Texas students protest in favor of 'sex change' operations for minors
Students for Revolution organized a protest at the Texas State Capitol to rally against Governor Abbott's order that classifies gender reassignment surgery on minors as 'child abuse.'
Several protesters spouted graphic insults at police offers during the incident.
The University of Texas at Austin group Students for Revolution organized a rally at the state capitol where it protested Governor Greg Abbott’s recent order stating that ”a number of so-called ‘sex change’ procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.”
The Feb. 27 protest was advertised on Instagram and the post obtained over 750 likes.
Campus Reform was on the ground as the event unfolded.
Approximately one-hundred protesters held signs featuring a variety of slogans.
Featured statements included: “They came for our kids, not today Ab-bitch!,” “F*** Greg Abbott”, “Trans rights are human rights”, “Students and workers fight for trans liberation”, “How do you spell murderer, APD,”, “Hate Kills,” and “One is not born but rather becomes a woman.”
Additionally, the protesters held a large banner that read “Greg Abbott, Enemy of the People. Unite and Fight for Trans Liberation.”
The group also participated in a number of chants expressing their outrage, including “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Transphobia has got to go,” “One solution, revolution,” “What do we want, trans liberation. When do we want it, now!,” and “No justice, no peace.”
During the event, one protester stated that Texas “represents the face of imperialism.”
“They represent the ruling class of this country who only cares about profits and do not care about the people,” the protester said. “The only way to truly achieve trans rights and truly stop wars like the one in Ukraine would be socialist revolution and the overthrow of the imperialist, capitalist system.”
Another protest organizer spoke about the campus environment of the University of Texas at Austin.
“I want to take a second and talk about what is happening at UT right now,” the protester began. “As we know, we have a large trans population at UT. They’re obviously under attack, but not only that, but our whole university system is under attack and... now Hartzell won’t stand up for us. It’s up to us to fight for trans rights and to fight for a community.”
One of the protesters, Elina Burns, told Campus Reform that the motivation behind the protest was “to protest the restrictive legislature that Greg Abbott and his cabinet” has enforced.
According to Burns, the policy enforced by the administration is “simply a power grab and it is not actually protecting the lives of the citizens of Texas.”
“It is simply just to enforce the beliefs of the party and the beliefs of him and what he stands for and that’s not something that is protective to anyone in Texas at all,” she continued.
Burns then said that the objective of the protest was “to make the voice of the people public” as well as “raise the voices of marginalized people throughout every community in the city and the state.”
“We have people from every background here, and they are willing to stand up and fight for the same cause and that shows that it’s a widespread issue,” Burns said. “So we are enforcing it to this day, and to Greg Abbott with the only power that we have, and that’s our voice.”
Another protestor, who wished to remain anonymous, engaged in a verbal exchange with a pedestrian to give his thoughts on the Texas Governor. Campus Reform was present during the exchange.
“People like Greg Abbott always do stuff in making us feel like we have to be the bigger person in the conversation,” the protester said. “Like we have to act the way they should be acting. If they want to be petty and small and pass unjust laws then no, they have forfeited their privilege to a civilized conversation.”
He continued, saying, “Greg Abbott already sh*t on the table, we aren’t coming to it.”
Following the 45-minute demonstration, the protesters marched down Congress Avenue in downtown Austin and obstructed traffic. The Austin Police attempted to reroute the parade, however, the situation escalated as a scuffle between the parties resulted in the arrest of one of the protest organizers.
Onlooking protesters turned their attention to the police, chanting “How do you spell racist, APD!”
Additionally, one protester shouted at a Capitol police officer using provocative language.
“You should do research on what you f*** stand for you f****** pig. You like dead kids? I bet you do,” the protester screamed.
He continued, accusing the police officer of being a “necrophiliac.”
“You jack off to kids, huh? F****** necrophiliac pedophile. Kill yourself,” he shouted.
[RELATED: Students feel ‘compromised’ after Defund the Police changes local sex offender policies]
Another protest jumped on the bandwagon, joining the vocal crusade by yelling that the police officer “and the state care more about private property than you care about protecting the lives of your citizens.”
”That’s disgusting. You chose this job. You chose to be the oppressor,” the protester accused.
When asked about the role of the police, Burns told Campus Reform that police are a “private militia, essentially, that is enlisted basically by the upper class to oppress the working class who oppress protesters.”
She continued, stating “The police are just the way of the state to protect private property…They put themselves in the position of crowd control to protect private property and the major issue of that is that they’re supposed to be here to protect us.”
“They’re enforcing laws to protect us but it puts them in a position of having more power than the people have, and that is a dangerous balance to get into because it affects their mindset on things,” she expressed. “There is a feeling of brotherhood when it comes to the police whether it be state or city police.”
Further, Burns accused the police of walking “free” when they break the law, and that laws are only enforced when it’s “convenient for them and the state.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Students for Revolution, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Austin Police Department for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
