Republican Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to ban transgender athletes from competing in college sports events in Texas.
Gov. Abbott announced the move during a meeting of Young America’s Foundation in Dallas.
“This next session, we will pass a law prohibiting biological men to compete against women in college sports,” Abbott declared.
Abbott has already made strides toward this end.
The governor previously banned trans athletes from girls’ sports in Texas public schools.
When making the case for extending the trans ban to the collegiate athletic ranks, Abbott specifically referenced the case of the former University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Thomas, a biological male, began his collegiate career on the men’s swim team at UPenn.
While competing as a man, Thomas ranked near the bottom as the number 462 swimmer, only recording mediocre times.
However, after he started “identifying” as a “female,” Thomas became a record-breaking “champion” while competing on the women’s team.
Thomas shot up to the top of the national ranks, defeating Olympic and Olympic-caliber female swimmers on the way.
“We’ve fought for the rights of women to be able to succeed in this world only to have that now superseded by this ideology that men are going to be empowered to compete against women,” Abbott asserted.
If successful, Texas will not be the only state to have a transgender ban impacting K-12 and the college ranks.
In 2021, Florida instituted a similar ban that was met by not only an outcry from the gender ideology community but also lawsuits.
Abbott can expect a similar response in Texas.
The governor’s announcement was met with an immediate response from Equality Texas, who claimed that the legislation would “abandon” trans athletes.
“This type of legislation would abandon trans athletes and leave them without a way to express themselves in sports,” the group wrote.
“This type of legislation would abandon trans athletes and leave them without a way to express themselves in sports.”
— Equality Texas (@EqualityTexas) February 13, 2023
Florida’s transgender ban has survived its legal challenges, however.
Should Abbott’s ban in Texas also be successful, other states will likely follow.
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