"Broader effort to erase trans people" - Transgender fighter Alana McLaughlin slams 'discriminatory' bill by Texas Governor 

Alana McLaughlin is one of the very few transgender MMA fighters to have competed in recent years.

Using her platform and the audience she has, Alana McLaughlin penned a column for The Guardian regarding TX HB 25, a bill recently signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

With the law in place, Texas became the tenth state after the likes of Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi to ban transgender youths from participating in sports. TX HB 25 requires public school students to compete in athletic competitions solely based on biological sex.

Alana McLaughlin called the decision "blatantly discriminatory" and claimed that it is an active effort to erase the identities of transgender people from society:

"Bills like TX HB 25, which was just signed into law by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, are blatantly discriminatory and are part of a broader effort to erase trans people from public life," Alana McLaughlin wrote.

McLaughlin also slammed legislative efforts to ban gender-affirming healthcare, such as puberty blockers, which allow transgender kids to go through the process of transitioning with less difficulty.

In the piece, Alana McLaughlin compared the 'demonization' of transgender people to the discrimination immigrants and people of color have systematically faced. She also claimed that there is no 'widespread transgender dominance' in 'any sport, anywhere in the world'. She blamed politicians for using transgender children to advance their political agenda:

"They are using transgender children as scapegoat and compromising their health and safety to score political points with their party and their constituents. Trans kids deserve equal access to sports. Trans people deserve equal access to public life."

However, Alana McLaughlin is confident that, as a community, they will be able to push back and history will not remember such statesmen kindly. To prove her point, she cited the New York State Athletic Commission suspending Muhammad Ali's license for protesting against the Vietnam War and the NFL blacklisting Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee to protest police brutality against African-Americans.

---

Alana McLaughlin recently made her MMA debut

Nicknamed 'Lady Feral', Alana McLaughlin found herself on the receiving end of criticism after making a successful MMA debut with a submission win against Celine Provost at Combate Global.

Among those who did celebrate her victory was fellow transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox.

Alana McLaughlin became the first trans woman to take part in a mixed martial arts bout since Fallon Fox broke Tamikka Brents' skull at CCCW seven years ago.