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Posted in PoliticsPosted by QMEDPosted on September 17, 2021September 19, 2021

Despite ongoing debate over transgender rights, Black and brown leaders continue to care for Houston’s trans communities

Verniss McFarland, founder of The Mahogany Project, says the trans community has become the latest scapegoat as politicians seek to shift the public's focus from other issues. — Verniss McFarland, founder of The Mahogany Project, says the trans community has become the latest scapegoat as politicians seek to shift the public’s focus from other issues.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Verniss McFarland poses for a portrait Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Graffiti Park in Houston. Black lives matter, trans lives matter, we can't just say it, we have to practice it," McFarland said. "You have to practice your beliefs."

Verniss McFarland poses for a portrait Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Graffiti Park in Houston. Black lives matter, trans lives matter, we can't just say it, we have to practice it," McFarland said. "You have to practice your beliefs."

When the Legislature convenes Monday for its third special session, the main order of business is redrawing the state’s political boundaries for the next decade’s worth of elections.

But tucked into Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda, again, is a bill that would bar transgender children from playing in school sports that align with their gender identity. Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, says his bill — which already failed to pass during the 87th legislative session and the two special sessions that followed — is about protecting competitive balance for cisgender girls, or those whose gender identity matches the one they were assigned at birth.

It is just the latest in a history of attempts to curtail the rights of transgender Texans, but for longtime advocates in Houston’s transgender community, it only reinforces their conviction in their causes and each other.

Earlier this summer, Abbott successfuly pushed to have gender-affirming surgery for children redefined as “genital mutilation,” a characterization that goes against the longstanding wisdom of medical professionals. In 2015, Houston voters struck down the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance

The post appeared first in HoustonChronicle.

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