The Texas Senate passed a bill Friday that requires public school students to compete on sports teams that correspond with the biological sex that is listed on their birth certificate instead of what they identify with.
House Bill 25 passed the Texas House of Representatives with a 76-54 vote Thursday night and now, after the Senate passed the legislation, it will head to Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) desk if the House approves an amendment to the legislation's terminology.
The only altered birth certificate allowed under the legislation would be in cases where a clerical error is corrected, the bill states.
Transgender male athletes would be permitted to play on male teams only in instances where there are no other alternative options for the sport.
State Rep. Valoree Swanson (R), who introduced the bill, said that the legislation "is all about girls and protecting them in our [University Interscholastic League] sports."
"I'm excited that we have the opportunity today to stand up for our daughters, granddaughters, and all our Texas girls," she said Thursday after the bill was passed by the House, according to CBS News.
And while Republicans who backed the bill said that transgender females would have an unfair advantage when competing against biological females, critics argue that transgender students would be discriminated against, should the legislation be signed into law.
"This bill is mean-spirited, inherently discriminatory and harms Texas children," State Representative John Bucy III said following the House's vote.
Human Rights Campaign Texas State Director Rebecca Marques said Thursday that "Texas legislators seem to take pride in passing discriminatory bills without any concern for the impact on Texans and the state’s growing negative national reputation."
"Radical policies like the anti-transgender sports ban bill that target children for no reason other than to score political points, making the state less safe and desirable for families to live and work, putting businesses in the state at a competitive disadvantage," Marques later added.