Texas Observer reporter Kit O'Connell recently published an article discussing the harm Texas SB 8 will do to schools, libraries, and other public institutions, and to the trans and gender non-conforming citizens of Texas. Read an excerpt below:
With anti-trans policies now openly backed by President Donald Trump’s federal government, it’s perhaps unsurprising that state officials feel confident passing more extreme measures. But beyond the harmful effects the law is likely to have on transgender and gender non-conforming people, it may also allow Republicans to weaponize transphobia against public institutions. The law enables the state to investigate and levy massive fines against schools, libraries, or other entities that they suspect of violations. In addition, it’s designed to be especially difficult to challenge in court, in ways that experts say are likely to be unconstitutional.
SB 8 forces transgender and gender non-conforming people to use the bathroom that matches the sex they were assigned at birth, in publicly operated institutions like schools, libraries, and even domestic violence shelters.
Segovia said that the law will inevitably make trans people less safe, especially thanks to its enforcement mechanism which encourages individuals to report purported violations to the attorney general’s office. “This is scary,” she said. “It’s adding to the vigilante state we live in.”
Read the full article at Texas Observer.