United Nations urged to investigate Texas’ anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as ‘human rights crisis’ (exclusive)

Human rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Equality Texas, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign have united to submit a comprehensive report to various United Nations Special Rapporteurs. The report calls attention to the deteriorating human rights situation for LGBTQ+ individuals in Texas, particularly in light of recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

On Monday, with the support of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, these organizations submitted a 37-page Joint Allegation Letter to 17 independent experts, working groups, and special rapporteurs at the U.N. about the human rights crisis facing LGBTQ+ Texans.

A joint ACLU of Texas and Equality Texas press release notes that after a record-breaking legislative session in the state—with more than 140 anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed—Texans are now struggling with a collection of new laws that eliminate medical freedom for trans youth, censor school libraries, ban trans athletes from participating in collegiate sports, end DEI practices at public universities, threaten drag performances, and undermine local governments’ already limited power. According to the press release, these laws are a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of LGBTQ+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors.

The detailed report examines seven critical pieces of legislation enacted during the 88th Texas Legislative Session, each representing facets of what the groups say is a comprehensive assault on the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

• S.B. 14 prohibits healthcare treatments for transgender youth, like puberty blockers and hormone therapies.
• S.B. 17 stops public universities from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
• S.B. 15 bars transgender athletes from collegiate sports.
• SB 763 allows untrained chaplains to counsel students, risking LGBTQ+ student exposure to harmful practices.
• S.B. 12 bans public drag shows, labeling them “sexually oriented.”
• H.B. 900 lets schools remove “sexually explicit” library content, potentially affecting LGBTQ+ literature.
• H.B. 2127 threatens local non-discrimination ordinances, impacting LGBTQ+ housing rights.

According to activists, collectively, these laws create a discriminatory and hostile environment, severely impacting healthcare, education, housing, cultural expression, and sports participation for the LGBTQ+ community in Texas.

Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council to monitor, advise, and publicly report on human rights situations. They respond to individual complaints, conduct studies, provide technical cooperation advice, and undertake country visits to assess specific human rights situations. The country visits, often lasting 2-3 weeks, involve interactions with governmental and non-governmental actors, victims of human rights violations, and local communities, culminating in a report to the Human Rights Council with findings and recommendations.

The CEO of Equality Texas, Ricardo Martinez, expressed his deep concerns about LGBTQ+ rights in Texas in an interview with The Advocate.

“It has made it hard for us to navigate life in Texas,” he said. “Having to enter spaces and think thoughtfully about the level of risks that we’re taking in any situation that we may be.”

Discussing the unprecedented number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in Texas, Martinez was specific.

“We’re talking about the 141 bills that were introduced at the state legislature in 2023,” he said. “That is an incredible number when you think about just the federal landscape. We accounted for more than 20 percent of all anti-LGBTQ+ bills [in the country.] This state alone.”

Martinez stressed the importance of raising awareness at the international level. “I think the statement is the reality of the uniqueness of our experience,” he said. “It’s not only that the stuff that’s happening at the legislature, it’s also the weaponization of state agencies? It is also vigilante infiltration into our safe spaces,” he explained.

GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis also emphasized the situation’s urgency.

“There is a human rights crisis in the state of Texas,” Ellis said in a statement. “As a result of the 2023 legislative session and other regressive efforts, LGBTQ citizens from across the Lone Star State are forced to openly wonder if they can access necessities such as health care, inclusive education, creative freedoms and more. The governor and other leaders are failing in their basic responsibilities to keep all Texans safe and free. Discrimination against LGBTQ Texans, especially in the transgender community, is of international concern.”

In December 2023, the U.N. Human Rights Committee expressed concern in a report over increasing state legislation in the U.S. that restricts the rights of individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“By delivering relentless attacks on the rights, dignity, and very existence of LGBTQ+ people for years, lawmakers in Texas are sending a clear message that members of our community are neither welcome nor safe in their state,” Melodía Gutiérrez, Texas state director at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “This is creating a dire situation for queer and transgender Texans, forcing countless families to flee so their children can grow up safely as their true selves.”

Martinez highlighted Equality Texas’s mission to engage, educate, and mobilize people. “I think this is an urgent moment, and every urgent moment calls for the participation of people wherever they are,” he told The Advocate.

He urged Texans to recognize the state’s shared values.

“It comes down to privacy. It comes down to whether or not we want government interference in our daily lives. And I think that impacts everyone,” he said. “If we allow for the rights of some to be trodden upon, it is a slippery slope that will happen to others.”