Texas Testimony Filled With Violent, Transphobic Threats

During a committee hearing on August 22 regarding SB 8, a far-right activist threatened violence against transgender women, commenting that he was “tempted” to intentionally injure someone in a public facility to “help them save money” on bottom surgery.

The remarks came as part of a testimony to the Texas House of Representatives by Jack Finger, a proxy of the San Antonio Family Association, an anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion group. He began with remarks that continually misgendered trans women before then proclaiming that he wanted to commit an act of violence against them in public. “I’ve seen it at least a couple of times in San Antonio, and I was tempted to help that gentleman save money on his transgendered operation by physically helping him get there.”

SB 8, alternatively known as the “Texas Women’s Privacy Act,” would restrict bathrooms and changing rooms in government buildings, prisons, and schools based solely on a person’s “biological sex” assigned at birth. Facilities found to violate SB 8 would be fined $5,000 for the first offense and $25,000 for each subsequent offense. The Texas Senate passed it on August 26.

Following his apparent threat to injure a transgender woman, committee chair Representative Ken King (who himself is no stranger to LGBTQ+ hate) admonished him. “Sir, we will not make threats in this committee,” Rep. King tells Finger, who replies that King “need not worry. Nothing happened.” Finger was allowed to finish his testimony, asserting that SB 8 was necessary to “instill decency back into our society.”

Subsequently, after Finger’s speech, C.J. Grisham, a former Republican Senate candidate and member of the far-right militia Proud Boys, made countless transphobic statements of his own, putting down the appearance of trans women in general. As he left the stand, Grisham argued with members of the audience and exchanged vulgar remarks. He was then led to the back of the room and further ejected by a Department of Public Safety officer, according to the Texas Tribune.

In remarks of her own later in the hearing, Gender Liberation Movement cofounder Raquel Willis called SB 8 “bathroom bigotry (which) does not protect women and girls; it erases intersex folks and discriminates against women and girls.”

“Ultimately, all of this is about the society we all deserve: one where we honor each other’s inherent dignity,” Willis added.