Thank you everyone for the support so far. I don't intend to send many updates out but a key point I make at the end is that anyone defending this bill needs voted out. They can't be trusted with power. There's a word for when you try to erase an entire group of people. 

Yesterday, as of this writing, Texas State Reps Steve Toth and Nate Schatzline went on TMZ to defend this bill. I will be including a couple highlights. They said ONE important thing but 90% of what they said were the same tired old attacks on trans people. The same fake compassion they try to tag onto the end of their hateful rhetoric. 

Toth said "Let's be clear, this does not in any way shape or form criminalize being trans. If you want to be trans, if you're an adult, you're 26 years old... This doesn't do anything to criminalize it." He goes on to say that it prevents people from changing their records and making 'false claims' on state documents. 

There's a lot packed into those statements. This is the important thing.

The first part is a lie. The bill includes verbal statements, not just documents. And it includes the person's place of employment not just the government. His response is a blatant lie. I am sure if pressed on it he would say something vague about how it was just one possible example. It is already impossible to change your gender and sex markers in Texas.

That sentence contains a weird little bit- 'If you're an adult, you're 26....' I don't think this was a random age to pick. I think I know what he was hinting at. Maybe a reason that age was on his mind. People are kicked off their parents insurance at 26. I haven't been able to read all the bills in Texas or across the US but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a bill, or if there is soon one, that makes it so people can't get gender affirming care on their parents insurance. I am sure that most people's parents have better insurance than they have access to themselves. If by no other logic than their parents have had time to move into better careers than their kids.

He goes on to say that letting people change their name and gender marker would make it hard to track down sex offenders. The solution to that isn't to punish transgender people. From dps.texas.gov - "In addition to providing notification of all address changes, not later than the seventh day after a change in an “online identifier,” the offender’s name, physical health, job status, or education status, the offender shall report this change to the offender’s primary registration authority."

It sure sounds like there's other ways to fix that problem, if indeed it is something they see happening a lot. 

When challenged by TMZ on that they switch over to saying "It's perpetuation of mental illness."  When challenged as to if they're saying  mentally ill people, by their own definition, should be jailed- they don't answer. Because they know the answer is ugly. They switch to "We only have compassion and love for anyone going through [being transgender]." And then they make up some statistics about how transitioning makes us miserable. I'm sure if asked they can find SOMETHING to cite for it. Reduxx or Breitbart or something put out by a conservative thinktank. Always some way to shirk responsibility for their words. 

That's their tactic. Tell so many lies that no one has the time to disprove them all. Keep spreading the word about this hateful bill, they know they can't answer the questions asked of them. They know that they have to hedge their answers because if they spoke the truth of their minds, no one would support them. 

Thanks again everyone.