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Texas enacted SB 12 barring public-school instruction and student clubs on sexual orientation or gender identity

On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12, a "parental rights" law that prohibits instruction, guidance, activities, and student clubs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 public schools and bars school employees from referring to a student by a name or pronouns differing from those on record. Authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, the law also requires prior parental consent for student health services and club participation and took effect September 1, 2025. LGBTQ+ advocates and educators said the measure erases transgender students and dismantles support systems in public schools.

Jurisdiction
Texas
Location
Austin, Texas

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law, a measure styled by its sponsors as a "parental rights" bill and enacted during the 89th Legislature. The law prohibits public-school "instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity," bars student clubs organized around sexual orientation or gender identity, and forbids school employees from facilitating a student's social transition — including referring to a student by a name or pronouns that differ from those on the student's records. It further requires prior parental consent for student participation in clubs and for school health services, and directs districts to adopt parental-notification procedures. The law took effect September 1, 2025.

The bill, authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, was one of a slate of measures restricting the position of LGBTQ+ Texans enacted in the 2025 session. LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations and educators said the instruction and club bans single out sexual orientation and gender identity for exclusion from public education, that the prohibition on affirming a student's chosen name or pronouns compels the erasure of transgender students, and that barring classroom discussion of these subjects suppresses protected expression at a government institution. Supporters framed the law as expanding parental control over what schools teach and the services they provide.

Updates

2025-08-28 — ACLU of Texas and partners sued to challenge the law [4, 5]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Transgender Law Center, joined by the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, and affected teachers, students, and parents, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (GSA Network v. Morath), arguing that SB 12 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the federal Equal Access Act.

2026-02-20 — Federal judge blocked key provisions at three school districts [6, 7]

The court granted a preliminary injunction barring Houston, Katy, and Plano ISDs from enforcing challenged provisions of SB 12 — including the ban on student clubs, the requirement to address students only by their birth-record name and sex, and related restrictions — while the litigation proceeds. The order applied only to the three districts named in the suit.

Why we recorded this

Public education must remain open to all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and a government institution may not suppress classroom expression or student association because of its viewpoint. Texas's Senate Bill 12 bars instruction, guidance, activities, and student clubs concerning sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 public schools and prohibits school employees from affirming a transgender student's chosen name or pronouns, singling out LGBTQ+ students for exclusion from ordinary public-school life. This archive records government policy that disadvantages a protected group and censors protected expression at a public institution.

Sources

  1. Texas SB12 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature — LegiScan primary accessed July 14, 2026
  2. Texas' DEI ban on public schools heads to Gov. Greg Abbott — The Texas Tribune secondary accessed July 14, 2026
  3. LGBTQ+ students say new Texas anti-DEI law leaves them without support — KERA News secondary accessed July 14, 2026
  4. ACLU of Texas, LGBTQ+ groups file suit to challenge anti-DEI law SB 12 — Texas Public Radio investigative accessed July 14, 2026
  5. ACLU of Texas, Partners, and Affected Community Members Sue to Challenge Unconstitutional Student Identity Censorship Law — ACLU of Texas primary accessed July 14, 2026
  6. Federal Court Halts Enforcement of Key Provisions of Law Censoring Identity and Inclusion in K-12 Schools in Three Texas School Districts — ACLU of Texas primary accessed July 14, 2026
  7. Three school districts temporarily blocked from complying with key parts of Texas' DEI ban — Houston Public Media investigative accessed July 14, 2026

See also