Houston lawmaker proposes bill that could charge transgender Texans with fraudUnder HB 3817, Texans could be charged with "gender identity fraud" for identifying as a sex different from the one they were assigned at birth.
Link to Full ArticleCHRON - Gwen Howerton
March 5, 2025
Last year, the state of Texas barred transgender residents from changing their sex on state-issued driver's licenses and birth certificates to match their gender identity. Now, a Houston-area lawmaker wants to make that mismatch a crime punishable by prison time.
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." ... 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.
Callie Butcher, founder of Butcher Legal Group, a Dallas law firm that advocates for and serves the LGBTQ community, said that while Oliverson's bill faces slim odds of passing, it's in line with other bills that would restrict transgender people's freedom of expression.------------------------------
Even though the bill has little chance of becoming a law, I see no hope for Texas. Each day, it seems to have less and less redeeming value. I can only hope that Texans with brains will rise up and cast these people out.
