Expectations don’t always match reality, which is something Texas Democrats just learned the hard way. After being given a key position of power in the Texas Legislature, longtime Houston lawmaker Harold Dutton, a Democrat, was supposed to help his party by blocking legislation they oppose from reaching the House floor. Surprisingly, he didn’t.
Dutton, who has served in the Legislature since 1985, was given a key position in the public education committee by Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan.
Instead of walking in lock-step with his increasingly radical party, he advanced two key pieces of legislation out of his committee that are driving Democrats crazy: a bill that would ban critical race theory from schools, and a bill that would ban biological males from competing in women’s sports.
Another bill that Dutton is currently championing is legislation that would tie school funding to student outcomes.
Democrats are extremely confused and angry about the so-called betrayal. “I thought having a chair that was a Democrat meant that things would be more accelerated and more progressive. I was wrong,” said San Antonio Democrat Rep. Diego Bernal, who also sits on the public education committee.
The left-wing media is also losing their minds over Dutton’s decisions. In an article about the issue, Houston Public Media whined about one of the bills that Dutton pushed through, complaining that it will “force transgender students to play on school sports teams based on their biological sex instead of their gender identity.”
To anyone with half a brain, that doesn’t sound like a bad thing. Biological males have a significant advantage over biological females when it comes to sports.
If the Democrats had their way, there would be no biological females left in women’s sports, as transgender “women” would be chosen over actual women for every team due to their advantages.
According to Dutton, he’s just running his committee with the best interest of school children in mind. “I have never worried about the negative,” Dutton said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “If you see me running in a fight, I’m chasing somebody, I’m not running.”
Dutton also noted that he treats each piece of legislation fairly. “Many come to me with votes I don’t like and I bring them up,” he said. “That’s true for any bill before our committee.”
Of course, Democrats don’t care about fairness. “His actions are childish and harmful and completely unacceptable,” The Harris County Democratic Party wrote on its Facebook.
Andrea Segovia, policy and field coordinator for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, is also complaining about Dutton’s actions.
She doesn’t want every bill to be considered, only the ones she agrees with. Segovia would prefer that Dutton stop the transgender sports bill to send a message to the rest of the country that the idea isn’t even allowed to be debated.
“When we stop bad legislation, we stop it throughout the country,” she said. “When we advance it, it goes wildfire.”
Dutton disagrees, arguing that any bill that has enough votes should be discussed and debated.
“Some people might disagree with it but I think that’s how the committee ought to run,” Dutton said. “If you have the votes we ought to talk about it.”