Republicans block women’s equality, enshrine ‘separate but equal’

 By Mike Killalea

Texas House GOP vote down amendments stating that women deserve equal treatment, defend segregation-era language

Texas House Republicans yesterday voted for a bill echoing the infamous "separate but equal” doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court ruling that upheld racial segregation.

The bill enshrining “separate but equal,” HB 229, was written by Rep Ellen Troxclair, HD-19. Troxclair represents the North Shore of Lake Travis, including Jonestown and Lago Vista.

The House’s Republican majority stood united on the wrong side of history in rejecting two amendments, says the Texas Democratic Party. One would have stripped this horrifying phrase from the bill, and another that would have explicitly affirmed women’s equality in legislative findings. 

The legislation, HB 229 by Rep. Ellen Troxclair (R-Lakeway), is allegedly designed to protect women and girls, but apparently cannot do so while acknowledging their fundamental equality. When Rep. Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood) introduced an amendment to acknowledge the historical discrimination women have faced and affirm their equal status, Republicans moved to kill it. They also rejected an amendment by Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) to remove segregation-era language, with Rep. Troxclair personally defending it, saying that the bill mirroring the doctrine of segregation was “intentional language.”

“The language House Republicans voted for today mirrors the logic of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation over a hundred years ago” said HBCU Legislative Caucus Chair Rep. Ron Reynolds. “The phrase ‘separate is not inherently equal’ was the legal foundation for whites-only water fountains in 1896. In 2025, Texas House Republicans fought tooth-and-nail to enshrine it in our state code. Our laws should move us forward, not echo a time when the state’s power was used to divide and exclude.”

“If we are talking about how to protect women and girls, we should do it in the ways women and girls actually need,” said Rep. Erin Zwiener. “My amendment would have acknowledged the longstanding history of discrimination against women on the basis of sex, an acknowledgement all of my colleagues should have been able to support. It’s appalling that this legislature would vote against women’s equality and disturbingly revealing of GOP priorities.”

The dual rejection — refusing to affirm women’s equality while embracing language first penned specifically to provide legal cover for discrimination — is a clear message to Texas women: Republicans think protecting you means keeping you separate, but not equal. House Democrats are committed to ensuring this shameful vote will be remembered, both in the record on the House floor and in the memories and minds of Texas voters.