Governor Abbott has called the first of at least two highly anticipated Special Sessions, and it begins Thursday, July 8. We know that redistricting cannot be addressed until the census information comes back, so that will not be part of this session.
From recent remarks made by the Governor, we are anticipating that Election Integrity will be on the call, along with bail reform, which was one of his priorities. He has also indicated he wants protections for free speech on social media and additional legislation curtailing Critical Race Theory instruction in public schools.
As we have discussed in previous newsletters, we have Republican Party of Texas priorities left unmet from the Regular Session, so this presents an opportunity to accomplish those. Of course, Election Integrity is a non-negotiable for us. Our omnibus election bill, SB 7, was allowed to die by our Republican leadership, aided and abetted by the Democrat walkout, so that must be rectified.
As a reminder, while there were a few other bills pertaining to elections passed in the Regular Session, of the bills that met the priority language for Election Integrity, only one made it to the Governor’s desk.
None of the other issues the Governor is indicating will be on this call are among our eight priorities. However, there is one that is connected: the call to Ban Child Gender Modification medical practices. Recently, there has been an outcry from parents across the state -- justly so -- about the proliferation of Critical Race Theory teaching in our public schools. Parents are flocking to school board meetings, in great numbers to protest this as it is simply Marxist indoctrination, and parents are no longer ignorant that their children are being propagandized.
CRT is related to child gender sex change attempts in that it normalizes the myth that a child can “transition” from one sex to the other and affirms disordered feelings a child may have that he or she was “born in the wrong body.” So, we call on Governor Abbot to add the ban on Child Gender Modification practices, that is, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries that remove healthy body parts on minor children.
Surely the Governor is aware that Texas now has over 16 pediatric gender clinics that offer these types of procedures, and that there is a concerted effort to advance this dangerous ideology. In fact, the governor’s own Texas Health and Human Services department has revised the form for creating your child’s birth certificate to include a third category under sex besides “Male,” or “Female.” That category is “?.” It is inconceivable that a doctor would be so ignorant as to not being able to tell parents the sex of a newborn baby, but our Texas Health and Human Services department has apparently decided this is the case. We hope Governor Abbott will rectify this horrendous error.
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Since our legislature was unable to pass any bill of the six filed last session to protect children from sterilization and mutilating surgeries in an attempt to change their sex, we are asking all Texans to call the Governor and ask him to add this to the Special Session. We know that there is bipartisan support on this issue. We do not sterilize adults without their consent in this state, so how on earth can we allow it to happen to children who are not capable of giving consent?
I have made an appeal to our churches to please help us with this issue, and you can see a letter I have written here. Action items are included, so please feel free to send this to any pastor or religious leader who may be interested.
Action items leading up to the Special Session:
1. Call Governor Abbott at 512-463-2000 and ask him to make sure Election Integrity bills are passed that are robust and will insure accurate and fair elections.
2. Ask Governor Abbott to include bans on Child Gender Modification along with bans on Critical Race Theory.
3. If you need a template for a call or email, along with talking points for Election Integrity or banning Child Gender Modification, see our digital guide here.
Finally, the Legislative Priorities Committee is working on a comprehensive report on the performance of our legislators this past session. We have had many requests for such a document, and we are committed to getting it to you as quickly as possible. Thank you for being educated and engaged!
For God and Texas,
Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee
