Texas Republican introduces bill making it a felony to be transgender

A bill introduced by state Rep. Tom Oliverson, a Northwest Harris County Republican, would make it a felony for Texans to publicly identify as transgender.

House Bill 3817 proposes adding “gender identity fraud” to the Texas penal code, punishable with up to two years in jail and fines of up to $10,000.

The measure would make it a state felony for a person not to identify by their sex at birth when dealing with an employer or governmental entity. Activists say if the bill becomes law, it would prevent trans people from applying for jobs and receiving state benefits.

The bill is unlikely to pass, given that it has no co-sponsors and no upcoming committee hearings, The Hill reports.

Even so, the proposal has rattled transgender rights advocates as the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature continues to target the marginalized community, which makes up less than 1% of the population.

Meanwhile, rights of the broader queer community are also under attack this session of the Texas legislature. This week, activists swarmed the capitol to speak out against Senate Bill 12, which would force school counselors to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents. Activists say the legislation would endanger queer youth, leading to a higher incidence of homelessness for a population already at risk.

Separately, Senate Bill 400 would potentially create more risk for youth seeking counseling by requiring parental consent, and Senate Bill 18 proposes banning drag queen story hours.

Meanwhile, a majority in the Republican-controlled Texas House has signed on to support House Bill 239, which would restrict the use of public bathrooms by trans people.

Queer rights group Equality Texas has issued calls to action to stop the bills from moving forward. Officials with the group said they managed to stop 96% of the bills targeting the queer community last session.

The rhetoric of statewide Republican leadership mirrors the legislature’s attacks. Gov. Greg Abbott recently expressed delight in the firing of a state employee who refused to remove gender pronouns from his email signature in solidarity with trans and nonbinary people.

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This article appears in Mar 5-18, 2025.