West Houston News

Texas gubernatorial hopeful Donald Huffines is advocating for a bill that would prevent gender transitioning in children.

Huffines, a Republican who represented Texas’ 16th Senate District from 2015 to 2019, said Gov. Greg Abbott blocked the bill inappropriately.

“Protecting TX kids from Leftist sickos who want to engage in genital mutilation surgeries, chemical castration, and brainwashing is a no-brainer that should have been accomplished in Texas. Abbott and others blocked the bill. I will make sure it passes,” Huffines said on Twitter.

Huffines will face Abbott in the gubernatorial primary set for March 1.

Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan were outed for killing the legislation amid receiving $250,000 in campaign contributions from a political action committee tied to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, according to Katy Christian Magazine.

Abbott alone received $80,000 in campaign funds.

Subsequently Senate Bill 1311 was blocked in the Texas

 House of Representatives.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center previously hosted the GENder Education and Care Interdisciplinary Support program from 2014, a D Magazine story said, but closed the program’s doors earlier this year after the campaign donations were revealed.

The center — under the oversight of pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Ximena Lopez — provided hormone therapy for children with “gender dysphoria." 

“The Board Members of Dallas Children’s refuse to promise they will limit ‘gender dysphoria’ patients  under 18 to therapy only!,” advocacy group Save the Kids wrote on its Facebook page prior to the center's closure. “That is our only ask. Children and young teens look for belonging and  identity throughout their youth. This is normal. What is NOT normal, is  allowing children to undergo irreversible ‘Puberty blocking therapy,’ which is akin to chemical castration. We demand the GENECIS clinic cease  this practice at once.”

The clinic delayed puberty by pumping children full of hormones. Existing patients were not affected by the clinic’s closure.

Abbott has faced criticism in the GOP ranks over his political stances, including his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Lone Star Standard.

Former Texas GOP chair Allen West warned Texans of Abbott’s overreach when it comes to executive orders, The Texas Tribune reported — particularly those surrounding COVID — and called Phelan a “Republican political traitor.”

Huffines operates Huffines Communities, a real estate development company in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.