AUSTIN, TX — Today Independent Women celebrates the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee raising HB 229 for a hearing, following Independent Women ambassadors’ Legislative Day of Action at the Texas Capitol this week. Independent Women Ambassadors Payton McNabb and Amie Ichikawa launched into action for a full day of meetings, press conferences, and advocacy, calling on Texas to define “woman” and “man” throughout state law by passing HB 229, sponsored by Rep. Ellen Troxclair (District 19). The sex-definition bill, modeled after Independent Women’s model Stand With Women legislation, received bipartisan support in the House and is now awaiting passage in the Senate.
Payton McNabb, Independent Women sports ambassador and former high school athlete, and Amie Ichikawa, Independent Women women’s spaces ambassador, former prisoner, and founder of Woman II Woman, helped to drive support for this legislation through giving accounts of the personal harm they have both experienced from men self-identifying into women-only sports and spaces.
McNabb and Ichikawa emphasized that Texas cannot prevent sex discrimination if they do not define “sex.” Their visit marks a two-year legislative effort by Independent Women advocating for Texas to codify the definitions of male and female terms in state law. Independent Women worked with Rep. Ellen Troxclair in the 2023 legislative session to first introduce sex definitions, but the bill failed to move. This week marks tremendous progress, having already passed in the House and seemingly sailing through the Senate.
Representative Ellen Troxclair said, “It’s sad that we have to do this in 2025 and protect the hard-fought rights that women have earned and women deserve. But today is the day that we are going to make sure it gets done. Texas hopefully will become the 17th state to provide these protections for women in state law. And I am so grateful for the advocacy and support of women across the state and across the country to make sure that this bill gets to Governor Abbott’s desk and that women are protected for centuries to come.”
Ichikawa testified yesterday during the Texas Senate State Affairs hearing in support of HB 229, she said:
“Without clear definitions, policies that prioritize ideology over reality will continue to endanger the safety, privacy, and rights of women. This bill also helps protect single-sex spaces, which are critical for the dignity and well-being of women in prisons, shelters, sports, and other settings. We all want to ensure the rights of all are protected, but when men invade women’s spaces, like prisons, women are disproportionately harmed and their rights are discarded in the name of inclusion. You can be both for equality and single-sex spaces.”
Previously, Ichikawa, McNabb, Riley Gaines, and Independent Women testified in favor of HB 229 before the Texas House State Affairs Committee.
If HB 229 is passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, Texas would join Kansas, Tennessee, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Georgia in adopting laws inspired by Independent Women’s Stand With Women model, positively affecting the lives of nearly 30 million women and girls.
For media inquiries or to book Payton McNabb and/or Amie Ichikawa, please email [email protected].
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