DALLAS — Texas state troopers removed hundreds of people from the gallery of the Texas House as protesters chanted and unfurled banners in support of transgender youth in the state.
Protesters on both sides of the bill that would limit gender-affirming care for minors filled the capitol on Tuesday.
Debate and a vote on Senate Bill 14 was blocked by a point of order Tuesday, though, and instead sent back to committee.
The bill blocks treatments including surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It would also revoke a doctor’s license is they violated the law.
“The weight of it, you can feel it palpably because people are struggling,” Ricardo Martinez, who heads LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, said. “People are sacred, they’re angry.”
SB14 passed the Senate on a 19-12 party line vote, and Tuesday will be voted on in the Texas House.
“This bill does nothing to improve the lives of Texans,” Martinez said. “It’s just going to make it miserable and impossible for some of us.”
Johnathan Saenz is the president of Texas Values, which led support for the bill. He argues mental health treatments are a better remedy for children experiencing gender dysphoria.
“When you have kids go through gender transitions, it harms them,” Saenz said. “Let’s focus on the heart instead of thinking that removing body parts is somehow going to make their mind feel better.”
The American Medical Association supports the treatment for kids. The Texas Medical Association is neutral. In its testimony, it advocated against the revocation of licenses for doctors who violated the law.
It also pushed a measure lawmakers tacked on as an amendment which would allow patients to continue their treatments if they’d already received two or more sessions, but they’d be required to be gradually removed from the care in the future.
“You’re seeing a lot of disinformation meant to scare people in order to create outrage,” Martinez said.
Saenz called the treatments "experimental," though medical experts and the Texas Medical Association say there are guardrails for care in place already.
“That’s not health care,” he said. “That’s not doing anything to allow these children to deal with whatever emotions and whatever struggles they’re going through.”
“This sets the standard that the government can interfere in your life when they don’t like how you lead it and that should terrify everyone,” Martinez said.
Martinez said by his count the bill is one of 140 these sessions targeting LGBTQ Texans, including criminalizing drag shows and limiting the discussion of LGBTQ topics in classrooms.
A study by the Williams Institute at UCLA estimated there are 92,900 transgender adults in Texas and 29,800 who are 13-17 years old.
“Stigma leads to discrimination,” Martinez said. “Discrimination leads to violence against our community and that’s what we’re seeing play out.”
He said other states with similar laws saw transgender teen suicides rise. Saenz argued that’s more evidence treatment should focus on mental health.
“Kids are not in a position to make these decisions and even if the parents support it,” Saenz said. “It’s not healthy for them.”