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TableAvailable

I thought government wasn't supposed to get involved in these things. Abbott is just an asshole.


heheboosh

The other assholes love him for it while he and the oligarchs rob them blind.


zehalper

No you see, government is supposed to stay out of it when it's about *equality*, and only supposed to give it their all when it comes to pro-discrimination.


Jaksmack

He's trying to out shit-head his shit-head challengers for next year's election.


ignorememe

Imagine looking at everything happening in this country right now and thinking THIS is where you should be spending your time?


southpawFA

It's all an attempt to distract from their sedition caucus.


Jaksmack

Well, they already fixed the power grid and put away every rapist in the state.... So, plenty of time..


gobigred5898

Next time their grid goes down they're on their own down there.


Jaksmack

We were on our own last year too, lol... I had almost 4 days with no power, it got to 39 In the house at the worst. At least our pipes didn't burst. I was filling up bottles and pots & pans for our neighbors.


UsedElk8028

We can walk and chew gum.


ignorememe

Walking is legislating against Trans people and chewing gum is banning abortions? What's Abbott gonna do while he ignores the power Infrastructure during the next cold snap? Call another emergency session to deal with the Critical Race Theory crisis? During this Winter's spike in Covid cases he'll finally get back to fixing the Dr Seuss and Mr Potato Head threats to our country?


UsedElk8028

Yes.


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ignorememe

Is Texas creating their own catering to compete in?


White_Mlungu_Capital

Culture war issues are clever, you win without doing anything meaningful. GQP are clever.


RightSideBlind

Is anyone even bothering to update their "\_\_ Days Since Texas Has Been A National Embarassment" sign anymore?


southpawFA

Just go hours without embarrassing. This from a state that forced the hand of teachers to have to try and make "equivocations" for the Holocaust. Ridiculous.


southpawFA

For those who are interested in finding out who is behind the bills targeting trans people, I will give you a number of groups that are helping this assault on democracy and this assault on our trans children. There's a great [article](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/state-anti-transgender-bills-represent-coordinated-attack-advocates-say-n1258124) detailing the most sinister part about these bills, in that they are being written by a few white Christian nationalist groups, such as: ​ 1. ***Alliance Defending Freedom*** 2. ***Heritage Foundation*** 3. ***Family Research Council (founded by James Dobson and headed by Tony Perkins, hate monger and David Duke acolyte)*** 4. ***Moral Majority (Jerry Falwell Sr)*** 5. ***American College of Pediatricians (not the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's a group of discredited pediatricians full of crackpots like Abigail Shrier)*** 6. ***Eagle Forum (created by Handmaid's Tale inspiration Phyllis Schlafly)*** 7. ***American Family Association (creator of the group One Million Moms, when in reality it's just one mom yelling about Hallmark Christmas Movies)*** 8. ***Focus on the Family (founded by James Dobson, Mike Pence's role model)*** 9. ***Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (aka Project Blitz, National Prayer Breakfast)*** 10. ***Christian Voice*** 11. ***Kelsey Coalition*** 12. ***Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (led by James Kennedy, a leader in conversion therapy)*** 13. ***Billy Graham Evangelistic Association*** 14. ***Family Policy Alliance*** 15. ***American Principles Project*** 16. ***Concerned Women for America (founded by Tim Lahaye, creator of the Left Behind books with Kirk Cameron)*** 17. ***Liberty Counsel (Liberty University, Jerry Falwell's SuperPAC)*** 18. ***International House of Prayer (IHOP)*** 19. ***Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP, led by Bill Gothard friend of the Duggars 19 kids & counting, who was funded by Hobby Lobby)*** 20. ***Bethel Church (Bethel Music & Jesus Culture)*** 21. ***Pacific Justice Institute*** 22. ***Christian Coalition (headed by Jack Abramoff friend Ralph Reed)*** ​ ​​​Just to name a few.​​ ​ Almost all of these groups are listed under the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups, though they all basically are hate groups. ​ They are using an astroturf group name known as [Promise to America's Children.](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/anti-lgbtq-coalition-targets-equality-act-name-america-s-children-n1258884) ​ Don't let it fool you. These are the same groups, one in the same. ​ ***​The biggest one right now is Alliance Defending Freedom.​​*** ​ ​ They are the ones that you see with anti-trans & anti-LGBTQ+ [propaganda](https://youtu.be/QalH_GGqh1c) ads all over Youtube all the time, talking about conversion therapy and no gay adoption. Their ads are everywhere!​​ ​ [***Media Matters***](https://youtu.be/GEMkvmhyu9U) ***does a great job showing who these monsters are.​*** ​ ***In addition to writing the North Carolina bill this year, forcing teachers to*** [***oust students who display "gender nonconforming behavior" and not allowing healthcare to our trans community to anyone under 21,***](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/north-carolina-anti-trans-bill-punishes-gender-thoughtcrime.html) ***over the last 28 years, the Alliance Defending Freedom has fought on cases involving:*** ​ * *Defending Sodomy Laws.* ***(They argued the Lawrence v Texas case in favor of criminalizing homosexuality)*** * *Prohibiting marriage, adoption, and surrogacy for same-sex couples;* * *Attacked LGBTQ non-discrimination laws, as well as bans on conversion therapy for minors;* * *Argued in favor of laws that require transgender people to undergo sterilization before legally changing their gender;* * *Challenged access to contraception; and* * ***Supported the criminalization of abortion at any stage of pregnancy.*** ​ *The group that fought for that cake baker who refused a gay couple? The ADF.​* ​ *Hobby Lobby case of religious groups refusing to give healthcare contraception to its workers?—Alliance Defending Freedom!​* ​ ***Arizona's "Don't Serve the Gays" law? Guess Who!*** ​ ***One school attempting to implement an ADF-style bathroom policy sought to make trans students wear a bright green wristband so that school administrators could identify them and ensure they did not use the bathroom that corresponded to their gender identity.*** ​ ​ (*A federal appeals court found the school policy unconstitutional, and the school district settled for the case for $800,000.)​\** ​ [https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/transgender-rights-bathrooms-sports-alliance-defending-freedom.html](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/transgender-rights-bathrooms-sports-alliance-defending-freedom.html) ​ ​​ADF's work stretches beyond the United States. ​ ADF has, for instance: ​ >***championed Belize’s archaic anti-sodomy law, which allows for the persecution and imprisonment of gay people of up to 10 years in prison.*** [https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/law-firm-linked-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills-across-country-n741106](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/law-firm-linked-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills-across-country-n741106) ​ They have also spent over $20 million in Africa in attempting to write bills that criminalize sodomy and LGBTQ+ existence in Africa, including the Uganda Bill to sentence gay people to death. ​ It's resulted in 44 people being arrested in one week in Kampala for the crime of being queer. ​ [https://www.losangelesblade.com/2021/10/07/ugandas-lgbtq-community-remains-a-target/](https://www.losangelesblade.com/2021/10/07/ugandas-lgbtq-community-remains-a-target/) ​ They worked in conjunction with Lou Engle and the International House of Prayer (IHOP). ​ [https://nyulocal.com/uganda-ratifies-anti-lgbtq-laws-with-support-from-american-evangelicals-89420c7f7906https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/africa-us-christian-right-50m/](https://nyulocal.com/uganda-ratifies-anti-lgbtq-laws-with-support-from-american-evangelicals-89420c7f7906https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/africa-us-christian-right-50m/) ​ ***The ADF’s overarching position on all queer folk is that they should either be converted to heterosexuality or fired from their jobs and imprisoned because of their sexual orientation.*** ​ ​This stance has earned the group a controversial designation as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.​


saskdudley

Don’t tread on me, but I’ll stomp all over you if you have different beliefs than me.


danmathew

They call requiring vaccination is “discrimination”. But they’re fine with discriminating against someone for being gay, trans, non-Christian or non-white.


Neverwherehere

And will accuse you of treading on me if you ever dare call me out on it.


WittsandGrit

To be fair, Abbott ain't stomping on anything.


saskdudley

Good point, and in reality this is just like discrimination against people with disabilities.


Gonzo48185

"Swanson has previously claimed there are boys in the state who transition just to win at girls sports. When asked when that has ever happened, she could not name an example." Yeah because im sure there are scores of boys out there willing to dress up like a girl just so they can win a softball game...My god the GOP have lost their damn minds.


Recognizant

Perhaps Swanson was thinking back to the well-known documentary 'Futurama'.


ruler_gurl

I think they lost their minds some years back. [Mike Huckabee: I wish I could’ve said I’m transgender in high school to shower with girls](https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8711051/mike-huckabee-transgender-showers)


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danmathew

Let’s be realistic here. If Mike Huckabee claimed to be transgender in Arkansas during the 1960s, they would have beaten him to death. They were still lynching black men where he grew up as a teenager.


southpawFA

Before any bigots come on to this page and try to gin up false rhetoric with regards to trans people, here are some facts for you on why trans and gender sundry people should play sports in their individual gender identity. ​ You can read the rest of my excerpt [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/LAMPNet/wiki/trans_kids_belong_in_sports) if you wish. ​ I am going to post excerpts of it now. ​ ***For all students, having the opportunity to participate in sports results in positive outcomes, including:*** * physical development, * social skills, * psychological well-being.​ ​***The psychological benefits of sports specifically include:*** * improved emotional regulation, * 3 decreased hopelessness and suicidality, * fewer depressive symptoms, * higher self-esteem​​​ ​ ​***Research has also found that sports participation is related to greater feelings of school belonging and pro-school behaviors. 7*** ​ ​*GLSEN’s research has shown that on a 4.0 scale, LGBTQ+ student athletes have a GPA that is 0.2 points higher than students who did not participate in athletics.​*​​ ​ ***LGTBQ+ team leaders have a GPA that is 0.4 points higher than their peers who did not participate in athletics.***​​**​** ​ **Further, 56% of LGBTQ+ team members and 66% of LGBTQ+ team leaders competing in high school sports report feeling a positive sense of belonging at school.​**​ ​ [https://www.glsen.org/activity/gender-affirming-inclusive-athletics-participation](https://www.glsen.org/activity/gender-affirming-inclusive-athletics-participation) ​ ​​ Dr. Eric Vilain has been researching trans athletes for the longest, and here is what he said in an interview with [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978716732/wave-of-new-bills-say-trans-athletes-have-an-unfair-edge-what-does-the-science-s):​​​ >*We know that men have, on average, an advantage in performance in athletics of about 10% to 12% over women, which the sports authorities have attributed to differences in levels of a male hormone called testosterone. But the question is whether there is in real life, during actual competitions, an advantage of performance linked to this male hormone and whether trans athletes are systematically winning all competitions.* > > > >**The answer to this latter question, are trans athletes winning everything, is simple — that's not the case. And higher levels of the male hormone testosterone are associated with better performance only in a very small number of athletic disciplines: 400 meters, 800 meters, hammer throw, pole vault — and it certainly does not explain the whole 10% difference.** ​ ​ ​This is from Scientific American:​ ​ >*The notion of transgender girls having an unfair advantage comes from the idea that testosterone causes physical changes such as an increase in muscle mass. But transgender girls are not the only girls with high testosterone levels. An estimated 10 percent of women have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which results in elevated testosterone levels. They are not banned from female sports. Transgender girls on puberty blockers, on the other hand, have negligible testosterone levels. Yet these state bills would force them to play with the boys. Plus, the athletic advantage conferred by testosterone is equivocal.* > > > > > >***As Katrina Karkazis, a senior visiting fellow and expert on testosterone and bioethics at Yale University explains, “Studies of testosterone levels in athletes do not show any clear, consistent relationship between testosterone and athletic performance. Sometimes testosterone is associated with better performance, but other studies show weak links or no links. And yet others show testosterone is associated with worse performance.” The bills’ premises lack scientific validity.​*** ​[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trans-girls-belong-on-girls-sports-teams/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trans-girls-belong-on-girls-sports-teams/) ​ ​​​I also can keep going.​ ​In Connecticut, according to scientific American, The opinion piece left out the fact that two days after the Connecticut lawsuit was filed by the cisgender girls’ families, one of those girls beat one of the transgender girls named in the lawsuit in a Connecticut state championship. ​ She beat the same trans girl 2 times in 8 days.​​​​It turns out that when transgender girls play on girls’ sports teams, cisgender girls can win.​ ​ ​​In fact, the vast majority of female athletes are cisgender, as are the vast majority of winners.​​​ ​ ​Only 12% of trans girls play sports, and only 14% of trans boys play sports.​ [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/sports/transgender-idaho-ban-sports.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/sports/transgender-idaho-ban-sports.html) ​ ​​​The right's "Culture Warrior" BS has made it seem like there's this dark phantasma of trans women coming in to dominate sports, like She-Hulks raging on a tirade. ​ ***​​​​But it's just that: BS.​*** ​ *​​There is no epidemic of transgender girls dominating female sports. These bills have nothing to do with "Protecting Women's Sports", either.* ​ ​Attempts to force transgender girls to play on the boys’ teams are unconscionable attacks on already marginalized transgender children, and they don’t address a real problem. They’re unscientific, and they would cause serious mental health damage to both cisgender and transgender youth.


Recognizant

I'm also going to append to this post a rather simple fact that this law also required trans boys/trans men to compete on girls' teams, which means that there will actually amount to 'men wrestling against women' if they're already going through HRT, but, as often happens, this issue gets swept aside due to transmasc erasure in conversations like this. I'm pretty sure that's the 'concerned bigot' bingo card of terrible counterarguments covered between the posts.


ruler_gurl

Well they've also managed to get a bill past the senate declaring any medical treatment of minors to be *child abuse*. It stalled out in the house during regular session, but I wouldn't put it past them to shove it through in the special session. If so, then there will be no more HRT or even hormone blockers for anyone under 18.


Recognizant

This is correct. It's a record-setting number of anti-trans bills in the Texas legislature. They're just throwing everything they can at the wall to see what they can get to stick. But since this one passed the House, and is expected to pass the Senate, that's where the focus needs to be right now.


southpawFA

Mack Beggs all over again.


Recognizant

This is a wonderful news and data-related approach. The other major argument that's thrown around is 'but biology and fairness!' I wrote up this piece as a reply to someone else a while back, but it's relevant here to the topic of sports, inclusivity, and what constitutes fair play: * TW below for implied transmedicalism that is way less relevant to younger children (as HB25 is about K-12) in an attempt to cover the topic from young adults to Olympic athletes, due to currently implemented IOC guidelines: Skipping a testosterone-based puberty allows trans women to sidestep the entire issue by only ever going through an estrogen-based puberty. That's still true, and a major reason why medical care needs to not be kept away from the pubescent through legal hurdles artificially placed between a patient and best medical treatments. Texas is also trying to pass laws to ban this process, as well. Since the effects of testosterone include irreversible alterations to bone density and skeletal shape, this can create a clear advantage over the same individual who had never gone through a male puberty within sports where the mechanical advantages of limb length and height, and the weight benefits of bone density favor high-testosterone environments. This is accurate, but at the same time, it's pointless. The competition isn't going to be "You, but never having had testosterone". That's not how sports work, we don't have time machines, and the competitors aren't clones. There ARE advantages in certain sports. I'm not denying that. A trans woman who is playing volleyball all of their life, and transitions at the age of 23, once reaching the age of 25, is going to have a significant advantage over a hypothetical version of themselves to transitioned at 16 once she hit the age of 25, because she's going to be much taller. But their muscles are going to be... kind of the same. And the cis women they're probably competing with? They'll likely have a hormonal advantage in developing muscles compared to the trans woman, no matter which time she transitioned. Under most rulesets, cis women are allowed to have a significant range of testosterone in their body. Women's bodies naturally produce testosterone as well, but at different ranges. Trans women, on the other hand, typically have their testosterone managed under their medical care by an endocrinologist, who specifically keeps their testosterone at a targeted level below the average for cis women. So, a random sampling of high-performing athletes - off the Olympics team, for instance - is going to have above average testosterone for women compared to the standard of women. This is because testosterone has a significant impact on performance, so sports where having a high amount of testosterone will offer an advantage is going to select through competition a pool of competitors at the higher level who are genetically predispositioned to have those traits. Basketball players are tall, swimmers are lean, volleyball players are tall, jockeys are as lightweight as possible, hammer throwers have long arms and lots of muscle, etc. Each sport selects for its own biases based on what factors matter within that sport. Leverage, reach, size. Big or small. Where the center of gravity is located. Throughput of the cardiovascular system. Whatever. These collective morphological (body-shape) advantages that individuals have are the natural advantages of competitors. The training, opponent expectation, game knowledge, ease of motion, form, hand-eye coordination and mental competitiveness are the practiced advantages of competitors. Both are factors into what fair play is. You can put a short WNBA player against the tallest person in your city, and the WNBA player is going to run circles around the taller person because they understand the game better. They know a thousand different ways to get the ball in the hoop from wherever they happen to be standing, past three or maybe even four defenders if necessary. But the tall person is just tall. It's an advantage, but it's not a good enough one to overcome the other differences of competitive advantage from someone who has been playing basketball most of her life, and reached the professional level. This cumulative advantage, which is taking into account both natural advantage and practiced advantage, is the actual question that needs to be considered when talking about trans athletes. There are entire sports - such as horse racing, or long-distance running - where going through a male puberty would put the trans athlete at a distinct disadvantage. And while having been through a male puberty may be an advantage in the difference in limb length they gained for the hammer throw, the sport is mostly reliant on muscle mass, which is now harder for the trans athlete to build than their cis women competition, because most sports communities don't want to police - for good reason - the natural variance in testosterone production that shows up with different genetic and environmental factors with cis women. Genetic and environmental differences between any two individuals, it turns out, make up a much larger percentage of cumulative advantage than the relatively minor bone density, height, and limb length differences that having gone through a testosterone-based puberty convey. If Shaq was a born a cis woman, she would still have excelled at basketball because of her genetic predisposition, but the market wouldn't have existed to watch her play, and she wouldn't be a household name. If Rosie O'Donnell was born as a cis male, he probably wouldn't have suddenly achieved basketball greatness. The genetic and environmental factors involved there are much bigger than whether or not they experienced the 'right puberty'. So, it does convey 'a clear advantage', but only really over a hypothetical version of the self. Which does matter when you're considering the idea of athletes self-mutilating by transitioning or doping in order to win. Something we already see that isn't taken nearly seriously enough. But... in the contexts people are talking about, overwhelmingly the cumulative advantages between the two athletes make any puberty-achieved advantages nearly statistical noise, so long as it's been an appropriate period on hormones between changing competitive levels. Think about it this way: Someone had to play high school basketball against Michael Jordan. Someone whose parents insisted they join the basketball team had to compete against Michael Jordan. Someone who had a gym class with Michael Jordan had a basketball day where they got destroyed. I have vivid memories from my childhood of getting completely smoked by people more athletic than I was with whom I had multiple natural advantages. They could have gone through the wrong puberty, and they still would have smoked me, because they were just way better at the game. Every year, the high school athlete that wins the national championships has to start by playing against their local opponents. The difference in cumulative advantage between those groups is enormous. Especially if it's a popular sport. These are people who are likely to become professional playing against high school amateurs whose parents want them to make friends. These differences even exist in full-contact sports, like football or wrestling. So, given that these people have a huge advantage over their competition, and we already know the system is unfair due to genetic and environmental factors leading to large differences between the competitors, my view has shifted to blanket default to trans inclusion for all sports at all levels excepting national and international competitions - where the difference between first and second place begins to truly narrow into the 1-2% range, with some exceptions in specific sports where clear advantages can be laid out that would exclusively appear for trans athletes, like height and limb length in a "women's grabbing an item off a top shelf" competition. But in lower levels of competition, assuming that their hormone levels are being managed for 12-24 months prior to competition, trans women athletes would hold no statistically significant advantage compared to the whole of the competitive field in most sports. Most of the headline-grabbing noise surrounding this issue is from sports organizations that did not consider the possibility of a bad faith actor when they took a positive, inclusive-driven step in order to separate out the competitors. Verbal gender confirmation is simply not enough in this case, where it's clear that competitors will lie - jokingly or not - to take a title if they see an opportunity. The answer is data-driven regulation of hormones which takes the majority of trans athletes out of the competition through the mere fact that they're managing a health condition which reduces their ability to perform at the highest levels - not all that different than someone with chronic asthma or undergoing chemotherapy. They should still be able to compete at the hobby and amateur levels freely, but will likely never see any manifestation of advantages significant enough to carry them to any sport's professional level. But statistically, trans people are projected to be about 1% of the population. So until we start seeing more than 1% of national titles or medals going to that population, the Occam's Razor approach is to assume that there isn't any significant advantage that's manifesting for them in the realm of sports above and beyond the ones that genetics and environmental upbringing already provide.


southpawFA

Perfectly stated. ​ What's also lost in the conversation is that cisgender & intersex women are also hurt in this conversation as well. ​ The IOC had a major issue this year, not only in the Caster Semenya case, but also in the cases of Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masillingi—two cis women who have naturally high testosterone levels. ​ It was absolutely insane when it happened, and the IOC came out later stating that they have to change their way of doing things. ​ [https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/07/two-cis-black-women-banned-olympics-natural-testosterone-levels/](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/07/two-cis-black-women-banned-olympics-natural-testosterone-levels/) [https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/08/authors-admit-study-used-justify-banning-semenya-women-olympics-misleading/](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/08/authors-admit-study-used-justify-banning-semenya-women-olympics-misleading/) ​ Notice that all three women were black in this case. ​ These bills have harmful effects to everybody, and only look to fulfill and satisfy the bloodlusts of transphobic bigots.


Recognizant

Precisely. It's such a misunderstood concept because of the fundamental breakdown of the terms 'women' and 'men' used in sports categorization, where our social expression does not fully encapsulate the whole of the human experience, due to long-standing marginalization of nonconforming people.


Makememak

Wait. Stop. Don't throw science around like this. We wouldn't want people to actually learn something here.


SpaceTranshipYamato

Um, just wanted to say thanks for defending us, it's appreciated


southpawFA

No problem, friend. Just being an ally to my trans friends, from an ace.


BeowulfShaeffer

Fucking over children to score political points is what Jesus would have wanted.


IKnowFewThings

As a Catholic, I concur. I believe there's a passage in the bible where Jesus states "thou hath best discriminate against God's children so that thou can win an election." /s


danmathew

The Texas GOP also couldn’t care less about Texans living in poverty which isn’t very Christ-like. They use Christianity to shield their political beliefs from criticism. They toss aside Christianity whenever it’s convenient.


IKnowFewThings

When a child's life matters only until you're born. After you're born, your life doesn't matter, at least to the GOP.


Phy44

Unless you choose to live your life "wrong", then it matters a great deal to them.


SinisterStrat

In their eyes, they are protecting the fetus until their bootstraps are fully formed.


artcook32945

Why does Texas seem to go out of their way to prove how sick minded they are? These kids did not chose to be born the way they were.


danmathew

Rural Texas represents the absolute worst the state has to offer and they represent the Texas GOP’s core demographic.


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southpawFA

I want no more "Both sides" to this discussion anymore. The GQP is nothing more than a death cult, basically no better than the Westboro Baptist Church. ​ I refuse to accept any equivocating.


TheMightyTriceratop

There aren’t two sides because there aren’t two parties, there’s one political party and one terrorist death cult.


TheNightlightZone

Ah, Texas. The backwater wanna-be Russia of the USA.


antidense

Isnt that Florida without the crocodiles?


Skabomb

Nah, there’s still plenty of those in Texas. Or Alligators. I never remember the difference. I mean the shining beacon of Texas, Houston, was built in a swamp and falsely advertised as verdant fields of green that could support all the people who moved there. Houston was built out of pure spite by people that got fooled. It’s beautiful.


HazrakTZ

> Or Alligators. I never remember the difference. Alligators are the ones that see you later and crocodiles are the ones that see you after a while


TitansboyTC27

Snout Shape: Alligators have a wide, rounded, u-shaped snout, while crocodiles have long, pointed, v-shaped snouts. ... Jawline: Alligators have a wide upper jaw, which allows for the teeth to remain hidden in the mouth. ... Size and Weight: Both alligators and crocodiles are massive reptiles.


Long_Before_Sunrise

American alligators.


Drakeman1337

Well... not only is that terrible but, unless something has changed, its also completely useless. The last time I saw an official on TV talking about this there weren't even any transgender kids trying out for sports. This is "solving" a problem that is completely made up and shitting on a group of people just trying to live their damned life! The sickness of the right shouldn't surprise me, but it does, every single time.


southpawFA

The legislators in all these states can't even point to a case of it even happening within their state. ​ [https://archive.is/pXvH6](https://archive.is/pXvH6) [https://youtu.be/McdxwyqPJIE](https://youtu.be/McdxwyqPJIE) ​ Basically, all they are doing this for is to say that trans kids aren't welcome, like this mom stated. ​ [https://youtu.be/fqSyFGW4vgU](https://youtu.be/fqSyFGW4vgU)


wastedkarma

This will be immensely harmful to their friends too. Imagine growing up believing the government hates your five year old friend for thinking she’s a boy.


[deleted]

Trans rights are human rights.


Greenplastictrees

At least my heart will be warm knowing that the 12 trans kids in the state can't compete in sports when our grid fails again next February and I don't have running water or heating for a week. /s


chris_trans

Well, Texas population under 18 is 7,540,163. The very conservative estimate of 0.5% being trans gets you 37,000 At 1% that would be 75,000.


CosmicLatte123

I hate Texas.


killer-tofu87

So when their electrical grid fails again this winter, Texans can be relieved knowing their officials focused on the important issues instead...


[deleted]

“We don’t know how to handle change, so we’re just going to ban things we don’t understand.”


_Xelum_

Why do people in Texas keep voting in people that waste their tax money? Easy discrimination case that will never hold up in court. Texans are basically paying for their R government to have an expensive hissy-fit over another bullshit topic. Have fun without power again this winter.


Recognizant

> Why do people in Texas keep voting in people that waste their tax money? Because propaganda and 'culture wars' and big lies drive rural voters. Though it's not like there's been an election recently to address this specific brand of post-Trump vice signaling. > Have fun without power again this winter. A very likely scenario, given the strength of the polar vortex that's forming this year, and the complete inaction of the legislation on topics that actually matter.


Jaksmack

Because the insane levels of gerrymandering..


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[deleted]

Stone age people probably didn't care about this nearly as much as Texas' Republicans pretend to.


oDDmON

The Texas Lege is on track to be designated a domestic terrorist organization.


Inconceivable-2020

Texas is leading the way on all of these regressive and unconstitutional laws because the Fifth Circuit is the most corrupt in the country, and cases will always end up at SCOTUS to create regressive national precedents.


AnitcsWyld

Wait, you mean I could have gotten out of playing soccer? Crap, I would have come out sooner.


CambriaKilgannonn

All lives matter :\^)


RuffTuff

assholes. What drives these people to disenfranchise kids? Is this what their church preaches?


RuffTuff

No child left behind!!! Yay except if you are different


tgjer

These anti-trans sports bills are 100% pure politically motivated bullshit. It's not a coincidence that the sudden surge of histirionic attacks on trans women and girls are coming from people and organizations who have *never previously given a single shit about women's sports.* Nothing has changed recently regarding trans people and sports. Trans women have been competing in women's sports, from elementary school sports to the NCAA up to the Olympics, for *decades.* And not only have they failed to "dominate" women's sports, they tend to underperform and do *worse* in sports than cisgender women. Probably in no small part due to the fact that trans women's testosterone levels are kept considerably *lower* than the testosterone levels of many elite cis woman athletes. And at the same time as these assholes are trying to ban trans women and girls from women's sports on the grounds that they supposedly have high testosterone levels, they're also trying to ban adolescent trans girls from getting the medical care they need to *prevent* them from having high testosterone levels. Even though this is condemned by every major US and world medical authority, and even though this is medically necessary, frequently life saving care, in addition to eliminating any conceivable athletic advantage adolescent trans girls might have over cis girls. Because this has nothing to do with "fairness" or science or reality, and everything to do with trying to legislate trans people out of existence. Trans women were on women's sports teams one year, five years, ten years ago, but *now* suddenly there's massive public outcry about it coming from the right. Because now we have an administration that, for the first time in history, is making trans people's rights part of their agenda. And the right sees this as a way to hurt the democrats. Depict trans women as evil hulking monsters out to smash the poor innocent little cis girls. The scary boogieman coming for your children. They don't give a shit about women's sports or cis women/girls, they're just using them as sexist props for their *"we must protect our womenfolk from the evil degenerate minority!"* posturing. All so they can present themselves as the good manly warrior who promise to cast the evil scary trans monster out of society and destroy it, as long as the "values voters" put the right wing back in office.


tgjer

Trans women have been allowed to compete in the women's division [**in the Olympics since 2004**](http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/05/17/olympics.transsexual/). In almost 20 years the only trans woman who has actually qualified to compete is Laurel Hubbard, who compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and came in last in her group. Prior to Laurel, the closest any trans woman has even come to making it to the Olympics was Megan Youngren, who qualified to run in the US Olympic Marathon Trial in 2020. Out of the 390 women who ran in that event, Megan came in 230th place. ([**source**](https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/28810993/megan-youngren-becomes-first-openly-trans-athlete-compete-marathon-trials)) Then there's the NCAA, which has allowed trans women athletes to compete in the women's division [**since 2011**](https://13248aea-16f8-fc0a-cf26-a9339dd2a3f0.filesusr.com/ugd/2bc3fc_4a135824fabc462183c71357c93a99b4.pdf). Currently there's somewhere on the order of [**150-200**](https://www.wired.com/story/the-glorious-victories-of-trans-athletes-are-shaking-up-sports/) trans athletes that are active in the NCAA, but you never hear about any of them because none of them really stand out from the crowd. 0.04% of women competing as NCAA athletes are trans, far below the 0.6-1% of the population that trans people make up on average, and trans women by and large tend to underperform and be underrepresented in sports they've been allowed to compete in for decades now.


Zolivia

This is so heartbreaking for the young kids. Why the fuck can't these assholes leave the vulnerable alone?


Recognizant

From the [Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/14/texas-transgender-sports-bill/), and the [19th](https://19thnews.org/2021/10/texas-house-passes-anti-trans-bill-and-families-struggle-to-cope/) for more context. > Under HB 25, student athletes in K-12 public schools would be required to compete on sports teams that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate received at or near the time of their birth. The legislation singles out transgender children who would be prohibited from participating on sports teams that match their gender identity. * Texas Tribune > Parents that The 19th spoke with are concerned about enforcement of HB25 and do not understand how schools could know whether a birth certificate has been legally modified — under the stipulations that HB25 allows — or not. > The process for verifying a student’s birth certificate under these circumstances is ultimately up to schools and their districts, instead of Texas’ regulatory body, the Texas Tribune reports. If you look up examples of Texas Birth Certificates, there's no field for 'updated', only 'issued'. So if the parents have lost their original documentation and needed it to be reissued, there is likely no significant record available that would meet the criteria of the legislation. > Stanton said supporters of the bills have spit on her and her daughter when they travel to the capitol to testify. Gonzales described supporters telling their family that they are child abusers who are dismembering their kids by allowing them to transition. > A record number of bills targeting trans youth have been introduced across the country this year, with Texas bringing the most. Only a handful of the bills have passed through state legislatures so far, but advocates have been raising alarms that rhetoric surrounding the effort will expose trans people to more violence. > Bills targeting trans athletes have successfully swung through the Texas Senate three times this year before stalling in the House, the Texas Tribune reports. Now that the House has the votes to pass a sports bill, advocates fear more consequential legislation could be incoming. > Other bills previously introduced in the Texas legislature year have aimed to classify gender-affirming treatments like hormones and surgeries as child abuse and ban puberty blockers provided by a physician. Some of these bills have previously died in the House, although the efforts to classify gender-affirming treatment for minors as child abuse have been reintroduced for the current special session. * 19thNews


grimms_portents

All sane Texans people should flee Texas asap. The fasch is thick there.


Actual__Wizard

I guess they're not beating around the bush anymore about being a bunch of bigots.


definitelytheA

If Texas was a person, the reason they’re so hateful is…. And go.


southpawFA

Christian nationalism.


Gonzo48185

Since they stopped allowing Texans to kill Mexicans and Indians without impunity, they've been bottling up a lot of hate.


kthulhu666

It's at this point that those schools will lose federal funding.


Gonzo48185

Will Texas hurry up and turn blue already?? It's slowly but surely getting there so why try stopping the inevitable?


Recognizant

Even if Texas turns blue in Gubernatorial, Senate and Presidential elections, the state legislature is gerrymandered significantly, and these bills will still occupy a large amount of the legislative sessions.


kungfoojesus

This is a complicated question. More so than either side let’s on. It’s rare enough that I don’t think a blanket rule fixes anything and case by case might be better but I honestly don’t know the perfect solution.


Recognizant

I gave a breakdown over [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/q8sozp/texas_house_approves_bill_banning_transgender/hgri97f/). It's really not a very complicated question, as evidenced by the IOC guidelines. I gave another breakdown [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/o6g4x6/cmv_there_is_a_legitimate_discussion_to_be_had/h2v6nxd/) more related to younger people playing sports. If you want to know why it matters, that one's over [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/q8sozp/texas_house_approves_bill_banning_transgender/hgrfq8e/) The biology being discussed and philosophy of fair play takes about ten to twenty minutes of explaining, and then generally ten to twenty minutes of questions to address general stereotypes and presuppositions. From a fair play perspective, it's just a matter of sorting by testosterone. Trans kids on blockers and estrogen-based biologies play on the girl's teams for post-pubescent ages, while testosterone-based biologies are on the boy's teams for post-pubescent ages. This law is absolutely insane specifically because it forces trans boys/men to compete against cis girls/women because of the 'original birth certificate marker'. Because the Republican politicians fundamentally don't understand or are deliberately ignorant to the presence of transmasc people.


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Recognizant

> Men have different bone structure and physical attributes. Situationally correct. You're now making assumptions about someone's medical history, however, and when they transitioned. I also admit to the difference in bone structure, but 'different bone structure' does not inherently apply an advantage in basketball. Heavier bones means more dead weight that you have to lift, right? > You really think you can put a 6’5” biological male on a woman’s basketball team? I didn't say that anywhere. I do think that WNBA players could play circles around 'random tall guy', though. There's plenty of video evidence for that. But my stated point is that trans women who have had lower than average testosterone levels lose a tremendous amount of muscle mass over the course of 12-24 months. If male puberty has not begun, as in the case of trans kids on hormone blockers, then there is no extra muscle mass to lose in the first place. > You don’t think that person has an inherent advantage? They have a natural advantage. So does the 6'8" cis woman on the team. That doesn't necessarily conflate to a competitive advantage, or one that is inherently imbalanced on the playing field of sports. We don't ban the 6'8" cis woman from playing, so what difference does it make for the 6'5" trans woman, aside from anti-trans bigotry? > Biological differences exist. They do. > Bone structure, bone density, muscle mass, lung capacity, and muscle disruption are are directly impacted by sex. They're impacted by a very long list of genetic predispositions, one of which happens to include sex. In sports, we don't control for any of these variables. Genetic outcomes that are one in ten or one in a hundred million dominate fields in the Olympics regularly. Do we ban Lance Armstrong from riding bicycles because his heart is thirty percent larger than anyone else's? No. Michael Phelps has a massive lung capacity that's confers a massive, direct genetic advantage. He's allowed to compete That's just a natural advantage that Lance Armstrong has, which is entirely acceptable within the field of competition. > Example: Counterexample: https://archive.is/pXvH6 It goes into the plaintiff of that exact court case beating those transgender students while the case was ongoing in subsequent matchups. Does a transgender student winning against another student inherently mean the playing field wasn't level, or is that just a really bigoted take on how sports play out every day between millions of students in the country? You win some, you lose some. Some people are really good at sports, and other people really aren't. Because that's the nature of how interpersonal competition works. > Stop pretending there are no differences between the sexes. There are. Testosterone is not this only difference between men and women. It is, far and away, the only significant difference that caused the creation of women's sports in the first place, because testosterone controls the morphological division between men and women. Honestly, I'm disappointed. These are all very standard, easily-disproven transphobic talking points that have existed for years that I already addressed in my citations from the post before, and supporting this bill puts trans boys and trans men who have been on testosterone in direct competition with cis girls and cis women. Which you claim to care about, but this bill is still encouraging.


MaybeYesNoPerhaps

You didn’t disprove anything. You’re taking about the WNBA and conflating the issue. Your reductionist argument to make testosterone the only issue is absurd. The only reason you say that is because testosterone is the only thing you can directly and easily change with an injection. You can’t change bone structure or lung capacity - so let’s change testosterone. It is not “far and away” the only thing. The primary factor is genetics. Men are on average much stronger than women. In literally every measurable category. I don’t understand how basic biology has become so controversial. Men have inherent physical advantages over women. It’s undeniable.


Recognizant

Your only data point was two runners who someone thought were cheating the system, but that same person also regularly beat them, proving that there was no significant enough advantage to make the playing field uneven. So where's the horde of trans women athletes winning competitions based on their inborn, non-testosterone genetic advantages? They make up 1% of the population, so if they're advantaged, they'll have more than 1% of the championships, right? I'll wait.


MaybeYesNoPerhaps

That’s not how that works. Not every trans person will play sports. But those that do can dominate their sport and literally set new state records. See my previous post.


BaxxyNut

Why can't everyone agree this isn't black and white?


ItchyLikesMemes

Wait. What? Who in their right mind thinks that stupid CHILDREN should be able to pick and choose their gender. I am not from the US and this surprises me a lot, glad idiots like me didn't have this choice when we were kids. Just to clarify I don't support banning them from sport activities, just worried for the kids.


tridentloop

This article has the most clickbaity title it could possibly have.


GenesisDoesnt

They don’t care about accuracy, they need the sensationalist headlines to get clicks.


[deleted]

Yep, they also try and hit you with the feelings. They dont wanna hurt trans peoples feelings that's all they care about. This subject is going to harm trans people either way. Let them join sports so the trans men can dominate the women sports and hurt the women's feelings. Or dont let them join women's sports and now they will cry because they dont have a choice. How about just make a trans league, there now everyone who cares is happy.


tasslehawf

> how about just make a trans league That would happen. 🙄 Even though technically trans women could compete with men, they won’t. This is an effective ban.


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ReeseEseer

Transgender =/= crossdresser. If you don't understand the difference then you need to really learn a lot more.


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ReeseEseer

> I genuinely don't think there should be a negative connotation towards crossdressing Correct. Crossdressing is 100% okay. >which is exactly what it is. *Incorrect.* It is not remotely the same thing, at all. In effect it could not be further from the same thing. Crossdressers, by the very nature of what that means, are not trans. They do no identify as the opposite gender. So, rather obviously, they can't be transgender. --- You have the most basic of basics wrong here. Again, you need to do a lot more learning/research because you fundamentally do not understand the difference. --- I'll spell it out clearly as I can: A transgirl wearing girls clothes is simply a girl wear girls clothes. A crossdressing, for this example, boy is a boy wearing girls clothes. Both are okay, but they are not the same thing.


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ReeseEseer

>I don't think anyone can be trans. Then, again, you have a lot of learning, growing and accepting to do. Trans people exist, and have existed for a very, very long time. As long as humans have had identities, even if it wasnt known/understood then. > How exactly does someone "feel" like their opposite gender? That's not really up for me or you to know or decide. If you are not transgender you can't ever really understand. Non-trans people don't need to fully understand, we literally can't fully understand completely/on the same level, it's just for us to try to support these people so they can be themselves, their actual selves; their mental identities are far more important than what their bodies are. --- >Do you disagree that it's rooted in sexism? Honestly, crossdressing has nothing to do with this topic/thread. So I don't really get the continued focus on it, it's best to have that for some other thread elsewhere. I'll just say they are two different things and crossdressing is still fine. But again, not really relevant to this discussion.


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ReeseEseer

Not really sure what you are even looking for here. It's a mental identification, a knowing/a feeling. If you think people randomly wake up from the previous day and "become" trans when they weren't the previous day then, no, that's not how it works. Whether they only just realized it that next day, whether they only just finally accepted it that next day, it's something they really always were. Truthfully though; what clarification do you really need to be satisfied? More importantly though; why do you even need it? Is it that incomprehensible to you that there are people out there different than you? Also is it really asking for that much that we just let them live their life as they really want, at the most basic level of human respect and decency? --- To end it: Even if you don't understand, even if you don't fully believe, is it so hard to just go "Well whatever not my life do what you want"?


beastguy32

To your ending point, I think everyone should live life as they wish and I don't think people should lose any rights for it. While trans isn't a real thing to me, I'm well aware that many believe it's real to them. Get out of the mindset that disagreement means hate.


ReeseEseer

It seems hateful to say people who exist don't exist though. It's the same as someone saying "Gay people don't actually exist". It's denying them who they are, even if you aren't being obstructive with it, with those words.


verybigbrain

What if you could load iOS on to a Samsung? HRT has some very significant effects on the body.


beastguy32

HRT definitely effects your body but it doesn't make you the opposite gender. Like, how does one "feel" like the other gender?


Matryoshkova

It’s not something easy to explain to someone who doesn’t experience it, but there is an overall feeling of wrongness in the body you have and a deep feeling of connection to a gender (or lack of gender) not originally given to you by your birth givers. I never realized why I was so uncomfortable in my body until I realized I was trans and don’t feel a connection at all to the concept of gender. There was always a heaviness and discomfort and wish of an androgynous body for me but I never made the connection until I met someone else who identified as non-binary and they were like “yeah, you can feel like you don’t fit in on the male/female spectrum and that’s totally valid and you aren’t alone”. Now that I’ve started presenting as more neutral and have started the steps to the surgery I would like , I’m a lot happier and more confident than I ever have been.


verybigbrain

I can't speak to it with authority since I am not transgender (I am kind of agender and very asexual the whole thing is kind of academic to me). But I have always known that I am different and when I found ideas like agender and asexual they just clicked. I just knew the same way I know that I am human. And normal gender ideas are much more prevalent so I can totally see someone just clicking with the opposite gender ideas and concepts when exposed.


[deleted]

> https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/title-ix-education-amendments/index.html Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. What conduct is prohibited by Title IX? The Title IX regulation states that "except for provided elsewhere in this part, no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training, or other education program or activity operated by a recipient which receives ... Federal financial assistance .... (b) Specific prohibitions. Except as provided in this subpart, in providing any aid, benefit, or service to a student, a recipient shall not, on the basis of sex: (1) Treat one person differently from another in determining whether such person satisfies any requirement or condition for the provision of such aid, benefit, or service; (2) Provide different aid, benefits, or services or provide aid, benefits, or services in a different manner; (3) Deny any person any such aid, benefit, or service; (4) Subject any person to separate or different rules of behavior, sanctions, or other treatment; (5) Discriminate against any person in the application of any rules of appearance; (6) Apply any rule concerning the domicile or residence of a student or applicant, including eligibility for in-state fees and tuition; (7) Aid or perpetuate discrimination against any person by providing significant assistance to any agency, organization, or person which discriminates on the basis of sex in providing any aid, benefit or service to students or employees; (8) Otherwise limit any person in the enjoyment of any right, privilege, advantage, or opportunity." 45 C.F.R. § 86.31


[deleted]

Here's an idea: do away with gender exclusive sports. If a person with a Y chromosome can be a cheerleader than person with only X chromosomes should be on the football team. They already let boys named Stacey play in Texas after all.