Last year, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 25, which requires that student athletes play on sports teams that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificate, and the certificate athletes present must have been issued near the time of birth. The law went into effect Tuesday, making Texas the 10th state in the U.S. to enact similar legislation.
Supporters of the law argue it is necessary to protect womens sports from what they deem unfair competition. State Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-Spring, said one of her main reasons for authoring the bill was to protect girls safety. She did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but in a news conference Tuesday, she hinted at introducing future legislation that would expand sports team restrictions to the college level.
We have got to come back and protect our college girls in the next session, she said.
HB 25 targets transgender youth, a rather small slice of the states population. Data shows less than half of LGBTQ youth participate in sports, and its predicted the number of transgender youth is even smaller.