The Texas bill HB 4042 Relating to requiring public school students to participate in interscholastic athletic activities based on biological sex would amend the Subchapter D, Chapter 33, Education Code. This amendment would force schools to base sports participation on students sex as defined by their birth certificate and determined at birth.
HB 4042 require one’s birth certificate to classify gender for sports, but many intersex individuals don’t find out about their intersexuality until puberty, some never find out. Intersexuality is a term used to describe people who don’t fit nicely into the binary of male or female. Sex is dependent on a number of biological characteristics including genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, and chromosomes. Unless a newborn has a medical need for more thorough testing, most sex determination is based on what genitalia the doctors can see once the baby is born. Many people like to claim that intersex is such a rare occasion that it’s irrelevant, but someone being intersex is as common as someone having red hair. This makes birth certificates not a valid measure of sex.
Furthermore, some states now allow parents to choose to put “X” on their child birth certificate to indicate a gender neutral baby. If one of these kids ended up at these schools, how would schools determine which sports teams these kids are allowed to be in?
Write to your representatives today and tell them not to support HB 4042.