TL;DR
- Texas Senate hears testimony on anti-trans bathroom bill
- Right-wing YouTuber Alex Stein spews hate-filled speech against trans people
- Calls trans women “gargoyles” and suggests they be used as “suicide bombers” in the military
- Bill would fine agencies allowing trans people in facilities matching their gender
- LGBTQ advocates warn bill will strip dignity, safety, and rights from trans Texans
Texas Senate’s Hate-Fest: When Comedy Dies, Bigotry Kills the Punchline
The Texas Senate’s latest bathroom bill hearing wasn’t just a legislative low—it was a grotesque showcase for one right-wing wannabe shock comic’s career in cruelty. Alex Stein, the self-styled “comedian” and YouTube provocateur, strutted into the chamber like it was open-mic night for hate speech, unloading a barrage of transphobic venom that would make even the most hardened bigot wince.
The setting? Senate Bill 7—a deeply discriminatory piece of legislation that would ban trans people from using public facilities in schools, prisons, government buildings, and even domestic violence shelters if those spaces align with their gender. The penalties are as Texas-sized as the prejudice: $5,000 for a first offense by any institution that dares respect trans rights, jumping to $25,000 for repeat “offenders.”
More than 400 people—many of them trans Texans and allies—showed up to testify against this legislative poison pill. Their stories were heartfelt, harrowing, and rooted in lived experience. But then came Stein, ready to turn other people’s humanity into his punchline.
The “Jokes” That Weren’t Jokes
In an opening that could only be described as aggressively unfunny, Stein declared he “wasn’t anti-LGBTQ+” because he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan and “has a lot of gay pride.” What followed was a masterclass in cruelty: referring to trans women as “gargoyles in a dress,” “mentally ill,” and “perverts” who supposedly lurk in bathrooms for sexual kicks—a tired lie long debunked.
Stein didn’t stop there. He dragged the US military into his act, peddling the Trump-era ban on trans service members as if it were gospel. Then he detonated the most vile line of the day: suggesting that because of the higher suicide rate among trans people, the military should use them as “suicide bombers,” comparing them to Taliban insurgents.
His “logic” was as dangerous as it was absurd, playing into a baseless conspiracy theory that trans people are behind most mass shootings—a claim not only false but disproven by decades of data showing cisgender men commit the overwhelming majority.
The Human Cost
For the trans Texans who stood before lawmakers that day, the stakes weren’t about making headlines—they were about survival. Autumn Lauener, vice president of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars, delivered a sobering reminder: “I won’t just lose access to a restroom. I’ll lose access to the future in the state I worked so hard to build. I’ll be forced to use the men’s restroom in workplaces that perceive me as a threat, risking harassment or worse.”
This is the reality for trans people under attack from legislation like SB7: humiliation, danger, and erasure wrapped in the language of “public safety.” For the LGBTQ community, this bill is a brutal reminder that bigotry can wear a suit, take the mic, and call itself policy.
The LGBTQ community knows all too well that hateful rhetoric like Stein’s doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it fuels real-world harm. When lawmakers give platforms to voices that dehumanize trans people, it legitimizes discrimination, emboldens violence, and chips away at the fragile progress hard-won over decades.
Comedy should punch up, not target the marginalized. Stein’s performance wasn’t edgy—it was dangerous. For every smirk he delivered, there’s a trans teen in Texas wondering if their government will ever see them as human. That’s not a joke. That’s a tragedy.