State by State · Testimony
Athletes from ICONS-backed lawsuits testified in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit against the NCAA, and Texas opened an investigation into U.S. Masters Swimming after ICONS and others urged it to change its policy.
The law in Texas
Law in force · Covers K-12 and colleges
Texas has kept girls' teams female-only in public and charter schools since 2022, and women's teams female-only at public colleges since 2023.
Past attempts
HB 25 passed only in the third special session of 2021, after similar bills failed in the regular and earlier special sessions (Senate analysis, SB 2 in 1st called session); bill numbers of the failed attempts not individually verified.
The law in detail, with sources
The law
HB 25 (87th Legislature, 3rd called session), 2021, K-12: signed by Gov. Greg Abbott Oct. 25, 2021, effective Jan. 18, 2022 (bill history; enrolled text); adds Education Code § 33.0834. SB 15, “Save Women’s Sports Act,” 2023, college: signed June 18, 2023, effective Sept. 1, 2023 (bill history). Both passed by the legislature.
Who it covers
UIL competition by public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools (private schools are not covered) (HB 25 text); intercollegiate teams at public colleges and universities (SB 15 history).
Notes
K-12 sex is the sex on the birth certificate entered at or near birth (or corrected only for clerical error); girls may play on boys’ teams when no girls’ team is offered (HB 25 text). No successful court challenge found. Protected by the June 30, 2026 Supreme Court ruling (CBS News).
Working with Texas Values
Kim Jones joined Texas Values’ “Race to Save Women’s Sports” panel with Riley Gaines in Austin in 2022. In 2023 Texas passed SB 15, which keeps women’s college sports for female athletes.
“I am thankful for my friends at ICONS for helping us fight to keep men out of women’s sports in Texas.”
— Mary Elizabeth Castle, Texas Values, April 2023
What ICONS has done in Texas
- August 20, 2026 · Kim Slusser, Brooke Slusser’s mother, spoke with Texas Values at the Dallas rally for Sophie Cunningham before the Wings played the Indiana Fever
- March 11, 2026 · ICONS launched “Stand With Angie Griffin” for the swimmer who lost a women’s national title to a male at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring Nationals in San Antonio
- April 9, 2024 · Kim Jones joined Texas Values’ press event on Gaines v. NCAA with plaintiff Katie Blankinship
- June 15, 2023 · Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’s law protecting women’s college sports for female athletes, which ICONS supported
- June 9, 2023 · ICONS and USA Powerlifting held a press conference near Dallas, with Riley Gaines, to protest the Minnesota court ruling
- March 31, 2023 · During the Final Four, ICONS sent LED billboard trucks around Dallas and Houston: “NCAA: Stop Discriminating Against Female Athletes”
- January 12, 2023 · ICONS delivered its legal demand letter to the NCAA at the 2023 NCAA Convention in San Antonio
- September 23, 2022 · Kim Jones spoke on Texas Values’ “Race to Save Women’s Sports” panel with Riley Gaines at the Texas Faith, Family and Freedom Policy Event in Austin
In the courts and statehouses
April 3, 2025 · Texas Senate State Affairs Committee
Brooke Slusser testifies for Texas’s SB 240
Brooke Slusser, a plaintiff in ICONS-backed lawsuits, testified in support of SB 240, which keeps women’s private spaces, such as restrooms and locker rooms, female.
March 18, 2025 · Lubbock County District Court, Texas
Injunction denied
Athletes from ICONS-backed lawsuits testify in Texas v. NCAA
At a temporary-injunction hearing in Attorney General Ken Paxton's suit against the NCAA, plaintiffs from ICONS-backed lawsuits testified, including Brooke Slusser, Kylee Alons and Kaitlynn Wheeler. ICONS publicly supported the state's request that the NCAA verify the sex of athletes on women's teams.
“The NCAA knows it has betrayed female athletes as well as the public.” From the press release, p. 2
Outcome: Judge Les Hatch of the 237th District Court in Lubbock denied Texas's request for a temporary injunction against the NCAA on March 18, 2025. Source
Athletes in ICONS-backed lawsuits
- Brooke Slusser, volleyball, San José State, from Texas · Slusser v. Mountain West
- Ellis Fox, swimming, Texas A&M University · Gaines v. NCAA
In the news
- Texas Attorney General Announces Investigation Into U.S. Masters Swimming (SwimSwam, May 19, 2025)
- Female athletes to testify against NCAA, demanding sex screenings to keep trans athletes out of women's sports (Fox News, March 14, 2025)