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| Photo / Salgu Wissmath for The Texas Tribune |
Texas began enforcing its newly enacted Bathroom Bill on Dec 6, by stationing State Police at women's restrooms at the State Capitol. However, no officers were present at the men's rooms, the Texas Tribune reports.
The officers were seen asking some of the women who entered for identification, and letting others pass without presenting IDs. Of those who presented identification, all had female or X indicated as their gender, including women who publicly identified as trans or non-binary, and they too were allowed to enter.
For transgender and nonbinary people, that reprieve is only temporary with the signing of HB229 and SB 1188. These laws require that the sex assigned at birth be recorded on Birth certificates and prohibit courts from ordering gender marker changes as they have done in the past. This enables State AG Ken Paxton's vendetta against trans people, as he has previously sent letters directing the DPS department to discontinue updating gender markers, possibly retroactively changing state IDs that have previously been updated.
Yes, Texas has a list of people who have updated their gender markers.
Texas first tried to pass a bathroom bill in 2017, but that effort failed. I was at the state capitol with educators, police chiefs, and mayors from across the state to protest and testify against it. Eventually, that bill died in special session thanks to moderate Republicans. Governor Abbott has since primaried those republicans and replaced them with politicians who will advance his far-right agenda.
