Austin Bureau Correspondent
AUSTIN — A Texas Republican has filed a bill that would criminalize transgender people who mislead the government or an employer by stating their gender identity as their biological sex.
House Bill 3817 would create a criminal penalty for “gender identity fraud,” making it a state jail felony to make a false or misleading statement misidentifying one’s biological sex to a governmental entity or an employer.
A state jail felony can be punished with six months to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
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Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress — a former candidate for House speaker — filed the bill last week. It is among dozens of proposals in the Legislature that would affect the state’s estimated transgender population of 120,000 people. Friday is the deadline for most bills to be filed this session.
Another bill, filed last month by freshman GOP Rep. Brent Money of Greenville, would expand a ban on gender-affirming care for minors to include adults.
A spokesperson for Oliverson did not respond to an email requesting comment. Money earlier this month described his bill as one of accountability, not judgment.
“These individuals deserve compassion, support, and real solutions to address their pain — not irreversible procedures that leave them scarred for life,” Money wrote in a post to X.
He said his bill “targets the doctors and medical profiteers who exploit vulnerable people, pushing costly surgeries and lifetime pharmaceuticals for financial gain rather than offering genuine care.”
Sofia Sepulveda, field director for the LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality Texas, said such bills show the contempt some politicians have toward their neighbors.
“Trans people have always lived in Texas and we will always be here, no matter what comes out of the Legislature,” she said in a statement. “We’ve survived worse than this, and we’re going to keep fighting until every trans person in this state has the dignity and respect we deserve.”
Sepulveda lamented that lawmakers are focused on “harassing the fewer than 100,000 trans people in this state, rather than focusing on solutions like expanding Medicaid, which could help 5 million people.”
In a January letter to state agencies, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas “recognizes only two sexes — male and female.” His letter referenced language from a White House executive order stating that U.S. policy recognizes two sexes that “are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
“As the Chief Executive Officer of the State, I direct you to follow state and federal law,” Abbott wrote. “All Texas agencies must ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices, and other actions comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes — male and female.”
Nolan covers Texas politics. Before relocating to Austin in June 2024, he spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C., reporting on national politics, including the White House, Congress and presidential campaigns. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University.
