Early Wednesday morning, Republicans in the Texas legislature pushed through a bill strictly defining “man” and “woman” based on reproductive anatomy.
The Republican-dominated Senate passed the measure in a 20-11 party-line vote. It had already cleared the House, so it now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
“The State of Texas recognizes only two sexes—male and female. Governor Abbott looks forward to reaffirming this universal truth and signing HB 229 into law,” Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, told Daily Kos.
Under the bill, a woman is defined as someone whose “biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova,” while a man is defined as someone whose system “is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.” The bill mandates that these definitions apply across all state laws and records, even for people who have already updated documents like birth certificates and driver’s licenses. It also defines “mother” as “a parent of the female sex.”
Queer and transgender youth march from Union Station to U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C.
While the bill doesn’t carry criminal or civil penalties, the consequences are far-reaching. State agencies will now have to retrofit legal documents and systems to match this binary framework, creating major obstacles for transgender and intersex Texans whose gender identity doesn’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
But that’s only part of the problem.
The bill, which will almost certainly become law later this year, blatantly oversimplifies complex realities, erasing a wide spectrum of identities under a one-size-fits-all biological standard. And despite some GOP fearmongering, there’s no real evidence that men pretending to be trans women are infiltrating bathrooms or locker rooms in droves.
This isn’t about safety. It’s about control. And it’s happening in plain sight.
“If a law forces non-binary Texans, who are real people, into categories that don’t reflect their lived experiences or identities … that would actually become discrimination in practice,” said state Sen. José Menéndez, a Democrat who voted against the bill, told the Texas Tribune.
And this move isn’t a one-off—it’s part of a coordinated effort.
Abbott’s office recently issued a directive declaring that state agencies only recognize two sexes: male and female. That’s now codified in law.
But Texas is just one of many Republican-led states going all-in on anti-trans legislation, especially since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Trump himself announced shortly after being sworn in that his administration would only recognize two sexes—male and female—on a biological basis.
Related | Trump ramps up his hateful war on trans kids
And the backlash isn’t limited to state legislatures. In California this week, the state’s high school sports authority abruptly changed the rules for its girls’ track and field championships, right after Trump demanded a trans girl be barred from competing.
The new policy from the California Interscholastic Federation allows athletes who were assigned female at birth and just missed qualifying to compete after all. The move effectively expands access for “biological female” athletes, a clear concession to anti-trans pressure, even in a state where such policies weren’t expected to take hold.
It wasn’t a law, but the message was loud and clear: Anti-trans pressure campaigns are working, even without legislative action.
At least two dozen states already have laws barring transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. Some have been challenged in court. But this wave isn’t slowing down.
The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the U.S.—89 of them in Texas alone. And this is just the latest chapter. In both 2021 and 2023, Abbott signed laws barring trans athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
Trump is anti-trans. Many Republican-led states are, too. And too often, they’re enabled by Democrats who look the other way.
This isn’t random. It’s calculated, it’s cruel, and it’s only getting worse. An entire population is being targeted, erased, and vilified—systematically, and in plain sight.
Campaign Action
