A nonprofit called American Principles Project partnered with over 150 conservative Texas figures to support a letter to Governor Gregg Abbott on January 19. The letter called for him to establish a special session of the legislature to deal with three key issues it claims threaten Texas family values.
The organization wants Abbott to "outlaw gender modification," "protect all-female sports," and to protect children from "pervasive pornography."
"Texans witnessed grandstanding and hollow posturing while the abuses of chemical and surgical mutilation and sterilization of underage children continue – as does the continued corruption of children with school-pushed pornography, Cultural Marxism of Critical Race Theory, and the indoctrination of social-emotional learning," the letter said. "The legislature even failed to protect females from the unfair competition from biological males in collegiate sports!"
Texas gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines weighed in with a similar opinion on these issues.
“Texans are shocked when they learn what left-wing sickos are allowed to do in Texas, and rightfully they demand action," Huffines said. "But Greg Abbott isn’t surprised. He allowed perverted gender ideology to infiltrate Texas to begin with, and he refuses to do anything to fix it. Texas needs a leader who will stand up for our biblical, moral values. When I am Governor, I will.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton takes a similar view on sports issues. In March 2021 he wrote a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing his executive order on transgender women in sports.
“Girls and women have a right to privacy—away from boys and men," Paxton said. "Girls and women have a right to compete with their peers—away from boys and men. If you take any further measures to threaten females’ sports and privacy in Texas, or any Texans’ freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and personal privacy and safety, I will stop you.”
The Texas government has made other moves on education recently. In May 2021, Abbott signed a bill that prohibited public schools from teaching that “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously” as a rebuttal to critical race theory. Abbott was elected in 2014 and is the 48th Governor of Texas. Before that, he was the state's longest-tenured Attorney General.
Huffines is in a competitive primary race for governor, facing off against Governor Abbott, as well as Allen West and Chad Prather, for the Republican nomination on March 1. Beto O'Rourke is expected to be the Democratic nominee. Huffines is the CEO of the real estate firm Huffines Communities and served in the Texas Senate from 2015 to 2019.
