Shawn Nicole Thierry (born August 6, 1969) is an American politician. She was a Republican member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

, after an August 30, 2024 switch from the Democratic Party, representing the 146th District. She won the November 2016 general election and was sworn into office on January 10, 2017. She lost her re-election bid for her Texas House seat on May 28, 2024 after being defeated by Lauren Ashley Simmons by 65% to 35% in the Democratic primary runoff. Thierry was an unsuccessful candidate for the 57th Civil District Court in 2010.

Positions

In April 2023, Thierry voted in favor of HB 900, to ban books from public schools deemed "sexually explicit". The bill was heavily criticized by

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

advocates for including books containing reference to LGBT topics in its definition of sexually explicit. In May of that year, Thierry broke ranks with her party to vote in favor of a bill to ban gender affirming care for trans minors. She has also voted in favor of bans on trans women from women's sports. On March 5, 2024, Thierry came in second in the primary elections to her challenger, Lauren Ashley Simmons, a

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

union organizer who ran in opposition to Thierry's anti-LGBT votes and activism, and was forced into a run-off. On May 28, 2024, Thierry was defeated by Simmons, having received 35.4% of the vote. After losing her re-election bid, Thierry joined the American wing of the gender-critical group Genspect as the director of political strategy. On August 30, 2024, Thierry officially announced that she would be leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party. Thierry further discussed her decision to leave the Democratic Party at the 2024 national summit for the right-wing group Moms for Liberty.

Personal life

Thierry is a former

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and practicing

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...

Notes

References

External links

State legislative page

Shawn Thierry at the Texas Tribune
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thierry, Shawn Living people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas lawyers Howard University alumni Thurgood Marshall School of Law alumni 1969 births Former Roman Catholics Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Texas Politicians from Houston Women state legislators in Texas 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature