Texas bill to protect detransitioners defeated by Democrats at the last minute

Texas HB3502 was a bill that was worked on relentlessly by a small group of incredible mothers of transitioned people. For some, it represented hope that their children would return. For others, the best chance for their medicalized children to be happy.

I personally met with Republicans and Democrats in Texas to explain the importance of this bill. I also flew to Austin to testify in favor of it. During my testimony, Democrats Anne Johnson and Julie Johnson were determined to snuff the life from this bill, seemingly as revenge for bills like SB14 which protects minors.

Texas Democrats celebrating the successful chubbing (stopping a bill by running it out of time) of HB 3502

The whole team worked as hard as possible to ensure that this would be a bipartisan piece of legislation. Nevertheless, the Democrats cheered when it was killed in the last minutes of the 2023 Session. During the final hours of the sessions, Democrats deliberately did everything they could to stop HB3502 from having its second reading. Even though this bill does nothing except for expand insurance coverage for people whose very insurance covered their “onboarding” procedures, the Democrats sought to kill it anyway.

These politicians love humiliating their Republican colleagues more than they care about anyone who’s been subjected to gender medicalization. They should be ashamed.

This move by Democrats in Texas echoes an action by the Oregon legislature last month to kill an amendment to Oregon’s HB2002 to add a similar provision to a sweeping “reproductive rights” bill designed to make it possible for minor children to begin medical transition without parental consent. Democrats in state legislatures are doing everything they can to stop anyone who has had gender medicalization from being able to access affordable reconstructive procedures.

My love and gratitude to the team and its stalwart leader who were able to get this legislation as far as they could. I hope we’re able to get one more chance at this in 2023. It will be challenging to run this whole obstacle course again in 2024.