'My God makes no mistakes': Texas Senate OKs ban on gender-affirming care for young Texans

AUSTIN. Texas — After debating the meaning of God's love, the Texas Senate voted along party lines to give final approval Tuesday to a bill that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender Texans who are 17 and younger.

The 18-13 vote sent Senate Bill 1311 to the House, which has one week to vote on the measure, and it came one day after the Senate gave initial approval to the bill, also with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed.

Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, opened Tuesday's debate by noting that religion played a role in the previous day's discussion of SB 1311.

"I'm concerned, and I don't want to let this go without saying, that transgender people will hear this argument and will conclude there is no place for them in the church, or worse that God doesn't love them exactly as they are," she said.

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Powell added that, as a Christian, she opposes SB 1311.

"I want all Texans to know today that there are people of faith in this Senate chamber who believe that God loves them exactly as they are and who welcome them into the community of faith exactly as they are," Powell said. "Jesus told us to love one another, and he did not place conditions on that love."

Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, spoke next, saying he too believes God loves transgender Texans, but he added that "man should not go and change" God's creation with surgery, hormone therapy or puberty blockers that would be banned if SB 1311 became law.

"God created man, woman as we are, and the most important thing to understand is we are loved in that way, as he made us," Hancock said.

"He created us, and he did not make a mistake when he created us, and therefore his love is shared among those just as he created us, and I think that's what this bill seeks to recognize," Hancock added.

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Sen. Bob Hall, an Edgewood Republican and author of SB 1311, agreed with Hancock, saying that "God created these children" and to allow their bodies to be changed would be a sign of "disrespect to God and what he created."

Powell said she saw nobility in young transgender Texans becoming the person God created them to be. Hancock and Hall saw it differently.

"If they choose to do this later in life after they turn 18, that is their choice," Hall said, adding that he believes many transgender youths change their minds about transitioning upon reaching puberty. "That's what this bill simply does. It says, keep your hands off, let God work, and God has a plan."

Hancock said, "If I had to choose who's going to make a mistake, man or God, my God makes no mistakes, and he didn't do that from birth or anytime beyond that."

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Under SB 1311, doctors who provide gender-affirming care would lose their medical license. The bill also would prohibit liability insurance coverage for banned treatments.

Hall's legislation faces an uncertain future in the House, where two other Senate-passed bills directed at transgender youths have thus far faltered.

One measure, SB 1646 by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would classify puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery as child abuse if provided to a transgender Texan under age 18.

Another, SB 29, also by Perry, would require athletes in Texas public high schools and grade schools to compete in sports based on the "biological sex" listed on their original birth certificate. Under that definition, biological boys would be banned from competing in girls sports, although girls could compete in boys sports if a comparable female sport was not available.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: After debating theology, Senate OKs gender-care ban for young Texans