Demonstrators forcibly removed from Texas Capitol for protesting bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans youth

A whole bunch of demonstrators filed into the Texas Capitol in Austin on Tuesday to protest S.B. 14, a invoice that might ban gender-affirming look after trans youth within the state. Some demonstrators have been forcibly faraway from the constructing by police, sparking outrage from LGBTQ+ rights teams.

In video captured by CBS affiliate KEYE-TV’s Michael Adkison, Division of Public Service officers have been seen corralling demonstrators and forcing them out of the constructing. The officers may very well be heard yelling “Transfer, let’s go!” at protestors, who have been chanting “Trans rights” in help of LGBTQ+ youth.

A number of the demonstrators refused to go away, prompting “heated scuffles” and resulting in advocates being pressured out of the constructing, KEYE reported. At one level, a bunch of counterprotesters acquired into shouting matches with LGBTQ+ rights supporters earlier than leaving the premises, KEYE reported.

“We’re deeply disturbed by and carefully monitoring what has occurred on the Texas Capitol. We witnessed violence and arrests at present in opposition to Texans, a lot of whom are queer and transgender and who could be harmed straight by this invoice,” All In For Equality, a bunch comprised of the ACLU of Texas, Equality Texas and different advocacy teams, mentioned in a press release.

The Texas Freedom Community tweeted that distinguished trans activist Sofia Sepulveda, the Neighborhood Advocacy and Engagement Supervisor at Equality Texas, has been banned from coming into the Capitol constructing for a yr after dropping a banner within the rotunda that learn “let trans children develop up.”

“Loving households, neighborhood members, and advocates have been right here peacefully protesting an extremist ban on transgender healthcare that places the lives of our youth in danger. None of them deserved criminalization or brutality,” the group wrote in one other tweet.

“LGBTQ+ persons are right here to remain — and we can’t let anybody roll again our rights,” wrote the Human Rights Marketing campaign, including that the invoice represented “makes an attempt to hurt our neighborhood throughout the Lone Star State.”

The invoice, which has already handed the state Senate, was surprisingly despatched again to committee within the Home following the demonstrations, KEYE reported. A substitute invoice was thought-about and authorized by a 6-5 vote. It was not clear when that invoice could be reintroduced.

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