Austin LGBT commission disapproves of Gov. Abbott’s proposed anti-transgender youth bill

The Austin LGBTQ Quality of Life Advisory Commission sought to show support for transgender children during their Sept. 13 meeting in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to
restrict gender-affirming care to minors in Texas.

Abbott’s efforts are part of a collaboration with other conservative Texas lawmakers to pass anti-transgender legislation this year. On Aug. 6 Abbott sent a letter to Jaime Masters, commissioner
for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, asking the department to consider labeling gender-affirming care as child abuse.

Gender-affirming care includes individually tailored physical and psychological
interventions to affirm one’s gender identity, according to Plume, a company that provides hormone replacement therapy.

Holly Kirby and Brandon Wollerson from the Austin commission wrote a resolution to Austin City Council requesting a public statement in opposition to the governor’s actions.

“The purpose of this resolution is to support access to gender-affirming health care for transgender and nonbinary people,” commission member Marti Bier said. “It’s not necessarily
directly related to the legislative session. It just happens to be that they both have been attacked.”

The resolution was originally planned to be presented alongside the Austin LGBTQIA+ Quality of Life study, but the study’s release date was postponed to an unspecified date. The study
was conducted through online surveys and input from the commissioners’ experiences to gauge city demographics and community needs.

“One of the top five priorities in all of the subcategory policy priorities (in the study) is affirming medical care for trans and nonbinary kids,” committee chair Ryn Gonzalez said.

The Quality of Life study and a background sheet on the details of Abbott’s proposed bill are planned to be included in the final resolution, but these items are not yet public. These additions are
meant to serve as historical background and records, Gonzalez said.

“One of the things that we figured out as a community is that our history is often buried and deleted,” Gonzalez said.

Texas has introduced over 40 anti-trans bills this year alone, according to the Freedom for All Americans campaign. However, only two of these bills — relating to the restriction of trans
youth’s participation in sports in schools — have been passed through either chamber of the Texas Legislation.

“Governor Abbott, if anything, is not protecting children, but is putting more people at risk and danger,” said Walter Naranjo, a junior marketing major at the University of Texas at Austin who
identifies as an LGBT ally. “People will go out of their way in a very dangerous manner (to help themselves) and not receive proper medical care.”

Many in the LGBT community and health care professionals have taken offense to the language used by Abbott in his letter, specifically where he refers to gender-affirming care as “genital mutilation.”

“All of the major medical associations in this country identify gender-affirming care as not child abuse, but life-saving, necessary medical intervention for trans kids,” said a Dell Medical
School professor who asked not to be named due to privacy concerns.

In 2021, the Trevor Project received nearly 4,000 crisis contacts from transgender and non-binary youth in Texas — a 150% increase from last year. Many callers directly stated that their distress stemmed from the states’ anti-trans law debates, with some even expressing suicidal thoughts as a result.

“Our environment has a really big impact on our mental health,” said Phillip Schnarrs, associate professor in the Dell Medical School Department of Population Health. “When it's a policy
that someone's trying to implement, even just saying, ‘Hey, there's this bill’, that triggers something in people when they see that their lives are being threatened in some way.”

In his letter, Abbott discussed his concerns with surgical interventions associated with sex reassignment. However, children rarely ever undergo such invasive procedures, said the Dell
Medical School professor. For children, gender-affirming care is largely composed of social transitioning, hormone therapy and puberty blockers, according to the Dell Medical School
professor. However, numerous parties are involved in this process including the community, the child’s family, doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Texas’ various anti-trans laws have led some families to feel unsafe for the future of their children.

“At least three families that I know of have moved out of the state because they know that getting transition care is life-saving for their kid,” the Dell professor said.

The proposal put forth by Austin’s LGBTQ commission strives to show allyship for trans youth, Kirby said. In addition to showing allyship and support to transgender people, further political advocacy would be required if the bill progresses through the Texas Senate during this third special session.

“It’s so critically important that folks not be reactionary, but instead be proactive,” said the Dell professor. “Actively try to engage with lawmakers and say that this can't happen, as opposed to
saying, after the fact, ‘Oh, crap, look what's happened.’”

This article was submitted as an assignment for the Reporting Words course at the University of Texas at Austin taught by professor Emily Quigley.