5.29.25 – Texas Tribune
“Texas Just Defined Man and Woman – Here’s Why That Matters”
By Eleanor Klibanoff
Excerpts from this article:
The Texas Legislature has passed a bill [HB 229] that strictly defines man and woman based on reproductive organs.
The bill has no civil or criminal penalties attached but instead will take these new definitions and apply them across state records.
When Gov. Greg Abbott signs House Bill 229, Texas will become the 14th state to implement one of these…“sex definition” laws in recent years.
Supporters of the legislation say it’s necessary to protect women’s rights and spaces, and the immutable differences between the sexes…
WHAT DOES THE BILL SAY?
The bill defines “female” and “woman” across the government code as an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova.
A “male" and "man" are individuals whose systems are developed to fertilize the ova of a female.
After an amendment added in the House, the bill says intersex people are not considered a third sex, but “must receive accommodations in accordance with state and federal law.”
All government entities are directed to collect data based on this binary [these definitions specified in HB 229].
The bill contains a legislative intent section which doesn’t change state statute but is included as guidance on interpreting the bill.
It says that men and women possess “immutable biological differences,” including that women can get pregnant, give birth and breastfeed children, and men are, on average, bigger, stronger and faster than females.
Women are more physically vulnerable to violence and have historically suffered discrimination, warranting the creation of single-sex spaces, like locker rooms, bathrooms, prisons, and shelters…
It also says that “in the context of biological sex … separate is not inherently unequal.”
“With this bill, women and girls will know that Texas has their back and will not allow hard-fought rights to be eroded by activists who seek to erase them,” said bill author Rep. Ellen Troxclair, a Republican from Lakeway, in a statement.
“There are pages and pages of references to 'man' and 'woman' in Texas code, which now refer to a specific, clear definition."
FROM WHERE DID THIS LEGISLATION COME?
Since 2017, Texas lawmakers have been attempting to legislate strict applications of sex in specific zones, like school sports and bathrooms.
Some of these proposals have gotten wide support from the Republican-dominated chambers, while others have stalled out amid partisan fighting.
In the last two years, however, state legislatures across the country have begun considering these sex definition laws, which have a more sweeping application across state statute.
At least thirteen states have passed legislation like this, many, including Texas’, based on model language from a group called Independent Women’s Voice [https://www.iwv.org/]
The national political advocacy group has support from conservative activists like Riley Gaines, who lost out on a fifth-place swimming trophy to a trans athlete and has said she was exposed to male genitalia in a women’s locker room.
The push to strictly divide everyone into two sexes, male and female, based on biological differences, got a boost from President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order in January [2025].
Abbott followed suit, directing all state agencies to ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices and other actions “comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes — male and female.”
Texas voters are, largely, on board with this type of legislation — seven in 10 voters, and 94% of Republicans, believe the sex listed on a birth certificate should be the only way to define gender…
Abbott’s executive order, which was followed by an opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton, directed state agencies to no longer recognize those [past] court orders.
Lawyers representing trans people anticipate that the state will not go back and reissue documents, but rather require they be changed when they need to be renewed.
Trans people and their advocates are preparing for the changes to drivers’ licenses, birth certificates and other identity documents…
Troxclair and others have argued that intersex people have long had a singular sex indicated on their birth certificates and drivers’ licenses, and this would not change that.
The bill that passed the Senate indicates that they [intersex people] are not to be considered a third, or separate, sex.
…Troxclair said the bill should be interpreted to mean people who have systems that, if normally developed, would fit into these two categories — “whether or not they are fully developed, whether or not they are capable of functioning.”
…Texas is passing this law in a very different political climate, with a very different administration holding the purse strings.
In April, the Trump administration briefly froze Maine’s access to federal child nutrition funds because the state refused to bar trans athletes from youth sports…
PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE THE OFFICIAL TEXAS LEGISLATURE VOTING RECORDS ON HB 226 -- https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Actions.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB229
MORE INFORMATION
11.19.24 – “The Era of Woke Sports Is Dead” -- By Clay Travis – OutKick -- https://donnagarner.org/11-19-24-the-era-of-woke-sports-is-dead-by-clay-travis-outkick/
10.25.23 -- “LGBTQ Lies Being Forced Into Texas Public Schools” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/10-25-23-lgbtq-lies-being-forced-into-texas-public-schools-by-donna-garner/