[UPDATE FROM DONNA GARNER AS OF 6.5.23 – SB 15 has successfully passed through the Texas legislative process and is now on Gov. Abbott’s desk for his signature. 

SB 15, if signed, would require athletes to join the college sports teams that align with their sex assigned at birth [i.e., on each person’s birth certificate]. 

Texas K-12 public schools already require similar provisions – (e.g., biological sex is determined by birth certificate). 

SB 15 would align similar requirements in all Texas K-16 public schools and universities.  

A second bill (SB 14) has already been signed by Gov. Abbott.  SB 14 will ban transgender minors from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

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Excerpts from this 5.17.23 Texas Tribune article:

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/17/texas-transgender-college-athletes-ban/

Texas House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would prohibit transgender men from competing on men’s college sports teams and transgender women from joining women’s college athletic teams.

Flanked by female Republican House members all wearing bright pink, Rep. Valoree Swanson, R- Spring, said the bill is about “fairness” for female athletes.

“This legislation is not about participation. This legislation is not about restricting anyone’s opportunities,” Swanson said. “This legislation is about intercollegiate athletic competition. We are here to ensure there is fair play at the highest, most competitive levels of college athletics.”

…Three of the Democrats who voted for SB 15, Rep. Tracy King, D-Batesville; Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston; and Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Houston, also voted for Senate Bill 14, which would ban doctors from providing transition-related care to children.

…The bill [SB 15], which is set to get final approval Thursday, includes minor changes that would need to be accepted by the Senate before it is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has voiced his support for the legislation. If the governor approves the bill, it would expand similar restrictions currently in place in Texas K-12 schools into higher education.

…Senate Bill 15 requires athletes to join the college sports teams that align with their sex assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identity. It provides whistleblower protections for people who report violations at a university athletics program and allows people to file civil lawsuits against a college or university if they believe the institution has violated the law.

Under the bill, women would be allowed to join a men’s sports team if the school doesn’t have a women’s team for the same sport.

…The Texas Senate approved the bill, which is a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, in a 19-10 vote in March.

…For more than a decade, the NCAA has allowed transgender women to participate in women’s sports if they had at least one year of testosterone suppression medication to treat gender dysphoria. But last year, the conference’s board of governors adopted a new policy that determined trans athletes’ qualifications for participation on a sport-by-sport basis…

The new NCAA policy is still being phased in. As of now, trans athletes who want to participate in college sports must meet previous policy requirements set in 2010 and report their testosterone levels at the start of the season and six months into competition.
 
…In 2021, the Biden administration said that law [Title IX], which was created more than 50 years ago to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, applies to LGBTQ students. Last month, the administration proposed an amendment to Title IX that would prohibit blanket bans barring transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

“[T]he Department’s proposed regulation would attempt to coerce compliance with an uncertain, fluid, and completely subjective standard that is based on a highly politicized gender ideology,” 25 Republican governors, including Abbott, wrote in a joint comment. “Most troubling, the proposed regulation would turn the purpose of Title IX on its head and threaten the many achievements of women in athletics.”

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would amend Title IX to require student athletes to participate on sports teams based on their sex assigned at birth. The legislation is unlikely to pass in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats have narrow control.

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5.12.23 – “Pivotal House Vote Moves Texas Closer to Banning Puberty Blockers, Hormone Treatments for Trans Kids” -- by Alex Nguyen, William Melhado – Texas Tribune -  https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/12/texas-trans-kids-health-care-ban/?utm_source=Texas+Tribune+Newsletters&utm_campaign=a802574b7d-trib-newsletters-breaking-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d9a68d8efc-a802574b7d-102179957&mc_cid=a802574b7d&mc_eid=0a4ed7a887