Embattled Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who is trailing his Trump-endorsed primary opponent David Covey in a May 28 run-off election, maintains concerning ties with far-left transgender and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) advocacy groups across the state.
Phelan and his wife have long been involved with the Texas chapter of Mental Health America (MHA), a group that promotes gender transition surgeries and DEI policies under the guise of mental health advocacy. Additionally, as Speaker, Phelan used his power over the lower legislative chamber’s floor votes to allow a coalition of establishment Republicans and Democrats to push for taxpayer funding for gender transition surgery for minors.
TIES TO TRANS ADVOCATES.
Dade Phelan, and his wife Kim, have longstanding ties with MHA, a so-called mental health advocacy group that promotes transgenderism and DEI under the guise of healthcare. The group awarded Phelan its 2019 Mental Health Champion recognition. His wife, Kim Phelan, has served as the president of MHA Southeast Texas and, according to her bio, is currently the group’s treasurer.
The MHA pushes propaganda that has increasingly been denounced by the medical community, claiming that transgenderism isn’t a mental health issue. They advocate for treatment plans that include hormone replacement therapies and often irreversible gender transition surgeries that come with potentially life-altering complications.
THE LEFT’S REPUBLICAN SPEAKER.
As a lawmaker, Phelan has been instrumental in advancing a progressive, left-wing political agenda in Texas. The LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas rated Phelan a “C” grade in 2019 — only one of three Republican lawmakers to receive a positive rating. Equality Texas praised Phelan for his “bipartisan leadership” in amending several conservative bills to “ensure they could not be used to preempt municipal nondiscrimination ordinances.”
As Speaker, Phelan often did not take a vote on controversial left-wing legislation, but he would allow it to proceed to the floor, where the establishment Republican and Democrat coalition would vote for passage. One such bill allowed for taxpayer funding of gender transition surgeries for minors.
PHELAN PROFITS FROM PRO-TRANS BUSINESS.
In addition to pushing pro-transgenderism in Austin, Phelan also profits from pro-transgender businesses in his personal life. The Texas House Speaker and his family own several commercial properties in the state, with Planet Fitness being a tenant at two locations.
Planet Fitness has received a bevy of negative press for its refusal to back down from a company policy that allows biological males to enter and use female locker rooms, showers, and bathroom facilities. An Alaska woman was barred from Planet Fitness after complaining about a biological male who stripped naked in the women’s locker room while a female minor was present.
PAXTON IMPEACHMENT LEADER.
Phelan is perhaps best known as the Texas Republican who led the impeachment against the state’s conservative Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch ally of former President Donald J. Trump. Despite the Texas Speaker’s best efforts, Paxton survived the dubious impeachment after the case against him collapsed during the trial in the State Senate.
Several witnesses brought by Phelan’s impeachment managers either recanted their prior statements entirely or admitted that they had no evidence of the accusations they leveled against Paxton. Attorney General Paxton credited The National Pulse with helping expose the false charges against him.
In addition to his attacks on Paxton, Phelan has also scuttled several conservative legislative efforts undertaken by Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX). In one instance, he blocked a 2023 effort to enact school choice despite it being a top issue for Abbott and receiving the backing of the Republican-controlled State Senate.
