Texas
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.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., on Sunday said the Texas Senate race is “in play” for Democrats after state Attorney General Ken Paxton beat incumbent John Cornyn in last week’s Senate Republican primary.
“Texas is in play. Democrats have never run against a candidate like Ken Paxton that is so corrupt that his own party impeached him,” Beshear told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding, “This is someone who does not have the character … to serve as AG or even as dog catcher.”
The Kentucky governor referred to the GOP-controlled Texas state House’s impeachment of Paxton in 2023 on bribery and corruption charges before the state Senate acquitted him. The state Senate trial also touched on allegations that Paxton engaged in an extramarital affair while serving as attorney general.
Last year, his wife, who is also a state senator, announced that she had filed for divorce from the attorney general “on biblical grounds” and “in light of recent discoveries.”
Paxton did not testify at his impeachment trial, but he denied any wrongdoing and characterized the misconduct and corruption allegations as false and politically motivated. After his wife announced their divorce, Paxton wrote in a post on X that the two “decided to start a new chapter in our lives” after “countless political attacks.”
Beshear on Sunday said that if elected, Paxton is a person who “would use his office to enrich himself, that would be a rubber stamp for the president, and would do nothing for the people of Texas. He has shown that as AG.”
Beshear pointed to Paxton’s opponent, Texas state Sen. James Talarico, who won the Democratic primary in the state earlier this year as a better candidate for Senate.
Talarico “is spreading his message about being there for American families, about putting them ahead of the politics, about bringing down prices, expanding access to health care, making sure they feel safe in their community,” the Kentucky governor said. “Those things that make life just a little bit better and a little bit easier as the Trump administration is making things so much harder.”
Beshear accused Paxton of attacking Talarico early in the race because he “knows he has nothing to offer.”
“And so what does he do? He simply attacks his opponent over and over,” Beshear added.
Earlier on “Meet the Press,” former Vice President Mike Pence was asked if he supported Paxton and responded indirectly, saying, “If I was voting in Texas, I could never vote for the Democrat nominee.”
Pence added that he was confident the GOP could keep control of the Senate after November’s elections.
“I think in many respects Republicans have lost our way, but Democrats have lost their mind, and I think the reason why we’re going to hold the Senate.”
In Beshear’s interview, the governor also discussed remarks former first lady Jill Biden made last week about concerns she had about former President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance against Trump two years ago.
“I think it’s fair to look back now, given that Joe Biden did drop out, and say he shouldn’t have run for re-election in the first place,” Beshear said. “You can both compliment him for things he did that helped your state and your people, but also be able to look back and know that was a decision that should have been made differently.”
Also in his interview, Beshear was asked if he himself was considering running for president in 2028.
“I haven’t ruled it out,” he said. “But I haven’t sat down and had that conversation with my family. I’m trying to fire up Democrats to be a voice of reason in the chaos. It is so important that we win right now.”
The Texas A&M Aggies started the season with varying expectations. After a disappointing season last year, this year was a critical chance for the Aggies to once again have another shot at putting it all together.
Earning a top-16 seed and hosting a regional, the Aggies stormed a comeback to take their opening game, leading to their winners bracket matchup against the Texas State Bobcats, who took down the higher-seeded USC Trojans.
Looking to be 2-0 after their second game, head coach Michael Ealrey’s squad found themselves in a close game with the Bobcats. A five-run sixth inning would change the tune of the game, and instead of being a nail-biter, it quickly turned into a blowout.
How One Error Changed Everything
The Aggies were in a close game against the Bobcats, which is a scary place to be against a team that can hit the ball as well as they do. In the fifth inning, Chris Hacopian would get an RBI to give his team a two-run cushion, and he would prove to be the catalyst once again an inning later.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the inning, Hacopian would hit a ground ball to Justin Vossos, the Bobcats’ shortstop. It looked like a routine play, one that would get his team out of the jam, but he would bobble the grounder. Hacopian, to his credit, shot out of a cannon out of the batter’s box and would beat out the play, extending the inning and scoring Terrence Kiel II.
With a three-run lead, the Aggies smelled blood in the water, and they took advantage of the mistake. The next batter, Nico Partida, would be hit by a pitch to score another. Jake Duer would follow that up with a two-RBI single, and Ben Royo would get an infield single of his own to cap off the five-run inning.
From that point on, the Aggies never looked back and would end up winning the game, 17-2, completely breaking the game wide open and dominating their way to a 2-0 start.
What This Means Now For the Undefeated Aggies
The Aggies are the only perfect team in their regional, and have advanced to the regional final for the first time in two years. Because of that, Earley and his squad get the massive advantage of only being tasked with playing one game on Sunday night.
With the Bobcats now heading to the losers’ bracket, they will get a rematch against the Trojans at 3 p.m. CT, with the loser eliminated from postseason play and the winner facing the Aggies at approximately 8 p.m. CT.
Since the Aggies are the only undefeated team left in the bracket, they will get a minimum of two chances to punch their ticket to the super regionals.
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Live Updates – Tennessee Lady Vols vs. Texas Tech Softball (WCWS)
Current Score: Tied 0-0
***Note: If you want the latest updates make sure to refresh the story***
First Inning:
Top: Karlyn Pickens strikes the first batter out. Texas Tech hits a single that went off the glove of Pickens. Jackie Lis comes to the plate. She advances the runner, but she grounds out to short. Pickens gets a massive strikeout to end the inning. Great job by the Lady Vols ace.
Bottom: Tennessee will now come to the plate. Kaitlyn Terry is the pitcher for the Red Raiders. Sophia Knight will start it off. Knight hits an infield single thanks to her speed. Here comes game one’s MVP, Elsa Morrison. Morrison strikes out. Ella Dodge hits a grounder to second, which gets the runner out, but she is safe at first. Emma Clarke hits a line out to Williams at second base to end the inning, as she had to make a vertical effort to bring that one down.
Second Inning:
Top: Here comes former Lady Vol Taylor Pannell. She pops out. Pickens will face the Red Raiders’ pitcher, who also hits. Pickens gets the Lady Vols off the field.
Bottom: Leach lines out to begin the inning. Makenzie Butt pops out to right field, which will be out No. 2. Gabby Leach is out to end the inning for the Lady Vols.
Third Inning:
Top: Quiroga lines out to begin the inning, and Pickens continues to move strongly. Halleman grounded out to second for out No. 2. Williams grounded out to third, which will get the Lady Vols off the field.
Bottom: Bella Faw singles to get on base. Holley grounds out, but Faw advances to second. Knight is struck by a pitch, and there are now two on base for the Lady Vols with only one out this inning. This gives Tennessee two on with a runner in scoring position. Here comes the Red Raiders’ ace, Nija Canady. Morrison fouls out. A wild pitch advances both runners. One at third and one at second now with two outs. Dodge is hit by a pitch, and bases are now loaded for the Lady Vols. Canady forced a full count for Clarke with bases loaded, and Clarke collided with Lis around first base, and the bases were left loaded. Texas Tech escapes.
Fourth Inning:
Top: Pickens forces a groundout. Lis grounds out, and the Lady Vols have put two away quickly. Pickens retires her 11th straight batter after forcing a groundout to second base.
Bottom: Leach reaches to begin the inning. It was via an error. She will be taken out of the game for a pinch runner. Saviya Morgan is on base. Makenzie Butt is up to bat. Canady strikes Butt out. Morgan gets picked off at second base. Gabby Leach hits a single to center field.
Pre Game Information
The Tennessee Lady Vols are set for their next matchup in the softball realm, as this is the second game they will play in the Women’s College World Series. In their first game, they were victorious against the Texas Longhorns, as they defeated the Longhorns by a score of 6-3 in a game in which they were viewed as the underdogs. Now they will have to play another great team with the hopes of continuing to hold on to their advantage of having no losses in a two-loss tournament. After today, only two of the eight teams that advanced and two of the six teams that remain will be able to say that.
The Lady Vols are up first out of the two games today, and they will be playing against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Red Raiders are entering this game with no losses after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs in their game. The Bulldogs entered the event as the biggest underdog, but the Red Raiders can compete with any of the teams at the event. They had to defeat a Florida Gators team that won a series against the Lady Vols to get to the Women’s College World Series.
This game will be one of the more anticipated games in the whole tournament, as this may not even be the only time that these two match up throughout the World Series. Regardless, the Tennessee Lady Vols will look for another big moment in the biggest game of their season thus far.
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