recently reported.

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