The Texas Republican Party has approved one of its most sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ policy platforms to date, adopting proposals that would bar transgender people from working in public schools, expand restrictions on gender-affirming care, and roll back decades of LGBTQ+ rights.
Delegates approved the platform during the party’s 2026 state convention in Houston, where members voted in favor of a series of resolutions targeting transgender Texans across education, healthcare, employment, and public life. While party platforms do not automatically become law, they often serve as a roadmap for future legislative priorities in the Texas Legislature.
Among the most controversial provisions is a proposal to prohibit transgender individuals from serving in any capacity within public schools, including as teachers, counselors, administrators, volunteers, or contractors. The platform also calls for requiring educators and students to use pronouns based solely on a person’s sex assigned at birth and seeks to eliminate any school curriculum or extracurricular activities that acknowledge transgender identities.
The education proposals come as Texas has already enacted numerous laws affecting transgender students in recent years. Critics argue the latest platform moves beyond regulating student participation and instead seeks to erase transgender adults from educational settings entirely.
Healthcare proposals adopted by delegates are equally expansive. The platform calls for criminal prosecution of anyone involved in providing or facilitating gender-affirming care for minors and extends support for banning such care for adults between the ages of 18 and 26. It also endorses conversion therapy for individuals of any age experiencing what it describes as “identity disorder” or unwanted same-sex attraction, despite the practice being rejected by every major U.S. medical and mental health organization.
Beyond transgender issues, the platform reaffirms opposition to marriage equality, calls for overturning the Supreme Court’s ruling recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide, and seeks repeal of laws and policies influenced by the research of sexologist Alfred Kinsey. It also includes broader cultural and immigration-related priorities that have drawn national attention.
Although the platform itself carries no legal force, advocacy organizations warn that its language offers a preview of legislation likely to be introduced during future legislative sessions. Texas lawmakers have repeatedly advanced bills targeting transgender healthcare, school participation, and legal recognition over the past several years, making many of the platform’s proposals more than symbolic.
For transgender Texans, the proposed ban on educators may represent one of the clearest examples yet of policies moving beyond restricting medical care or school athletics to targeting employment itself. If lawmakers pursue these recommendations, the debate over transgender rights in Texas is likely to intensify as the state heads toward another legislative session.
