Texas Republicans pass bill to ban LGBTQ+ student clubs in schoolshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/06/texas-republicans-pass-bill-to-ban-lgbtq-student-clubs-in-schools/Alex Bollinger (2 June 2025)
Both chambers of the Texas Legislature have passed a bill banning students from forming LGBTQ+-focused clubs like GSAs in schools and have sent it to the governor's desk.
Democratic lawmakers denounced the bill, S.B. 12.
"The real monsters are not kids trying to figure out who they are," said state Rep. Gene Wu (D). "The monsters are not the teachers who love them and encourage them and support them. They are not the books that provide them with some amount of comfort and information. The real monsters are here."
"This bill is hate," said out state Rep. Erin Zwiener (D). "This is one of the most nakedly hateful bills we have had on the floor of this House."
Republicans, though, claimed that LGBTQ+-supportive clubs are "sexualizing" children.
"We're not going to allow gay clubs, and we're not going to allow straight clubs," said state Rep. Jeff Leach (R). "We shouldn't be sexualizing our kids in public schools, period. And we shouldn't have clubs based on sex."
It's unclear how S.B. 12 will survive legal challenges because the federal Equal Access Act requires federally funded public secondary schools to provide equal access to extracurricular student clubs. While that law was passed in 1984 because Christian activists worried that schools might stop Bible clubs from meeting, it has long been used by GSAs to protect their right to meet on school campuses.
