Court shuts down "nakedly hateful" law banning LGBTQ+ student clubshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/court-shutss-down-nakedly-hateful-law-banning-lgbtq-student-clubs/ 🔗Molly Sprayregen (23 Feb 2026)
In a win for LGBTQ+ Texans, a federal judge has temporarily barred a group of public school districts from enforcing the nation's first law explicitly banning LGBTQ+ student clubs.
Judge Charles Eskridge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the state's Houston, Plano, and Katy school districts could not enforce state law S.B. 12, which passed last year and was called "one of the most nakedly hateful bills we have had on the floor of this House" by out state Rep. Erin Zwiener (D).
Republicans who supported the bill claimed 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."
S.B. 12 was billed as a "Bill of Parental Rights" and also restricted diversity initiatives in public schools and required more parental notification when it comes to mental and physical health in schools.
It also bans teachers from referring to trans students by their preferred first names, even if their parents support their child's transition. Students have been deadnamed in some school districts while others have complied with the law by calling trans kids by their last names only.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of Texas, Transgender Law Center, and Baker McKenzie on behalf of the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), a teacher, and two students.
The plaintiffs argued that the law "censors huge swaths of constitutionally protected speech."
