A Texas resident gave an impassioned speech in opposition to an anti-trans invoice throughout a Texas Senate committee listening to, asking legislators in the event that they’re uninterested in being on the incorrect facet of historical past.
“If we were sitting here like 50 years ago, maybe 60 years ago, instead of talking about trans women going into bathrooms, you’d be talking about Black women going into white bathrooms,” Nick Mollberg mentioned on the May 15 committee listening to. “Do y’all ever get tired of being on the wrong side of history? Opposed to women’s suffrage, as you were, conservatives, throughout history? Opposed to interracial marriage, opposed to civil rights.”
Mollberg was talking in opposition to Texas House Bill 229, which provides common definitions for less than two sexes, female and male, excluding intersex and trans folks. The invoice states that “only females” can get pregnant, in addition to “males are, on average, bigger, stronger, and faster than females.”
Mollberg requested the state senators what their grandkids would say to them sooner or later.
“They’re going to look at you the same way the grandchildren of segregationists looked at their bigoted grandparents,” he mentioned.
He continued: “It was bigotry then. It’s bigotry now. You don’t care about actually about helping women in Texas. If you did, you wouldn’t be letting them bleed out because they can’t get access to abortion care. You wouldn’t be letting them die of gun violence and not lifting a finger to help them.”
A clip of Mollberg has gained consideration on social media, racking up greater than 1 million views on TikTok and greater than 2 million on Instagram. Mollberg didn’t reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Several transgender folks additionally testified in opposition to the invoice, together with Autumn Lauener, vice chairman of The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars, a gaggle that promotes inclusiveness towards totally different gender identities and expressions in public coverage. She mentioned House Bill 229 “accomplishes nothing.”
“It does not protect children,” Lauener mentioned. “It does not support families. It serves only to erase, to attempt to write transgender and intersex people out of the story of Texas. But our existence is resistance, and we will never stop resisting. Our community will not be erased. Nothing this legislator does can end who we are. We have always been here, and we are not going anywhere.”
During the 2025 Texas legislative session, Texas Republicans have launched greater than 120 anti-trans payments, in response to Axios.
During his testimony, Mollberg mentioned he remembered when Republicans “for years” thought homosexual marriage was “going to end the world” till public opinion shifted they usually needed to decide a “new scapegoat.” Mollberg added that if any lawmakers had been going to vote for the invoice, he would look them within the eye whereas they had been doing it and name them a bigot and coward.
“It’s not that you can sit here and actually do the business of the people, make lives better for Texans like me,” Mollberg mentioned. “No, no, no, there’s no time for that. We got to bully 1% of the population. We’ve got to harm them as badly as we possibly can.”
He continued: “You are not interested in helping or protecting women. Period. Full stop. You’re here to hurt trans people. No other reason.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texan-goes-viral-for-calling-out-legislators-over-anti-trans-bill_n_68388fa8e4b06ff5140d4a4b