Representatives of Log Cabin Republicans of Texas this week went to the Texas Capitol to testify in support of Texas House Bill 4042, legislation “requiring public school students to participate in interscholastic athletic activities based on biological sex.” 

HB 4042 and its companion bill in the Senate, SB 29 would in essence, if enacted, prohibit transgender students from participating in gender-specific school sports. Such efforts here in Texas and in state legislatures around the country have been roundly criticized by most LGBTQ advocacy organizations as well as many business organizations and a number of large companies. The NCAA last week announced it will not hold any playoff or title games in states that pass such legislation, and the state of Georgia has become the target of boycotts since enacting such a bill earlier this month.

LCR Texas, however, issued a statement in support of HB 4042 and SB 29 as well as testifying in favor of HB 4042.

In the statement, posted online at LogCabinTexas.US, LCR noted that the “policy position” regarding the anti-trans bills has been “adopted unanimously by the representatives of all LCR chapters in Texas.”

The statement reads, “Log Cabin Republicans of Texas supports House Bill 4042 and its companion Bill 29. While we may have reservations about the bills’ lack of nuance allowing schools latitude to address very unique situations, and about the issues it leaves unresolved that will certainly arise if this bill becomes law, we nonetheless believe this law takes a necessary step in protecting interscholastic athletic activities that are currently segregated by biological sex for the benefit and safety of both boys and girls.”

The statement notes that Title IX was added the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “to specifically exempt segregation by sex in sports from broader prohibitions against discriminatory segregation found else where in the act” based on the “widespread recognition of the scientific reality of two sexes with significant and consequential physical differences, a reality recognized throughout history by every culture, and repeatedly confirmed by modern science.

“These differences are easily evident from statistics of events at all levels, from high schools to the Olympics, where the different levels of performance between the two sexes are plainly evident (save for where biological males are allowed to compete against females).”

The Log Cabin statement declares that “Erasing the distinction in sports based on sex, and replacing it with a distinction based merely on a personal declaration, turns on its head the very purpose of having separate athletics for boys and girls, not to mention men and woman, and would harm nearly all girls looking to compete in sports, and potentially also many young boys competing against a person under a steady regiment of testosterone — thoughts that is yet to be determined.”

Log Cabin goes on to warn about the possible effects on athletic scholarships if trans students are allowed to compete, and that “erasing distinctions could also affect young biological girls’ perception of their future role in athletics, with many potential ramifications for women down the line.”

The statement ends with an affirmation of Log Cabin’s commitment to protecting transgender people’s civil rights but uses the outdated term “transsexual” rather than transgender and suggesting that not everyone who says they are transgender actually are:

“Truly transsexual individuals deserve our compassion and understanding, and the equal protection and affirmation of all their due rights under our US and Texas constitutions, just as any human being with a set of circumstances that vary from the general norm, and we at LCR Texas are determined to find ways to affirm and protect those rights. But, this cannot mean we have to sacrifice the rights also due to all young women who are not trans.”

To read the Log Cabin statement in its entirety and the accompanying FAQs, visit the website here.

— Tammye Nash