A Texas state lawmaker introduced a bill last week that would make it a felony for a Texan to identify as the opposite gender of their biological sex.
The proposed legislation would bar trans-identified residents from altering the sex on state-issued driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and other documentation to match the gender with which they identify, according to Chron.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson filed a bill Wednesday that would amend the Texas Penal Code to create a new form of fraud: "Gender Identity Fraud." A person would commit "gender identity fraud" by "identifying the person's biological sex as the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth." Committing "gender identity fraud" under the proposal would be a state jail felony, the lowest level of felony in Texas. A person found guilty would be subject to up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
House Bill 3817 would add "gender identity fraud" to the list of fraudulent crimes covered under the Texas Penal Code's Subchapter D, which includes crimes like deceptive business practices, commercial bribery and identity fraud. Oliverson's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The bill is unlikely to pass, but some have expressed concerns that it would lead to more of a shift toward using government against trans-identified people. Gwen Howerton, an audience producer with Chron, told KXAN on Friday that she believes that the bill is not meant to be passed, but to shift the discussion against trans-identified individuals.
She argued, “The Overton Window’s moved so much on trans rights and legislation impacting trans people that we’re seeing bills that a couple of years ago were dead-on-arrival are now coming back, and actually, advocates are saying are more dangerous now.”
The bill would also prohibit trans-identified people from sharing their gender identity with their employers or telling a police officer that they identify as the opposite sex.
This comes after Texas has passed laws barring the use of “gender-affirming care” on minor children. Additionally, the Department of Public Safety has already prohibited Texans from changing their gender on their state identifications and driver’s licenses.
I’ll be blunt. This bill is ridiculous.
Yes, we need to continue fighting back against the progressive push to alter
America’s understanding of gender. Efforts to prevent them from pushing biological males into women’s sports is a worthy endeavor. Stopping institutions from pushing kids into using puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and undergoing “gender-affirming” surgery is also necessary.
But using the government to stop private citizens from identifying however they choose is not only silly, it is a misuse of state power. The notion that someone should be thrown in a cage for up to two years for identifying as the opposite sex is absurd – and dangerous. The government should never be the arbiter of how one chooses to identify – even if we disagree with it.
Moreover, bills like this only harm the effort to stop the spread of gender ideology by proving what progressives already claim: Those who oppose this belief system are motivated by bigotry. It makes the rest of us look like authoritarian fanatics seeking to use the power of government to impose our will on others.
If someone chooses to identify as the opposite sex, they are not violating anyone else’s rights. Sure, they are suffering from a delusion, but last time I checked, people have the right to be delusional. They do not have the right to force us to go along with their delusions, however, and this is what we should be focusing on instead of trying to lock people up for identifying as transgender.
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