Republicans file 32 anti-trans bills on first day in Texas

Author: Erin Reed

Texas wasted no time escalating its attacks on transgender people as the state GOP prefiled 32 anti-trans bills on the first day of the 2025 legislative session’s prefiling period. In recent years, Texas has become a hotbed for anti-trans legislation, with each session delivering harsher crackdowns. Last session alone, the state passed six anti-trans laws, including a criminal ban on drag (currently enjoined in court), sports bans, a youth healthcare ban, and DEI restrictions. Following a national ad campaign which saw hundreds of millions poured into demonizing transgender people, Republican-controlled states are now under scrutiny over their future plans for transgender residents. Texas GOP lawmakers have made their intentions clear: the next wave of crackdowns is on its way.

Bounty bills also resurface in the latest wave of filings. Texas HB 1075 would allow any individual performing in drag to be sued for a $5,000 bounty. The bill’s definition of “drag” and “perform” is alarmingly broad, labeling anyone “exhibiting a gender that is different from the performer’s gender recorded at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers” as being in “drag.” This definition clearly encompasses transgender people. Should a bill like this become law, transgender performers would undoubtedly be targeted. In Montana, under a similar drag ban, the first person targeted wasn’t a drag performer but a transgender public speaker discussing transgender history at a library. Additionally, such a measure would almost certainly force the cancellation of Pride parades across Texas, where transgender people and drag performers dance, lip-sync, and otherwise celebrate.

Multiple bills take aim at transgender people in schools, as well as books about queer and transgender individuals. Among the most troubling is Senate Bill 86, which would require parental permission for high school students to join a Gay-Straight Alliance or any club that “promotes themes of sexuality, gender, or gender identity.” According to Lambda Legal, this requirement violates the Equal Access Act, which mandates that rules apply equally to all student groups and prohibits singling out GSAs for restrictive policies.

Many bills aim to strip transgender Texans of legal recognition of their gender identity entirely. Senate Bill 84, for example, mandates that government documents classify individuals based on their “biological reproductive system,” defining “female” as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova.” The bill notably fails to address how it would handle intersex individuals or those with congenital conditions that prevent them from producing gametes. The same bill specifies that “biological differences between the sexes are enduring,” and says that those differences “warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces.”

With Texas as the first state to unleash a torrent of anti-transgender legislation, 2025 is shaping up to be a brutal year for transgender people nationwide. Emboldened by the Trump administration, Republican-led states are poised to escalate their attacks, expanding the ways they target transgender communities. Nationally, similar bills could gain traction, while some political pundits and even a few Democratic politicians argue that accepting such laws is a price worth paying for political victories. But the real cost is borne by transgender individuals themselves—those most at risk, facing a future stripped of rights and dignity. Texas has made its stance clear, and it serves as a chilling preview of what lies ahead.

This article originally appeared on Erin in the Morning.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Erin Reed