1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

The recently passed Texas House Bill 229 mandating the strict biological definition of "man" and "woman" based solely on reproductive organs is a concerning overreach by the state. This legislation undermines the established standards of care for transgender and intersex individuals by inserting government interference into the doctor-patient relationship. Requiring electronic health records to include data on "sexual development disorders" and restricting updates to these designations promotes discrimination under the guise of ensuring medical professionals have complete information. However, trained healthcare providers are fully capable of documenting pertinent details without this law dictating invasive state scrutiny into very personal medical matters. Rather than safeguarding citizens, HB 229 has raised alarming concerns about state-sanctioned marginalization of vulnerable groups. I urge you to reconsider supporting measures that enable such discriminatory government overreach and stand firm against efforts to legislate the erasure of transgender and intersex Texans.