The Republican-controlled Texas Senate passed key bills to ban medical gender modification for children and outlaw drag queen performances in front of minors, including Drag Queen Story Hour.
SB 12 and SB 14 were part of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities for the 88th Legislative session. Patrick holds one of the most powerful positions in Texas as head of the Senate.
The bills passed on April 4 will now head to the House, where they will go to a committee.
The legislation is part of a nationwide push by conservatives to give power back to parents and protect children from sexualization.
Those on the left say allowing children to switch genders helps them mentally and drag performances are art that is protected by the First Amendment.
SB 14, sponsored by Sen. Donna Campbell (R), who is a medical doctor, would end gender modification in Texas. It passed the Senate after a contentious amendment was stripped.
The amendment would have grandfathered non-surgical gender modification for children who started treatment 90 days before the bill would become law.
SB 14 prohibits health care providers from performing sex change surgeries or prescribing puberty blockers to minors unless medically necessary.
Doctors would lose their medical licenses should they break the law under the bill.
Additionally, SB 14 prohibits public money from being used or distributed to providers, medical schools, hospitals, or physicians who provide these surgeries or drugs.
SB 12, which would ban drag shows in front of children, was sponsored by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) and his companion bill SB 1601 would halt Drag Queen Story Hours by defunding municipal libraries that host them.
SB 12 would ban male performers exhibiting as a female, or female performers exhibiting as a male who use “clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise, performs before an audience,” appealing to prurient sexual interests.
