Click play to listen to this article.

A federal court hearing today in Houston could pause Senate Bill 12, the Texas measure critics call the "Student Identity Censorship Law."

The measure prohibits public and charter school diversity, equity and inclusion programs, instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, assisting a student’s social transition and LGBTQ+ student clubs. A lawsuit brought on behalf of student-led groups, educators and families argues the law violates the constitution and a federal civil rights statute.

Image

Dale Melchert, senior staff attorney at the Transgender Law Center, said the law is unconstitutionally vague.

"The Constitution requires that laws be clear enough such that anybody who's impacted by them of ordinary intelligence would be able to figure out what they can and can't do," Melchert stressed. "S.B. 12 doesn't provide a lot of guidance or definitions about what is and isn't prohibited."

Plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction blocking four parts of the law while litigation is ongoing.

Supporters of the law say Senate Bill 12 enhances parental control over education, with schools required to publish course content, give parents opt-in forms for health services and sexuality lessons and create a method to report violations. Defendants named in the suit include the Texas Education Agency Commissioner, as well as the school districts of Houston, Katy and Plano.

Implementation of the law varied with school districts having to determine their own policy in light of the law’s lack of specifics. Melchert pointed out some districts allow nicknames for cisgender students but do not allow the use of chosen names and pronouns for trans students.

"One of our plaintiffs, Adrian Moore, has been going by his name and pronouns since the seventh grade," Melchert explained. "He is now in high school and feeling very dehumanized because his teachers are, per the policy of his school district, refusing to call him by his name or pronouns, and that's seriously devastating to him and his mother."

The plaintiffs include a teacher’s union, two students, one of their parents and a teacher.