Second federal judge pauses Trump’s order against gender-affirming care
Democratic attorneys general from Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota argue the order discriminates against transgender people. (Scripps News Group)
Scripps News
A bill proposed in the Texas legislature could charge transgender Texans with a state felony if they commit what proponents call “gender identity fraud.”
Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson, who represents a part of Houston in District 130, introduced House Bill 3817 that would amend the Texas Penal Code to add a new form of fraud related to gender identity.
According to the bill, “gender identity fraud” would be commuted if a person “knowingly makes a false or misleading verbal or written statement to a governmental entity or the person’s employer by identifying the person’s biological sex as the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth.”
The penalty if someone were to commit “gender identity fraud” would be a state felony, which could land a person in prison for up to two years and a $10,000 fine. The bill is not expected to pass, according to the Texas Legislature tracker, as it has no co-sponsors and has not moved to any committees.
Oliverson did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on Monday.
Not the only anti-transgender moves in Texas
The bill, if passed, would essentially ban transgender people in the state from sharing their gender identity with employers, but could also apply to interactions with police or applications for government benefits.
This latest proposed bill is not the only anti-transgender policy in the state. In August 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety ordered its employees to stop allowing transgender people to change their gender on their driver’s licenses and state IDs.
“The Department of Public Safety has a responsibility, as stated in its own name, to keep all Texans safe. This policy does the opposite,” the ACLU said of the change. “Not having accurate driver’s licenses jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety — by potentially outing us and exposing us to discrimination, harassment, and violence.”
Then less than a month later, the state stopped allowing people to change the sex listed on their birth certificates, according to the Texas Tribune.
Anti-trans bills have ballooned in number
With the 89th Texas Legislative Session underway since early January, almost 100 anti-trans bills have been filed so far, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker. The number has already surpassed the 69 anti-trans bills filed during the last legislative session in 2023.
In Texas, state legislatures only meet every other year.
Oliverson himself has been a key sponsor of another anti-trans bill in the Texas legislature before. During the 2023 legislative session, he was a sponsor of Senate Bill 14, which banned gender-affirming care in the state and was upheld by the state Supreme Court.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.