Texas governor hosts a signing ceremony for an anti-trans sports bill he signed in June

Protestors shouted “Protect trans lives” as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed an anti-trans sports bill this week.

The “Save Women’s Sports Act” bans trans athletes from competing in public college and university sports in the state. Abbott actually signed it in June, but he held a ceremonial signing at Texas Woman’s University’s Blagg-Huey Library on Monday.

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“Young people deserve to see themselves reflected in the books they read…. [so they] can foster empathy, tolerance, and connection.”

“The legacy of women’s sports will be safeguarded for generations to come because of the law I am about to sign,” Abbott reportedly stated while seated in front of a sign that declared, “a win for women athletes.” “Women in Texas can be assured that the integrity of their sports is protected in our great state.”

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Flanking either side of him were anti-trans athletes Paula Scanlan and Riley Gaines. Scanlan is a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who has been outspoken in her opposition to her former trans teammate Lia Thomas.

Thomas, a Texas native, is a frequent target of far-right attacks on trans athlete participation.

Gaines, who swam for the University of Kentucky, has become a darling of the far right. She has built an entire brand around the fact that she and Thomas once tied for fifth place in a competition.

According to her profile on the conservative Independent Women’s Forum website, Gaines “describes that day as heartbreaking and somber.” Not because she lost to four cisgender women, but because she had to share fifth place with a transgender woman.

Abbott told reporters that women like Thomas and Scanlan – and not trans women – were the real victims of marginalization.

“These are the women who committed their lives — altered their lives — so that they can compete, and yet you heard Riley talking about how she was marginalized. She was the winner, and she was denied that victory.”

At the ceremony, Gaines called the anti-trans bill “huge news, not only for Texans but for girls across the country.”

“It’s pretty amazing that this law is even necessary,” Gaines added. “If you have eyes and a brain and any amount of common sense, you can easily comprehend the fact that men, on average — and this is a fact — are taller, stronger, more powerful, can jump higher than women. It’s biological reality.”

Scanlan also spoke, misgendering and deadnaming Thomas and claiming that because she worked hard all of her life to become a Division 1 swimmer, it was unfair that she had a trans teammate in college.

The protestors stood with flags and signs outside the library. One poster read, “Proud trans athlete.” Another declared, “Breaking news Greg Abbott hates women.”

“I know that S.B. 15 has already been signed into law and this is more ceremonial,” student Andy Hackett told KERA News. “We are voicing our dislike and disapproval. Greg Abbott is using our campus as a prop because we are predominately a women’s university and largely a queer university.”

HAPPENING NOW— protesters outside the Texas Woman’s University venue where Greg Abbott will ceremonially sign legislation involving NCAA women’s athletics. pic.twitter.com/NypJ7kuerz

— Dionne Anglin (@DAnglinFox4) August 7, 2023

The law will take effect in September and was authored by Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton (R) of Galveston. Under a law passed in 2021, the state also bans K-12 schools in the state from allowing trans youth to compete in school sports.

“This discriminatory law does nothing to help women’s sports and could put all college sports in Texas at risk for athletes, fans, and businesses by conflicting with NCAA Title IX rules,” Ash Hall, Policy & Advocacy Strategist at the ACLU of Texas, stated when Abbott signed the bill in June.

Like other recently-passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, the law empowers Texas residents to bring civil actions against targets of the bill, creating a citizen-enforcement mechanism that can be exploited by far-right organizations pursuing discriminatory outcomes in the state.

In March, the Austin American-Statesman reported there were no openly transgender athletes competing at any of the state’s four-year universities involved in NCAA-sanctioned sports.

Thirteen schools, including the University of Texas and Texas State University, said they weren’t aware of ever having had a transgender athlete compete in their programs.

“This is an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Andrea Segovia, senior field and policy adviser for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, in June. “What are the priorities of the state is always my question.”