Greg Abbott continues to provide the leadership in Austin, Texas that is so sorely lacking in Washington D.C. Kudos to him!

Womens’ and girls’ sports are going to be reserved for girls and women under a new Texas law passed by Governor Abbott. Of course, this law was quickly denounced by President Biden as “hateful.”

Last Monday, GOP Governor Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the House Bill 25, which stipulates that an athlete’s “biological sex” should only be determined by the gender on his or her birth certificate, nothing more, nothing less.

“Women secured the right to vote 100 years ago. We secured the right to equal opportunity in high school and collegiate sports in 1972. Now, biological males are threatening those gains by entering girls’ sports and robbing them of both championship trophies and scholarship opportunities,” Republican sponsor Rep. Valoree Swanson said in a statement on her website. “My colleagues and I are fighting back for women and girls!”

The new law will take effect on January 18th, as noted by the Texas Tribune.

White House Senior Associate Communications Director Matt Hill attacked the law and the others like it in his Twitter post on October 19th.

“Our message to young transgender people in Texas and across the country: these hateful bills are bullying disguised as legislation, and @POTUS and our Administration will always keep fighting for the full equality LGBTQ+ folks deserve,” Hill said.

Valoree Swanson described the bill as upholding the principles of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits the discrimination in education on the basis of sex.

“It’s so very, very important that we protect everything that women have gained in the last 50 years,” she said.

Although there are plenty of critics who say that there had been no cases reported in Texas where men or boys who identified as female had been taking opportunities for competitive sport away from women or girls, Swanson believes that there is no need for female athletes to suffer, as has happened in other states.

“Our constituents expect us to see problems that are coming, and not wait till there’s a disaster ’til everything falls apart and try to fix it,” she said to KXAN-TV. “We don’t have to wait ’til it’s a big problem in Texas.”

Critics continue to claim that transgendered youth are not able to cope with the concept that they are not able to compete as women even though they were born as men.

“Because the Texas Legislature has been pursuing these bills, 150% increase in suicide has occurred in the LGBTQ community, predominantly of transgendered kids, because their government does not care about them,” Democratic state Rep. Julie Johnson said.

Rebekah Bryant is the parent of an 8-year-old boy who identifies as her daughter named Sunny, and she said that the bill filled her with remorse.

“I’m feeling very defeated and very deflated right now, and I was sad to tell Sunny because we’ve always filtered her from the badness of all this as much as possible,” Bryant said in an interview with the Tribune.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick disagreed, saying that the bill was about fairness, as reported by KVUE-TV.

“We’re not trying to be against anyone or their lifestyle – that’s their decision. But we also can’t take away the rights of girls and women, and allowing boys to play girls sports is just unfair,” the Republican said.

“Boys can run faster, hit the ball longer if they’re playing softball, hit three-point shots, and rebound better. They can beat girls in track and field, as I’ve said, they can run faster. They can beat them in wrestling – that’s already happened in Texas – because they’re strong. It’s just not fair,” he said.

If a female athlete is denied a scholarship due to losing against a transgendered athlete, it could impact her life.

“I mean, I have boys and girls in my family, kids, and grandchildren,” he said. “Boys have an unfair advantage, and it’s not right that girls might not get a spot on the team, not get a chance to play, not get a scholarship. It’s just not right. And that’s the reason that bill is important to me. It’s the right thing to do for girls and women.”