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Learn more at TSTC dot eduse. Hello,

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and welcome to the Texas Tribune trip
Cast for April twenty one, twenty

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twenty three. Names Matthew Watkins,
Managing editor of News and Politics for the

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Tribune. This week, it was
a week of ramping up tension between Lieutenant

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Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade
Feeling as Dan Patrick continues to express frustration

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with the pace of the House at
which the House is working, and you

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know, disagreement over policies around property
taxes, leading to our fun new nickname

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California Dade that Dan Patrick invoked in
an interview with Spectrum News. But one

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interesting thing about this year's conflicts is
that it is so far focused mainly on

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what we sometimes call, for a
lack of a better term, bread and

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butter issues like property taxes in school
finance rather than the kind of hot button

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social issues that often prompt the conflagrations
between the two channels. But that doesn't

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mean that those social issues aren't playing
a major role and won't play a major

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role in the kind of development of
the session moving forward. There's a bevy

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of legislation touching on all kinds of
LGBTQ issues that have already passed the Senate

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so far this year. They're now
pending in the House, leaving a lot

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of us to kind of question what
the next step is and when whether they

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will become law. We're going to
talk about those issues this week, and

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joining us are two folks who have
just given their own geographic based nicknames.

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We've got Pacific Northwest Nwin Alex newin
our reporter covering this issue. Hey Alex,

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Hi, thanks for having me,
all right? And plain no,

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Brandon, that's our news editor,
Brandon Formby. Hey Brandon, Hello,

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thank you for having me. I
was waiting for you to come back with

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the Westlake Watkins, but I appreciate
yours all right. So, like I

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said, we were talking about LGBT
bills this session, and Alex I want

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to start with you. You were
closely following these and will be for the

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upcoming weeks, and I want to
just start by kind of walking through some

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of the big ones, what they
do and where they stand. So let's

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start here with FB fourteen. This
would block the use of puberty blockers and

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hormone treatments for kids in Texas.
Tell us a little bit about this bill,

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how it's kind of evolved, and
where it stands right now in the

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chamber. Yeah, for sure.
So I think this is a legislative priority

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for the Texas Republican Party going into
the session, obviously a priority for Lieutenant

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Governor Dan Patrick, and it has
moved the furtherest amongst the Senate bills that

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he considers to be, you know, priority bills focusing around social conservative issues.

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So right now it is in the
House Senate Bill fourteen and its House

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companion bill have vote been voted out
of committee mid April, and we'll see

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when they will get to the floor. It is not a priority in the

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House, so we're kind of watching
to see how we would play out.

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And I think the interesting thing is, you know, when it went up

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for a flow bote in the Senate, It initially received an amendment from the

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bill's author, Senator Donna Campbell,
that would allow trans kits who already receiving

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put blockers or hormone therapies to be
continuing to receive them. But then obviously

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they got pushed back, and she
removed that amendment abruptly on the third reading,

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very dramatic scale back, and so
it got voted out the Senate basically

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as the original version that it was
written, that would ban trans kits from

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receiving transition really to care like hormone
therapies and put blockers that you know,

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leading medical associations have supported, and
you know, trans kids say this is

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affirming their identity and save them from
the psychological distress of you know, facing

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puberty as the opposite gender. Um
So, Send Both fourteen is now in

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the House. In mid April,
it got a House committee vote where the

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House Public Health Committee vote out both
sent A Bill fourteen and its companion bill,

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House Bill sixteen eighty six. And
the interesting thing here is that it

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also received another amendment that now allows
instead of an abrubbed cutoff for kids who

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already receiving these treatments, the language
is now that these kids will be tapered

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off in a medically safe and appropriate
way, though we don't know exactly know

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exactly what that entails in terms of
who's going to be deciding or what's medically

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safe. How long that would take
would be different by individuals. And from

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conversation that I've had with you know, trans youth and their parents, they

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say, this isn't really it's better
than an abrupt cutoff. But at the

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end of the day, the goal
of the bill is still to you know,

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ban trans kid from a treatment that
they consent to and they want to

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stay on. And so now we'll
kind of wait and see how it will

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when it will get to the House
floor for a vote. And whether you

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know, the new amendment in this
two bills would create some sort of conflict

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between the Senate versus the House to
reconcile that language, and I think that

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is still in play. I don't
think it has gone through calendars committee as

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off today yet. Something in the
next few weeks to watch. Pretty good.

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Okay, so we can I want
to talk more about this bill,

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but let's go through some of these
other bills first, and and and we

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can come back to this. Another
area that has gotten a lot of attention

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is drag shows, placing new rules
and restrictions on them, a particular focus

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around children's access to drag shows.
The big bill that we saw in the

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Senate on that was SB twelve.
Tell us what that bill does and and

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where it stands. Yeah, SP
twelve is now also in the House,

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and I believe it is now in
the House Data Affairs Committee. I don't

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think um it is still sitting in
there as of today. But the bill

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would basically, you know, criminalize
shows that consider prian to be UM.

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I can never say that work.
How do you say that same? I

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cannot tell you basically sexual explicit dract
shows. It would also find business owners

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hosting these shows I guess in front
of kids like ten thousand dollars. It

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would criminalize performers, you know,
doing so in front of kids with a

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class A misdemeanor, which would be
which could result in jail time. And

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so I think the language in terms
of pruned sexual explicit and it has more

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I guess definitions in this bill compared
to other bills that we have seen in

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this session that tried to restrict direct
shows. Because all the bills have such

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broad definitions that for example, a
trance individual seeing in avar with their friends

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could be considered a drag performer,
and we restricted that way. But you

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know, like even with this definition
in the bill, like drag performers have

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told me that it could be open
to so many do so many different interpretations

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that they could be targeted and therefore
like criminalized. So that's the big drag

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band drag restriction bill. I should
also know that there's another drag bill,

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send a bill sixteen o one that
would initially only bar state funding for libraries

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hosting drag story time, where drag
performers read to kids to promote like literacy

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in public libraries. Initially it will
only bar state funding, but these public

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libraries received very little money from the
state each year, and then when it

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got to a floor vote on the
Senate, it was amended to band all

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public funding which for the fiscal year
that after the event happened, so essentially

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amounting to defunding public libraries for hosting
drag story time in the fiscal year following.

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And I believe both bills are now
in the House State Affairs Committee.

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Yeah, I think it was kind
of a weird day on the Senate floor

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when both those bills came up.
When the session started, it was,

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you know, drag shows, all
drag shows, like the bills that were

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moving, all drag shows were just
automatically going to be redefined as sexually explicit.

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It didn't matter what behavior was happening. But then they scaled that back

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and actually you know, gave a
definition of like what sexually explicit is,

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but then at the same time expanded
the library bill kind of doing the same

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thing where it was just like any
time a drag queens reading to kids,

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like the innuendo is like that sexual
and the kids have to be protected.

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Yeah, well, I mean,
Brandon, this is you're touching on a

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point that I wanted to get into. So let's let's go ahead and get

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into it. I mean, you
saw this with like you said, the

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drag bill, where there are all
different kinds of definitions and challenges. There

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was, of course, a controversy
that popped up earlier in the session about

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a lawmaker who you know, was
made a video when he was a kid

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dressed in drag, and that was
kind of dismissed as you know, a

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non harmful, like silly game you
know, there are I think all different

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kinds of questions going around about you
know, what about the movie Missus Doubtfire,

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what about you know, Midsummer Night's
Dream, what about Like there are

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all different kind of situations that,
um, you know, may not be

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treated so with such alarm by folks
who are on the you know, the

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political right in this realm that you
kind of once you got into the details

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of actually legislating it got fairly complicated. I mean, we've seen similar instances

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right on SP fourteen, the bill
related to puberty blockers and hormone treatments about

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you know, who is eligible you
know, correct me if I'm wrong.

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There was at least at a point
in time where the bill was written in

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a way that like if you were
already receiving these that those treatments can continue,

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you know, leading to questions of
like why is it okay for those

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kids but not for kids who might
be starting in the next year or so.

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I mean, it seems like a
lot of this this has been a

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very messy process, you know,
and a lot of contradictions at times coming

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up as as these kinds of things
are being debated and talked through. Oh

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yeah, for sure. And it's
the confusing part is kind of like it's

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hard to read the tea leaves because
on different bills they're going in kind of

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different directions. Yeah, you know, by like kind of watering down the

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drag Show bill, but then escalating
the library bill. Um, and then

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the like um kind of whiplash on
SB fourteen with gender affirming care for kids.

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Um. Yeah. It just makes
it like really difficult to figure out,

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Um, what what is going to
happen next? Yeah, especially because

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you have this, you know,
this element of through many speakers. Um,

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you know, Dan Patrick not satisfied
with the conservativism of the speaker in

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the House. So you know,
it's hard to tell if that's gonna continue

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on these bills. But at the
same time, like with uh, you

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know SB fourteen's companion bill, a
majority of House members want to pass that

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bill yep, yep, exactly.
And another bill that we've seen an indication

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that a majority of House members want
to pass as a bill related regulating college

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sports and who can participate on which
college sports teams. Alex tell us about

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that build. Yes, So in
the last session, you know, there

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were like multiple efforts or at times
to pass the ban on trans student athlete

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at the cage twelfth level, and
obviously, you know, the Republican lawmakers

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were able to do so on the
third special session of the twenty twenty one

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so that was a huge, a
huge fight. And then you know in

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this session they're now trying to prioritize
expanding that restriction up to the college level,

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and that is a priority for Dan
Patrick, it's a legislative priority for

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the party in the House. I
believe it has also received the majority of

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support from Republican lawmakers. So the
Senate bill has been now in the House,

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so we'll we'll see where it's moving. But it's a continuations of the

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games that they have made in the
last session. And it is also you

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know, something that's happening in all
those states as well that we're watching,

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and there's a fight at the moment
in the federal level as well on the

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same issue. There's one other topic
I'm going to go to you on this

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one, Brandon, that is even
more complicated and legislatively at least than some

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of these other ones, which is
the idea of a measure kind of trying

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to restrict conversation around you know,
sexual ideas in school right what opponents of

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in Florida called the Don't Say Gay
Bill. And in that situation, we

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have legislation tied to a school choice
bill, which we've talked about a lot

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on this show, which is controversial
in its own right in the Texas House

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as well. Tell us a little
bit about the dynamic that's playing out on

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that particular measure. Yeah, So, I mean the measure itself is pretty

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clear cut in this sense that it
would ban you know, classroom lessons,

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teacher guidance, school activities about sexual
orientation or gender identity. But it doesn't

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say which sexual orientations or which gender
identities. So I mean, one way

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you could read that bill is that, like there you can't mention that Abraham

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Lincoln was with his wife when he
was assassinated, because then you have to

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acknowledge that he had a wife and
therefore was heterosexual. When that came up

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on the floor, a Democratic senator, you know, tried to amend it

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to add language making clear that like
this applies to all gender identities, all

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sexual orientations, which Republicans were buffed. Um, but it is tucked in

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this broader bill that would you know, kind of remake how uh you know

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schools work and would create savings accounts
A subsists subsidized private school tuition with with

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public dollars. UM. One way
to look at that is, you know,

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if SBA gets to the House floor, you have a lot of House

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Republicans who do not like education savings
accounts UM. But if if that bill

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gets to the House floor, UM, you put House Republicans in the position

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of UM all like voting against UM, you know, blocking these UM.

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You know what a lot of conservatives
will call like woke ideologies UM in classrooms

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UM, while also voting against education
savings accounts UM, which like come primary

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time, could very easily give a
challenger some campaign. Ad Ammo saying that

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you know, a particular Republican voted
against this language. So it'll be interesting

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to see if that bill even comes
to the House floor. I mean one

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thing worth noting though, is that
provision is also in other legislation that hasn't

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come to the Senate floor. But
they are not putting all their eggs in

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the SBA eight basket. You could
likely have a standalone bill on the like

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quote unquote, don't say gay provision
coming out of the Senate soon. Right,

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all right, let's pause for a
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ADU. Okay, I want to
get into the politics of this, let's

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just do. I'm going to give
a quick recap of what we said here.

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Right. SP fourteen banning puberty blockers
and home hormone treatments for kids,

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has passed the Senate and has passed
a House committee. All the other bills

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that we talked about here, the
school choice slash Dante Gay Bill, the

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SP twelve related to drag shows,
SP fifteen related to college sports, all

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of these have passed, you know, essentially sailed through the Senate with Republican

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support, sailed quickly through the Senate, and now are sitting over there in

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the House not moving yet. That
you know, is not a I think

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cause for alarm at this point yet
there's really not much from the Senate that

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is moving at this point, and
it's just we're in this interesting situation right

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where it's all all eyes are on
the House as essentially, Alex, you

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and your colleague Will wrote in a
story about a week ago, waiting to

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see what is going to happen here. The background here on this is that

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the House has traditionally been where these
bills actually live or die. There has

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long been an appetite for these measures
to pass the Senate. It's nothing new.

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I think you could maybe make the
argument and Brandon, you might want

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to make this argument that you know, it's a particularly large amount and you

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know, going farther than they have
in the past amount of legislation. But

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at the point is is that like
this is where things usually happen. It's

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in the House where these things are
decided. So, Alex, with that

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being said, what are we hearing
from the House so far? Yeah,

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so, I mean from the speaker
priority less, like he doesn't really prioritize

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these social conservative issues the same way
that we have seen from the Senate.

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Um. So that's one I guess
that was one signal very early on in

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the in the session that we saw. UM. But at the same time,

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you know, like he cannot block
every single bill going through the House

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from the Senate. He has to
pick and choose. And UM write like

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that just because it's not a priority
doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't support it.

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M. That's very very very fair
point. UM. But yeah, you

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know, like back in twenty nineteen, UM, he publicly stayed out that

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he is, you know, done
with bashing the gay community. UM,

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what's up with that now? So
I think, like I think, like

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every time these conversations come up,
we look back at twenty nineteen, we

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like, has that change? Well, he did not comment for our story,

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so we do not know, but
I guess, like, you know,

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we've seen that he's not afraid to
pick, you know, put up

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a fight against the Senate on you
know, property tax issues. So we'll

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see if there could be similar fights
over social considered issues like these one.

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UM. Repulican lawmakers have majury support
for some of these bills, so you

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know, if they do get to
a floor vote, they will probably pass.

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UM. So we'll see. If
you know, the House UBQ Cockets,

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which is now has the most number
of lawmaker at nine, Uh,

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we'll see how they would be able
to maneuver um in committees or on the

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00:22:49,559 --> 00:22:55,720
floor to push back against these bill
um. So, like it's still a

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bit of like uncertain territory. I
think at this point in that the politic,

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00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,960
the political dynamic four feeling is so
different from twenty nineteen when he made

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that comment. You know, at
the time he was a State Affairs chair.

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Now he's speaker. UM. And
you know, unlike the lieutenant governor,

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who's elected by everybody in the state, the speaker is elected by the

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members of the House. UM So
if if you're the Speaker and you want

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to hold that position for another session, you have to be very careful about

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um, you know, blocking bills
that a majority of members want. UM

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So, even if you know that's
something that feeling still feels four years after

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he said that, um, you
know, he does have to be mindful

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of the majority of the chamber.
Yeah, I mean, I think the

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enduring mystery is what does feeling want
right, not just around this, but

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around a lot of topics. I
mean, he certainly has things priorities that

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he has said, you know,
he is he's listed out his list of

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priorities. You know, they are
less kind of combustible in terms of the

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politics than than what Dan Patrick has
said he has wanted. You know,

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we're talking about expanding Medicaid for for
new parents after as up to twelve months.

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You know, we're talking about certain
division provisions, you know, related

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00:24:18,839 --> 00:24:22,279
to protecting the privacy of children and
other people online. UM, things that

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you know have a lot of support
in the UM, in the House.

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UM. And you know, as
I continue to watch this, I just

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continue to wonder, what is he
trying to set up for, what kind

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of negotiations are he is he is
he gearing up for, and what does

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he want to fight for? And
what does he not want to fight for?

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UM? And I guess the answer
is we don't. We don't fully

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know. UM. No, we
really don't know, because they he the

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House and the Senate, and particularly
Feeling and Patrick are so far apart on

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00:25:00,519 --> 00:25:03,480
you know, what you call some
of these bread and butter issues, and

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Feeling knows that, you know,
some of these LGBTQ bills are priorities for

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00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:15,160
Patrick. And I mean this could
be like really hard for LGBTQ people to

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hear because so many of these bills, you know, could affect their lives

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in so many just dramatic ways.
But sometimes the way the legislature works is

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once you get to the end of
the session, it kind of becomes I

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think sometimes through the eyes of lawmakers, the bills are more seen less as

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like particular policies and more like chips
to kind of like trade and like to.

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So they'll be they often will hold
bills towards the end to use as

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00:25:45,319 --> 00:25:52,720
leverage to get like other bills passed. So what those are, whether it's

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00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:56,599
the LGBTQ bills or other bills like, it's just not clear yet. I

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00:25:56,599 --> 00:26:00,519
think that'll kind of become more clear. It may. And one of the

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00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:06,000
things that I think we've talked about
on this show before is that bills in

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00:26:06,039 --> 00:26:11,680
the legislature rarely fail because they get
voted down. You know, they fail

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00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,920
because someone puts the brakes on them
and they don't make it through right.

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00:26:17,039 --> 00:26:21,559
A committee chair never brings it up
for a committee hearing. Alex, you

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00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:25,079
mentioned the Calendar's committee earlier. The
way the House works is that there is

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00:26:25,079 --> 00:26:29,359
a committee of lawmakers that sets the
calendar on what they vote on each each

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00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,240
day in the full House, and
if it doesn't get on the calendar,

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00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:36,799
then it's not going to pass,
even if it does have the support of

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00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:41,480
the full chambers. And you know, we are now reaching the point,

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00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,480
you know, we're not here there
yet, but we're getting closer where those

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00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:48,720
deadlines are really going to start to
matter. You know, the first kind

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00:26:48,759 --> 00:26:52,319
of major deadline in the House is
May eighth, and that's the deadline for

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00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,079
House bills to get voted out of
House committees. And once you kind of

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00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,200
hit that deadline, you see a
bunch of others, deadlines for House bills

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00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:00,920
to get voted out, to be
put on the calendar, that line for

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00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,759
Senate bills to be put on the
calendar, all those different things. And

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you know, we over the course
of a legislative session get upwards of,

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00:27:11,279 --> 00:27:15,039
you know, close to ten thousand
bills, and there's not enough time,

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00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,039
particularly at the pace that the House
is moving. You know, Dan Patrick

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00:27:18,079 --> 00:27:22,799
paid pointed this out in an interview
this week that the House, when he

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00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,759
said it, which was a few
days ago, had only passed eighty three

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00:27:26,759 --> 00:27:29,880
bills so far this session, and
there's not going to be time for all

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00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,720
of them. And when that happened, it does matter how much of a

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00:27:33,839 --> 00:27:37,200
priority it is of the leadership because
even there are going to be some bills

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00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,480
that I think they feel and is
perfectly happy to get, would be perfectly

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00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:47,200
happy to pass through that aren't going
to make it because of those priorities.

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00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,319
And the question is are these going
to be any of those bills? I

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00:27:49,319 --> 00:27:53,240
mean, Brandon, what do you
think about this? I mean, the

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00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:59,480
state of the Republican Party right now
in Texas and nationally is a lot of

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00:27:59,559 --> 00:28:03,640
interest on these measures. I mean, do you think I'm off base in

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00:28:03,759 --> 00:28:07,680
saying that, um, maybe all
these bills don't make it through, but

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Feeling would face some pretty big heat
from his h you know, the people

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00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,359
who voted him into that office if
none of these measures made through, and

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00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,200
that there's a very strong political incentive
to be able to say that we did

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00:28:22,279 --> 00:28:26,519
something along these issues this year.
Oh oh, definitely, I think so.

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00:28:26,799 --> 00:28:30,839
Um. I mean, political experts
that Alex and Will talk to last

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00:28:30,839 --> 00:28:36,240
week, you know, said that
with m within the GOP like these are

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00:28:37,319 --> 00:28:42,519
um, you know, really really
popular measures and that there's really no way

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00:28:42,599 --> 00:28:48,440
to there's there's no harm to Republicans
for passing bills that kind of restrict LGBTQ

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00:28:48,599 --> 00:28:56,480
people's lives. Um that for a
lot of voters, transgenderism, gender identity

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00:28:56,559 --> 00:29:02,519
are such new concepts that, um, they want the government to be pumping

329
00:29:02,559 --> 00:29:07,160
brakes on things and and limiting things. So you know, when you look

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00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,079
at the house and you know they
have to go home and answer to their

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00:29:11,079 --> 00:29:15,920
constituents, many of whom um,
you know, may really really want some

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00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,640
of these bills to get through.
That kind of pressure translates on up to

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00:29:19,799 --> 00:29:26,160
feeling yeah, yeah, and it's
it's kind of a it's a trick,

334
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,799
not a trick, but I mean
if if he wants to block things,

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00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,559
you know, there are ways to
do it, but you have to kind

336
00:29:33,599 --> 00:29:37,640
of tread carefully. And that is
like where you where when you bring bills

337
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,839
up to the floor, and like
how close to the deadline and how far

338
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,680
down the list on the last day, um to where it's like, oh,

339
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,519
well we did move on it,
we passed out of committee and we

340
00:29:48,559 --> 00:29:51,480
did put on the floor, but
we just ran out of time. You

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00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:55,240
know. Um, whether that'll happen
on these bills is I mean kind of

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00:29:55,279 --> 00:29:57,519
what a lot of people are waiting
to see. Yeah, and I think

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00:29:57,559 --> 00:30:00,759
like from what of s we've seen
this session, you know, the right

344
00:30:00,839 --> 00:30:03,920
flank of the party, like the
Right to Freeland is a very pretty mad

345
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:08,839
at him for you know, not
doing the banning Democrat chairs earlier this session,

346
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:15,400
which is a legislative priority for the
party. So yeah, you know,

347
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,240
one thing I would say about the
House so far this session is it

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00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:23,759
seems pretty unified. You know,
they're the grumbling seems to be coming from

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00:30:23,839 --> 00:30:27,839
Dan Patrick. It is not uncommon
for Dan Patrick to be in a fight

350
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:32,440
with the House Speaker at this time. It has happened with multiple House speakers.

351
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,200
But Veelan does seem to kind of
have the troops in line in the

352
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,839
House, you know, not least
because one of his kind of biggest,

353
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:48,000
you know, rabble rousers is facing
his own kind of scandal right now and

354
00:30:48,079 --> 00:30:53,000
has sort of taken on a lower
profile thing. But like I mean,

355
00:30:53,319 --> 00:30:57,039
I would say dissent in the House
right now is at a minimum. And

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00:30:57,079 --> 00:31:00,119
I think one of the other things
that will be interesting to watch Alex is

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00:31:00,599 --> 00:31:04,880
does that continue if we see that
these bills continue to not move, and

358
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:10,920
again there's still plenty of time for
them to move. Almost no Senate bills

359
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,680
are moving at this point right now
in the House. Will we start to

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00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,599
see any of that kind of descent. Will we hear from people who are

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00:31:17,599 --> 00:31:21,559
frustrated and things like that? And
I think that'll be another interesting and important

362
00:31:21,559 --> 00:31:25,240
thing to watch. That's who feeling
has to keep happy here more than anyone

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00:31:25,279 --> 00:31:30,680
else. Alex, You've been to
a lot of committee hearings where these bills

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00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,519
have been held, including um,
you know, ones that you know,

365
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:40,720
thousands of people have shown up to
and and just like overwhelming opposition. Um,

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00:31:40,799 --> 00:31:47,039
you are at a LGBTQ rally at
the Capitol last weekend. You know,

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00:31:47,119 --> 00:31:52,359
people pushing back against um, these
bills. You know, as these

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00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,920
politics kind of play out, and
as is a lot of um, you

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00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,119
know, political insiders look at it, you know through the lens of of

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00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,960
you know, how conservative is the
House now? You know, will you

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00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,440
know feeling um, you know,
put his finger on the scales on these

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00:32:07,519 --> 00:32:13,039
bills. What are you hearing from
LGBTQ Texans? Like? What what as

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00:32:13,119 --> 00:32:15,400
they watch this play out kind of
how are they feeling? What are they

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00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:22,839
thinking? Yeah? So, I
mean I mean for HBQ Texans, like

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00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:28,559
these policies are about their lives,
right, Like it's not lawmaker and lobbyists

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00:32:28,599 --> 00:32:32,680
pushing chess pieces around. So obviously
there's a lot of fear and anger and

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00:32:32,759 --> 00:32:39,640
frustrations with sessions. After sessions,
they've just been a growing focus on UM

378
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:46,599
policy and legislation that would restrict their
life and how they want to be represented

379
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:53,119
and their you know, their existence
in public life. UM. So there's

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00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:58,880
a lot of anger and frustration.
When I talk to trans family, there's

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00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:02,599
a lot of concern about whether they
need to leave the state so that they

382
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:09,960
can't their kids can continue accessing the
care that they need. UM. And

383
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:19,720
obviously, like people continuing to hold
rallies UM in the Capitol, continue to

384
00:33:19,759 --> 00:33:24,960
engage the lawmakers. I think like
at this point they have to keep fighting

385
00:33:25,559 --> 00:33:32,519
UM because like these issues are so
important to so many people UM. And

386
00:33:32,599 --> 00:33:39,799
obviously it's it sounds it's very bleak
for a lot of people, but it's

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00:33:39,839 --> 00:33:45,200
something that they just have to keep
fighting and see through to the end of

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00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,640
the session. And who knows if
there will be more special sessions and how

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00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,799
many of them this UH this year, So good luck with that, UM.

390
00:33:53,519 --> 00:34:00,119
But obviously, like it's just a
constant fight UM that they are fighting

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00:34:00,119 --> 00:34:04,920
every sessions and this one is no
different. But obviously it's definitely a lot

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00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:10,280
more that they're fighting over a hundred
of these bills as opposed to I don't

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00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:15,519
know, it was like seventy five
or seventy seven in the three sessions in

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00:34:15,559 --> 00:34:20,440
twenty twenty one. And obviously it's
not justin Texas but also around the country.

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00:34:20,559 --> 00:34:25,280
So there's definitely a feeling that you
know, this um a lot of

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00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:35,199
just all encompassing fear, I guess
is how it is happening. All right,

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00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,519
Well, this is definitely something that
we will continue to be keeping an

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00:34:37,559 --> 00:34:42,000
eye on and watching. To Thank
you Alex, and thank you Brandon for

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00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,440
helping walk us through this, and
thank you to Justin, our producer,

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00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:50,280
and also thank you to our sponsors, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute,

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00:34:50,519 --> 00:34:55,000
Texas State Technical College, Texas BioMed
in ut Arlington. We'll talk to you

402
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:07,840
all next week. Subscribe to The
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403
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404
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