Austin, TX, Release: August 9, 2021 — For Immediate Release
Last week Governor Abbott released the call for a second special session with numerous new items not included in the first session call. Notably absent was an item banning the barbaric practice of gender modification for minors, a Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priority.
Matt Rinaldi, Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas said “Governor Abbott has the sole authority to add a gender modification ban to a special session and he needs to do so. Every day we wait more Texas children are irreversibly harmed. Rep. Matt Krause has a bill with enough co-authors to pass the Texas House and others are sure to attract majority support on this important issue. I ask Governor Abbott to add it to the call for the second special session.”
Rep. Matt Krause has authored HB 166 which would ban the practice of gender modification for minors in Texas. HB 166 had 75 co-authors in the first special session, which under the current house makeup constitutes a majority.
On Friday Gov. Abbott sent a letter to the Department of Family Protective Services asking if “[s]ubjecting a child to genital mutilation through reassignment surgery” constitutes child abuse.
Chairman Rinaldi stated, “There is no need to wait around for DFPS to tell us whether sex change surgery on children is child abuse. It is. More importantly, the DFPS letter doesn’t change James Younger’s situation or that of the hundreds of children similarly situated, since it does not address the issue of using puberty blockers or hormone treatments on children for the purpose of gender transition.”
James Younger is the Texas child stuck in a custody battle whose mother wants to use medical drugs to change James into a girl. Jeff Younger, James’s father, has been fighting to protect his son from being given medication that would block his natural puberty and hormones to change his biological sex. Recently a Dallas Judge blocked Jeff from having unsupervised contact with his son, and allowed the mother to cross dress James in public. Jeff’s legal battle continues, but it illustrates the necessity for which the Texas Legislature needs to act.
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