Last week, the biological male swimmer from Texas, Lia Thomas (formerly known as Will Thomas), competed in the NCAA women’s swimming competition as a “transgender" athlete and was awarded first place in the Women’s NCAA Division 1 National Championships in Swimming. He decided to identify as a woman and start competing in women’s swimming after previously competing in men’s swimming in high school. This comes after months of protests from female swimmers and athletes about the unfairness of Thomas being able to compete in female sports.  This story and event last week is one of the most talked-about events on this issue ever, with notable people expressing outrage nationwide.  This is just the latest reason why Texas Values has been working for years and continues to work on this safety and fairness issue tirelessly.  

Last year, Texas successfully passed HB 25 to protect girls’ sports in high school and middle school by requiring athletes to compete on the team that matches the sex on their birth certificate. However, Thomas, formerly competed as a male swimmer in high school in the Austin area, proves that there is a need for legislation in Texas to protect college sports as well.
 

Texas Values Celebrates 200 Days of Heartbeat Law

March 19th marked 200 days of the Texas Heartbeat Law being in effect and saving women and their babies from abortion.  In over 200 days, approximately 30,000 babies have been spared from abortion in Texas due to the Heartbeat Law.  The Texas Values Team has worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of this law which went into effect on September 1, 2021, prohibiting abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected at about five to six weeks of pregnancy.  The Texas Heartbeat Law has prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court three times and has recently won at the Texas Supreme Court.   Babies and their mothers continue to win as this law remains in effect.

Harris County Commissioners Court Passes Resolution that Promotes Sex-Change Surgeries for Minors

On March 22nd, at the Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting, Commissioner Rodney Ellis introduced a resolution against Governor Abbott’s order to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The order is to investigate gender modification of minors as child abuse. It was referenced in the meeting how Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee pledged that he will not follow Governor’s order to prosecute parents for child abuse through gender transition methods.

The meeting resolved that “Harris County will protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families and supporters to seek care and feel safe in our community and will oppose actions that negatively impact their well being.” Commissioner Ellis plans to go further than the resolution in order to promote gender modification. The resolution passed 3-2 along party lines.