At the Young Conservatives of Texas convention last week, Governor Greg Abbott told attendees that he would like to limit the expression of trans teachers in the classroom.
The classroom continues to be a defining center for the fight for trans rights in Texas, as Governor Greg Abbott made several transphobic remarks at the Young Conservatives of Texas convention. In an audio post shared by Texas Observer reporter Steven Monacelli, Abbott told attendees that he would like to limit the expression of trans teachers in Texas.
To make his point, he told a twisted version of the story of a teacher from Lewisville, Texas, Rachmad Tjachyadi, who wore a dress to school for a spirit day. He resigned in March after being targetted by Libs of TikTok, despite not breaking any of the school district’s policies. Despite Tjachyadi identifying as a cis man, Abbott used him as an example to push anti-trans rhetoric, saying, “What I do know are these two things: One is this person, a man, dressing as a woman, in a public high school in the state of Texas, he’s trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is OK. This type of behavior is not OK, and this is the type of behavior that we want to make sure we end in the state of Texas.”
Several other Texas lawmakers supported Abbott’s anti-trans position, such as Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Texas GOP, Ronaldo Garcia, State Republican Executive Committee Member, and Republican state representatives Briscoe Cain and Brent Money. Anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ ideas have been pushed by Abbott since the beginning of his administration, as he has passed several anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the last two years.
Despite Abbott’s dislike of trans teachers, they, and other LGBTQ+ employees, are still protected from workplace discrimination under federal law, no matter what policies he tries to implement. A federal judge ruled against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law this April, setting the precedent that anti-LGBTQ+ school laws will be considered unconstitutional.
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