In his latest attack on LGBTQ+ Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott suggested he wants the state to prohibit transgender and gender nonconforming people from being schoolteachers.
During a speech at a Young Conservatives of Texas meeting in Dallas on Friday, Abbott said he wants the state to “end” teachers wearing clothes that don’t conform to their gender identity, according to a recording
shared on social media by Steven Monacelli
, special investigative correspondent for the
Texas Observer.
The Republican governor referenced a North Texas teacher who faced online criticism after donning a pink dress for a school-sponsored dress-up day.
“This person, a man, dressing as a woman in a public high school in the state of Texas, he’s trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is OK,” Abbott said in the recording. “This type of behavior is not OK, and this is the type of behavior that we want to make sure we end in the state of Texas.”
Rachmad Tjachyadi, a popular chemistry teacher at Hebron High School, resigned last month after a right-wing social media account shared footage of him in a pink dress during the campus’ spirit day. While Lewisville ISD officials found that Tjachyadi didn’t violate policy, he voluntarily stepped down, saying the online rancor had overshadowed “students’ learning and well-being.”