In speech, Gov. Greg Abbott suggests trans people should be banned from teaching school

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the name of the Texas House candidate Gov. Greg Abbott was stumping for in San Antonio.

In his latest attack on LGBTQ+ Texans, Gov.  Greg Abbott suggested he wants the state to prohibit transgender and gender nonconforming people from being schoolteachers.

During a speech at a Young Conservatives of Texas meeting in Dallas on Friday, Abbott said he wants the state to "end" teachers wearing clothes that don't conform to their gender identity, according to a recording shared on social media by Steven Monacelli , special investigative correspondent for the Texas Observer. The Republican governor referenced a North Texas teacher who faced online criticism after donning a pink dress for a school-sponsored dress-up day.

“This person, a man, dressing as a woman in a public high school in the state of Texas, he’s trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is OK,” Abbott said in the recording. “This type of behavior is not OK, and this is the type of behavior that we want to make sure we end in the state of Texas.”

Rachmad Tjachyadi, a popular chemistry teacher at Hebron High School, resigned last month after a right-wing social media account shared footage of him in a pink dress during the campus' spirit day. While Lewisville ISD officials found that Tjachyadi didn't violate policy, he voluntarily stepped down, saying the online rancor had overshadowed "students' learning and well-being."

Abbott's comments appear to double down on a similar diatribe he made during a February appearance in San Antonio to stump for Marc LaHood, a Republican pro-school voucher candidate for the Texas House. During that speech, Abbott also referenced Tjachyadi as a reason parents should want vouchers.

"How would you feel if you knew that the state of Texas was forcing you to send your child to that school with the inability to move to some other school," Abbott said. "That is wrong, absolutely wrong. No parents should be forced to send their child to a school where the school is allowing teachers to be cross-dressers."

The recent remarks suggest Abbott may push for the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature to introduce proposals banning transgender or gender nonconforming people from teaching or for measures dictating restrictive dress codes for those working in schools.

During recent legislative sessions, right-wing lawmakers have successfully passed laws banning drag shows with sexual content and banning minors from accessing gender-affirming care. The fate of those two laws are now playing out in the courts, and it's almost certain any attempt to bar trans people from working in schools would face lawsuits.

On his own, Abbott has initiated investigations into parents of kids obtaining gender-affirming care and ordered the removal of a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services web page that offered resources to LGBTQ youth.

LGBTQ+ advocates have repeatedly argued that wave of anti-trans legislation being passed in red states such as Texas are taking a toll on young people's mental health.

In The Trevor Project’s 2023 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health , nearly one in three LGBTQ+ young people said they experienced poor mental health always or most of the time due to anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation. Additionally, nearly two in three LGBTQ+ young people said hearing about potential laws banning discussion of LGBTQ+ people at school had worsened their mental health.

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