Investigation after high school allows student to 'socially transition'

HOUSTON - The Governor of Texas has directed the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to investigate after a school district allowed a student to "socially transition" against state law.

On Thursday, Governor Abbott's office released a statement, announcing that the TEA will investigate after a student at Bellaire High School was allowed to "socially transition."

State law currently outlines that any state employee, including educators, are barred from supporting students through their social transition, through the use of chosen names, pronouns, or otherwise, at the risk of termination or the loss of state funding.

Texas House Bill H.B. 3616 defines "Social transitioning" as "a person's transition from the gender identity associated with the person's biological sex assigned at birth to an alternative gender identity through the adoption of a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender, including clothing and hairstyles, that are: (A) typically associated with the biological sex opposite of the person's biological sex assigned at birth; and (B) intended to communicate the person's alternative gender identity."

Authorities allege that educators at Bellaire High School inappropriately "socially transitioned" a student against the wishes of their parents, therefore violating state law.

The extent of the social transition has not been disclosed by any state agencies. The state's definition of 'social transitioning' does not amount to medical procedures or mental healthcare referrals.

"Parental rights are not stripped once a child enters a classroom," reads the letter. "Schools certainly should not promote distorted notions of human biology or push children further into gender dysphoria. To that end, I have instructed TEA to investigate any allegation that employees of Bellaire High School sought to socially transition any student," Governor Abbott said in a statement.

In Abbott's State of the State address, the governor announced that the state of Texas only respects two genders, male and female, and that any educator that discusses gender transition of any form with a student should be fired.

This comes alongside federal initiatives from President Donald Trump, in which he describes supposed efforts to "secretly transition children" as child abuse.