Texas State Police show how to remove insurrectionists from a Capitol protest

AP Photo/Eric Gay

Transgender activists created an insurrection at the Texas state capitol in Austin on Tuesday. That’s the proper term for the disruption of a state legislative session these days, right? Transgender activists have been creating mini-January 6 insurrections in statehouses in red states working on passing legislation to protect minors from life-altering surgery until they are legal adults and mature enough to make such important decisions. Tuesday it happened in Austin and the activists quickly found out that the state police that protects the capitol building do not play around. They will take a protester down and quickly remove him or her from the premises.

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Protesters took over the gallery Tuesday in the Texas House of Representatives to create chaos and disrupt the session.

That happened as Senate Bill 14 came to the House floor for a vote. The bill bans medical procedures and medication like puberty blockers for minors suffering from gender dysphoria. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan cleared the gallery when the protest began.

SB 14 prohibits procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria for Texans under 18. The ban includes the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments. Medical providers could lose their licenses for doing the procedures.

Those who oppose the bill frame the argument as a healthcare issue. It’s just people wanting to feel comfortable in their own bodies without government interference, they say.

“People are really just trying to have bodily autonomy, they are to make decisions for their own lives and for the government to come in and interfere with that choice of how people want and feel in their bodies, it is really hard, and it’s a hard issue to talk about in a legislative sense,” said Mari Bier who is opposed to SB14.

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One protester was arrested for unfurling a banner in the rotunda. The protesters say they are just trying to protect children. Ironic, since that is exactly what the bill is trying to do. One conservative who supports the bill spoke about other things that minors are not allowed to do. It makes no sense to allow minors to have surgery that mutliates their bodies before they are of legal age. Most are too immature to make such a permanent decision.

“There is no way that a child can make this decision. We don’t allow kids to smoke. We don’t allow them to vote. A certain age gets into military service. We have those commonsense measures in place. And so and it’s dangerous for kids to be involved in this. We don’t even really know some of the outcomes long term. But we do know that when you remove certain body parts, you can never put them back,” said Saenz.

If minors can’t purchase a pack of cigarettes or a six-pack of beer, why would they be allowed to make a decision as drastic as blocking their puberty or surgery?

So, DPS was called in to handle the protesters.

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One protester learned the hard way that this isn’t just fun and games for DPS.

The vote was not taken Tuesday. When SB 14 is called up again, procedural challenges are anticipated and amendments. One amendment may allow children already receiving hormone treatments and puberty blockers to complete the treatment. That exemption was a part of the original bill but was removed before it was sent to the House.

State legislators have to be prepared for these protests meant to disrupt votes on bills that transgender activists don’t support. Instead of protecting democracy and allowing a vote on bills, they choose to shut everything down. Is that how Democrats expect to protect democracy? Isn’t protecting democracy the big reason we hear from the likes of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to vote for Democrats? What a bunch of hypocrites.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris praised the Democrats who caused chaos in the Tennessee House as being people who stood up for democracy. It wasn’t a stand for democracy. They used bull horns and whistles to stifle debate and votes. That’s a temper tantrum, not protecting democracy. There is an agreement that legislators sign that spells out decorum and procedures during legislative sessions. In Texas, the Speaker of the House moved quickly and shut it down. Those who were challenging law enforcement were arrested. That is how conservative legislators are going to have to be prepared to act to push back against those trying to force their agenda on others outside of the legislative process.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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