Dan Patrick is Leading The Assault on Trans Rights
By John P.
This is the thirteenth installment of Austin DSA’s “Class Enemy of the Week” series. You can find the twelfth, on Elon Musk’s dystopic dreams for the future, here.
On midnight, Wednesday, May 26th, 2021, SB 29 died on the Texas House floor. Senate Bill 29 was one of three transphobic bills introduced in the current Texas state legislative session. Bill 29 would specifically require student athletes to compete in sports based on the gender in their birth certificate, thus enabling schools to become more discriminatory and harmful to an already alienated generation of trans children in Texas. The bill had advanced further than the other two, SB 1646 — a bill that would have defined gender affirming treatment for trans children as “child abuse” under Texas law — and SB 1311 — a bill that would have stripped medical licenses from health care workers who provide gender affirming care. SB 29 didn’t make it to vote thanks to the efforts protestors at the Capitol and some House Dems who stalled the vote past the midnight pass-or-die deadline. However, this isn’t the last we will see of these types of bills or discriminatory rhetoric. Certainly not if Dan Patrick has anything to say about it.
Just hours later, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick made a call for a special session in June to resurrect SB 29 among a slew of other bills meant to reinforce his and the Governor’s far right agenda. A conservative talk radio show host, Dan Patrick professes to be, “a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third”. He uses his Christian conservatism to guide the majority of his political action to both oppress and disenfranchise many working class people in Texas. He has previously called for the passage of the absurd and invasive “bathroom bill” in 2017. His renewed call for the special session in June was echoed by the Texas Freedom Caucus, a far right group made up of members of the House who had previously responded to a civil protest in support of refugees by threatening to call ICE.
Dan Patrick and Republicans like him have a long history of pushing transphobic and bigoted legislation in the state. In 2014, he voiced opposition to the legalization of gay marriage. He then callously mocked the Orlando nightclub shootings of 2016. His record is quite clear and its harmful effects are even clearer.
What is particularly insidious about SB 29 is that it not only acts as a discriminatory bill on children, but that it aims to create a pseudo-scientific basis for the erasure of trans people. It follows in the steps of previous attempts by the Trump administration to literally define trans people out of existence by bringing into question the very autonomy of trans people. Of course, trans people do exist and nothing will change that fact. It is also a fact that trans people are among the most oppressed and discriminated against groups in modern society. A majority of trans people face workplace harassment, homelessness and police brutality that is only further enflamed by bigoted legislation. As socialists, we have to work to reframe this debate. Because of the dominance of rightwing politics in Texas, the fight seems to always be about preventing the further erosion of LGBTQ rights. And the liberals in this state do little to present a long term solution. What we must do then is highlight how critical trans people are to the working class struggle against capitalism and then fight for them.
For most people, having to rely on wage labor to get by is an already exhausting and all-consuming part of life. For trans people, it presents a uniquely more difficult challenge. Their mere existence exposes them to a level of discrimination that makes it difficult to even hold an entry level or minimum wage job without facing intense abuse and alienation. The very distinct working class struggle of the trans community helps all workers to confront the relationship between identity and liberation in the context of capitalism and the workplace.
If a special session does happen in June, and if Dan Patrick gets his way, we will see continued attacks on the trans community in the form of more regressive legislation. However, this is not a reason to lose hope or to fall into cynical apathy. It is a great opportunity for us to organize more people and to further the cause of building a working class party.
Our goal is to transform society and offer solutions to the ills caused by capitalism. When conservatives talk about making it tougher for children and health care providers in already difficult circumstances to access gender-affirming care, we have to speak to the essential need for Medicare for All and the inclusion of gender-affirming care as an essential service. When trans people lose their jobs and are left homeless, we have to speak to the essential need for a full democratization of the workplace and guaranteeing housing as an inalienable human right. When trans people of color face police brutality and violence in the prison system, we have to speak to the essential need for defunding the police and abolishing prisons altogether. Trans rights are not just human rights, preserving them is essential to building a strong socialist movement.
