Equality Texas, the ACLU of Texas, GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign, with the support of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, today (Monday, Jan. 22) submitted a Joint Allegation Letter to 17 independent experts, working groups and special rapporteurs at the United Nations “about the human rights crisis facing LGBTQIA+ Texans,” according to a press release from Equality Texas.
Noting that a record-breaking number of anti-LGBTQ bills — more than 140 — were filed in the 2023 Texas legislative session, the press release said, “Texans are now struggling with a collection of new laws that eliminate medical freedom for trans youth, censor school libraries, ban trans athletes from participating in collegiate sports, end DEI practices at public universities, threaten drag performance and undermine local government’s already limited power.
“Together these laws are a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of LGBTQIA+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors,” it continued. “The state’s discrimination has gone unchecked to the point that state officials are now policing other states with unconstitutional laws. Just as state laws must defer to federal laws, so, too, the Constitution states that they must yield to international treaties that have been ratified by the federal government.”
The Joint Allegation Letter focuses on seven bills that “intentionally target or disproportionately impact LGBTQIA+ Texans,” the press release said. Those are Senate Bill 14 which bans essential health care for trans youth, SB 17 which prevents public universities from maintaining DEI programs, SB 15 which prevents trans athletes from competing at the collegiate level, SB 763 which allows chaplains to counsel school children without any limit on proselytization or requirements for official training, SB 12 which bans public drag performances by labeling them as “sexually oriented” (SB 12 has been declared unconstitutional by the courts), HB 900 which enables schools to ban LGBTQ books through a broad and vague definition of “sexual explicit” content), and HB 2127 which encroaches on local power and threatens local non-discrimination ordinances.
The letter to the U.N. spells out how these laws violate the U.S.’s obligation under the ICCPR and other human rights treaties. Specifically, the civil rights organizations allege, these laws violate Texans’ rights to non-discrimination, to privacy, to health, to freedom of expression and to education.
“We fought in the legislature; we fought in the courts; we pushed back in local communities, and we waited on the federal government to intervene,” the press release said. “Now we are looking to the UN for leadership.”
Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, said in a written statement, “Failing to meet the minimum standards of international human rights treaties highlights the dire state of LGBTQIA+ rights in Texas. When state leaders fail us, we turn to the courts and the federal government, when they fail us we turn to the world.
“We cannot pretend to be a beacon of freedom when our state is slipping behind global human rights standards that have been in place for nearly 50 years,” Martinez continued. “Our nation is only as strong as our weakest link, and right now, Texas is dragging our nation into a human rights crisis that will do more than damage our global reputation, it will harm our LGBTQIA+ neighbors at home.”
Oni K. Blair, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, added, “As a former U.S. diplomat who currently leads the ACLU of Texas, I believe there is sufficient evidence for the United Nations to investigate the barrage of civil rights abuses in Texas, especially those targeting the LGBTQIA+ community. Doing so would bring international awareness, clear recommendations to rectify human rights issues, and undeniable pressure on U.S. public and private entities to ensure equality for LGBTQIA+ Texans in our state.”
Blair continued, “We join a long line of advocates who have appealed to international organizations to hold U.S. institutions accountable for protecting the human rights of all people, no exceptions.”
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis pointed to “a human rights crisis in the state of Texas,” saying, “The governor and other leaders are failing in their basic responsibilities to keep all Texans safe and free. Discrimination against LGBTQ Texans, especially in the transgender community, is of international concern.
Melodía Gutiérez, Texas state director at the Human Rights Campaign, said these bills send “a clear message that members of our community are neither welcome nor safe” in Texas and are not only “creating a dire situation for queer and transgender Texans, but it is also forcing countless families to uproot their lives and flee to other parts of the country so that their children can simply grow up safe as their true selves.” And Ariel Dulitzky, director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, concluded that Texas’ state government “has not satisfied its obligation to safeguard the fundamental pillars of freedom, equality, dignity, and rights enshrined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
— Tammye Nash
