FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 16, 2025
CONTACT: Marco Guajardo, press@texasaft.org
Legislation targets students of color and LGBTQ students
AUSTIN, Texas – Today, Texas AFT joined ongoing litigation against Senate Bill 12, a new state law that bans gay-straight alliance (GSA) clubs, prevents educators from using students’ chosen names and pronouns, and prohibits diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts from public and charter K-12 schools. The lawsuit, filed by GSA Network and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) in late August, alleges that SB 12 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the federal Equal Access Act. Individual plaintiffs include a teacher, a student, and the student’s parent, all of whom have been directly affected by SB 12’s unlawful provisions.
“When educators step in the classroom, we make a promise to support our students and their families. SB 12 asks us to set aside both that promise and the state’s own educator code of ethics to be footsoldiers for Texas’s anti-inclusion crusade,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. “Texas can’t legislate students of color and LGBTQ+ students out of our public schools. All these laws do is teach students from a young age that they aren’t welcome in their own state. Texas educators won’t be party to that.”
Excerpts from the AFT declaration:
- “These harsh consequences can be triggered without a clear burden of proof or any due process rights for Texas AFT’s members. If a parent complains that one of our members is ‘assisting’ a student’s social transition — as vaguely defined as it is — and a school board agrees with them, that member can be immediately placed on leave and threatened with the possibility of never teaching again.”
- “Like the Social Transition Ban, the Don’t Say LGBTQ+ prohibition is not limited to the curriculum or educators’ official duties and threatens to suppress Texas AFT members’ constitutionally protected speech in their own private capacity, including if educators encounter students on the weekend or at community events.”
- “Having to discriminate against students makes our own members who are LGBTQ+ feel more marginalized and isolated when any student organizations supporting LGBTQ+ identities are banished from Texas schools.”
- “By requiring Texas AFT members to stop GSAs from meeting and to stop sharing information with students about race, gender, and sexual orientation, S.B. 12 puts our members in an untenable ethical dilemma. If these members are accused of violating the Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics, they may face threats to their certifications or other disciplinary sanctions imposed by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC).”
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The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.