When Adrian Moore arrived at Morton Ranch High School in Katy, Texas for Senior Sunrise last August, a tradition where students gather to watch the sun come up before the first day of school, his principal pulled his mom aside with a pained expression. This year, she said, teachers would be required to call her son by the name on his birth certificate. A name he had never used in his six years at Katy Independent School District.

That was the first school year under Texas Senate Bill 12.

SB 12 prohibits schools from helping students socially transition through the use of a chosen name, pronouns, or other expressions of gender that differ from what is listed on their birth certificate. It also bans clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and has been interpreted by many districts to mean that counselors and teachers cannot discuss mental health with students without signed parental consent forms.

The fallout has been swift. Across Texas, Pride clubs disbanded. Mental health fairs were cancelled. Teachers who had mentored LGBTQ+ students for years found themselves legally unable to use the names those students had gone by for years. One teacher cried. Another approached Adrian in the hallway and asked, "What am I supposed to do?" He found himself in the position of reassuring his own teachers.

A federal judge who heard the ACLU's lawsuit challenging SB 12 made one thing clear: school districts had a choice. "You did have discretion," Judge Charles Eskridge told Katy Independent School District's lawyer during the hearing. Districts across Texas implemented the law differently, which means some chose to apply it more harshly than others. The judge eventually granted an injunction in February blocking key provisions of SB 12 in three school districts, and within a day, Adrian's teachers were calling him by his name again.

But the injunction only covered three districts. Thousands of LGBTQ+ students across Texas remain under SB 12's reach.

Students have organized, spoken at school board meetings, and filed lawsuits. Bailey Calderon, a straight Catholic student in Bastrop, said fighting back was "what Jesus would have done." Cameron Samuels, executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, said: "When lawmakers seek to silence and erase LGBTQ+ youth, it's the youth ourselves who are taking courageous stands to live authentically, defend our rights, and support our peers." But student activism is not enough. Adults need to act too.

We're calling on Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Legislature, and the Texas Education Agency to repeal Senate Bill 12, and on every Texas school board to use the discretion they have, right now, to protect LGBTQ+ students while the courts catch up.