Texas AG Ken Paxton, Sen. Ted Cruz support ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’

The "Women's Bill of Rights" also quotes the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown vs. Board of Education— which ruled that racial segregation in schools was inherently unequal— to assert that "separate is not inherently unequal" and that "there are legitimate reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other areas where biology, safety, and/or privacy are implicated."

Paxton announced in a Wednesday news release that he signed the document, joining nine other GOP state attorneys general who have also backed it, including Lynn Fitch of Mississippi, Steve Marshall of Alabama, Lynn Rutledge of Arkansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana and Sean Reyes of Utah.

"The radical left has long had trouble with telling the truth," Paxton said in the release. "They've tried to redefine the word 'recession,' revise American history, paint concerned parents as 'domestic terrorists,' and now they want to fundamentally change what it means to be a woman. It's wrong, and it's why I'm fighting to stop their dangerous agenda that threatens women and anyone who stands up for what's right."

The measure has also been introduced in Congress as a "resolution establishing a Women's Bill of Rights to reaffirm legal protections afforded to women under Federal law," a measure cosponsored by Cruz. In an emailed statement, a spokesman for the junior senator wrote: "As a husband, and father of two daughters, Sen. Cruz is proud to support women and ensure their rights are protected. While the radical left is trying to destroy what it means to be a woman, Sen. Cruz is fighting to protect the rights of women and girls."

The "Women's Bill of Rights" was developed by the Independent Women's Voice, an advocacy group that aims to share "conservative, free market ideas and solutions with women and Independents."

"We know what a woman is, what a female is, and what a mother is. Our politicians and our laws should too," a site about the document states. "Radical gender ideologues are trying to redefine womanhood as a subjective state unrelated to biology. This isn’t just about semantics. This limits our opportunities and threatens our privacy and our safety."

Critics of the bill, including LGBTQ+ rights advocacy organization Equality Texas, have called the measure anti-transgender. In a Twitter thread, the organization said the document neither supports women nor expands their rights. 

"Gender is an aspect of how people move through the world—not something that can be regulated by the government," the organization wrote on Twitter. "Attempting to legally remove trans women does not make them disappear. Denying trans people their rights, undermine the basic dignity and humanity that all Texans deserve."