Activists gathered with Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton, calling to pass a bill protecting single-sex spaces.
Middleton and female rights advocates gathered for a press conference on August 4, urging the state legislature to pass SB 7 during the special session. This is also known as the “Women’s Privacy Act,” which aims to protect private spaces from men who identify as women, and vice versa.
“Texas is not going to bend to the woke left’s gender identity delusions,” Middleton said in the press conference. “We are not going to sacrifice the safety and privacy of women in our state to the left’s gender ideology agenda.”
Middleton joined Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, Amie Ichikawa, ambassador for Independent Women’s Forum, and Kim Slusser, whose daughter was forced to share intimate spaces with and compete against a male.
Middleton said the bill is based on “biological truth,” and said it aims to protect women and girls from men invading their spaces.
“As a dad and as a husband, I don’t want a man entering my little girl’s bathroom. I don’t want a man entering my wife’s bathroom. I don’t want a man entering my mother’s restroom,” he said. “This is common sense.”
Castle said women deal with men invading private spaces “every day.” She cited an “ever-growing” coalition of support, urging the passage of the legislation before the upcoming school year.
“School is starting very soon in our state, and we know how this is a prevalent issue in our schools where men are entering women’s spaces,” she said.
This has been a specific issue in Dallas ISD. As The Dallas Express reported, officials took advice from a “local LGBTQ clinic” on keeping children’s gender transitions secret from their parents. The district also published a resource guide for students on how to transition genders.
“You don’t mess with Texas women, and their privacy and dignity,” Castle said.
Ichikawa said she spent nearly five years incarcerated in the Central California Women’s Facility, where she saw the true value of single-sex spaces for the “safety, privacy, and rehabilitation for women.”
“We need to codify this in state law,” Ichikawa said. “You can be both for equality and single-sex spaces.”
Slusser, a Denton resident, said the bill “has to pass.”
Her daughter, Brooke, has seen the media spotlight for being forced to share private spaces with and compete against a male while playing volleyball at San Jose State University.
“It’s hard for me not to get emotional. I don’t want to get emotional about it,” Kim Slusser said in the press conference. “Brooke was forced to share intimate private spaces, including her apartment, hotel rooms, and locker rooms, with a biological male.”
Slusser said Brooke was “never protected,” but was expected to “conform” and “stay silent.” She also said male teammates, who identified as female, once conspired to injure her daughter during a match.
“Women and girls are counting on this bill to pass,” Slusser said. “Please don’t let what happened to Brooke happen again.”