Representative Matt Shaheen, a Republican member of the Texas House representing West Plano and Far North Dallas, told the Lone Star Standard that one of his priorities for the 89th legislative session is to build on his past legislative successes to protect children.
“This [session] will be a continuation of my work to protect children,” said Representative Shaheen. “Past sessions, I passed legislation giving child sex traffickers life in prison, jail time for those who conduct drag shows in front of children that involve sexual performances, and I also passed legislation requiring porn sites to perform age verification.”
According to The Heritage Foundation, there are many ways American culture has become increasingly sexualized and children have become the targets of that sexualization, including social media, pornography, sex trafficking, “drag queen story hours,” promotion of sexual education in schools, movies and entertainment, and discussions of gender identity in schools.
In the United States, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 42% of children aged 10 to 17 viewed pornography.
A Pew Research study from 2022, found that 71% of parents were concerned that their children were “being exposed to explicit content” on social media.
Exposure at a young age to this sexual content “is linked with shifts in attitudes about sex and gender, earlier progression to sexual activity, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infection among adolescents,” concluded the American Academy of Pediatrics study.
Representative Shaheen told us that this is an issue for the entire state of Texas and that he has “heard from large numbers of people in the district that they are very concerned about the growing sexualization of children.”
This year, stopping the sexualization of children in Texas was added as a legislative priority to the Texas GOP platform. The party intends to advocate for:
“Prohibiting taxpayer funding to any entities that permit or promote sexually inappropriate content to minors and legislatively banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender ideology in schools and libraries.”
While the Texas GOP supports these efforts, Representative Shaheen said he expects pushback from groups on the other side of the political spectrum, what he called “liberal Democratic extremist groups.”
According to the ACLU of Texas, in response to Governor Abbott signing SB-14 last legislative session to restrict access for children to puberty blockers and hormone therapies, they joined with the national ACLU, Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center, and a group of law firms to try to stop the law in the courts.
Paul D. Castillo, senior counsel at Lambda Legal said of the legislation: “the attack that Texas legislators and the governor have launched against transgender youth and their families and providers is stunning in its cruelty.”
Others, like author of Irreversible Damage, Abigail Shrier believe these types of efforts are intended to protect children, not harm them.
On June 28, in an 8-1 decision, the Texas Supreme Court upheld that law, according to the The Washington Post.
