LGBTQ restrictions not among Abbott’s emergency items

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The seven emergency legislative items laid out Thursday evening by Gov. Greg Abbott notably did not embody any particular LGBTQ restrictions, diverging from the listing of priorities introduced earlier by the state’s second strongest chief. However, advocates mentioned the governor’s imprecise language about putting extra limits on training curriculum raises considerations.

During his State of the State handle, Abbott mentioned he would really like state lawmakers to initially focus this session on slicing property taxes, ending COVID-19 restrictions, training freedom, faculty security, more durable bail necessities, border safety funding and fentanyl overdoses. By naming these seven points as emergencies, meaning state lawmakers can not transfer ahead any payments that don’t correlate with one among these matters till mid-March.

These priorities largely align with a few of the 30 items of laws that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recognized earlier this week as his prime picks for the session. However, Patrick acted on the constructing rhetoric among many Republican leaders in Texas and throughout the nation to enact additional restrictions on the LGBTQ group. For occasion, Patrick’s legislative priorities embody “banning children’s exposure to drag shows,” “ending child gender modification” and “protecting women’s college sports.”

Abbott may find yourself including one among these proposals onto his emergency merchandise listing for the legislature, however for now lawmakers must wait till later within the session to contemplate and vote on a few of the payments that fear LGBTQ advocates most. However, they’re skeptical in regards to the phrasing Abbott used when discussing his “education freedom” proposal. The governor known as for the state to cross a “parental bill of rights” in his speech Thursday, including that Texas mother and father “deserve access to curriculum, school libraries and what their children are taught.”

“Let’s be clear: schools are for education, not indoctrination,” Abbott mentioned. “Schools should not push woke agendas — period.”

The governor by no means defined in his handle what he meant by “woke agendas.” However, when he heard these phrases, Ricardo Martinez, the CEO of Equality Texas, mentioned it appeared like a sign for probably limiting what faculties can train about issues like sexual orientation or gender identification.

“If the options are to be woke or not, to be asleep to the realities of Texas in the 21st century, then we will wear that stamp of woke-ness like a badge of honor,” Martinez mentioned Friday. “Whether or not a kid is LGBTQ or not, they have a right to learn about the rich and beautiful history of our community, and having those conversations at an early age we know instills the habits of respect, compassion [and] values. That’s something all Texans hold dear and can get behind.”

Martinez additionally shared how he interprets Abbott’s remarks after they point out rising the position that folks may play in training.

“Touting this plan to extend parental rights is really just a cunning way to pretend that every single parent is included, but there is this invisible asterisk,” he mentioned. “The fine print really excludes thousands of LGBTQ Texans, and we’ve seen lawmakers use the notion of parental rights to empower a vocal minority of parents to veto lessons about the different types of families if it makes them uncomfortable.”

Martinez mentioned his group and its supporters hope to mobilize Texans throughout this legislative session.

“We’re talking about a really unprecedented year, and I’m really getting tired of using that word. But that’s the reality of where we are right now,” Martinez mentioned. “We are nearing 80 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been filed, and we have our work cut out for us. But our power has always come from the people, and I would urge everyone to understand the urgency of taking action to defend your neighbors.”

Abbott lately instructed a crowd in Dallas that he would assist banning transgender student-athletes from competing on groups that match their gender identification on the collegiate stage. That proposal would develop a regulation handed in 2021, which utilized to Okay-12 sports activities.