LGBTQ advocates booted from Texas Capitol; vote delayed for bill banning gender care for kids
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan abruptly cleared the public from the chamber's gallery Tuesday, after LGBTQ Texans and parents of transgender kids chanted in opposition of a bill that would ban transition-related care for children.
Phelan ordered state police to clear the gallery just as Senate Bill 14 came to the House floor and as opponents began their chants and unrolled banners in support of trans kids. As bill opponents started filing out of the gallery, they chanted, “Trans rights are human rights.”
Minutes later, an expected vote on the bill was delayed until later in the week after a parliamentary concern was raised.
Shortly after state police cleared the gallery, protesters continued to chant in the lobby outside the chamber on the third floor. After several minutes, a trooper with a bullhorn directed the group to leave, and state police began to usher protesters down the stairs and out to the rotunda. During this event, several troopers and two protesters began pushing and shoving one another in an altercation that lasted about 10 seconds. Troopers handcuffed one individual and led them away.
Trans advocates had been at the Capitol since Tuesday morning, awaiting debate on SB 14. The legislation would prohibit trans youth from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy — care that medical groups say is vital to their mental health — in order to transition. Immediately after the bill was brought up for consideration, Democratic state Rep. Mary González called a point of order, a legislative maneuver meant to kill the bill on a technicality.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/02/texas-trans-kids-health-care-ban/
