Texas public schools already accommodate religious and medical diets every day. Kosher, vegetarian, and allergy-safe meals are routine, and no one treats them as a threat. So I was alarmed that the state Republican Party's 2026 platform singles out halal, the dietary practice many Muslim families follow, for exclusion.
Halal is not a political program. It means meat slaughtered under specific religious standards, no pork, and no alcohol in the food. It works exactly the way kosher rules work for many Jewish families. Banning one faith's accommodation while leaving every other in place is religious discrimination, plain and simple.
The plank did not come out of nowhere. At the same June convention in Houston, Muslim delegates were harassed and told to leave the party and the country, and a luncheon speaker called halal food part of a 'global jihad.' That is the climate this proposal came out of.
I am asking you, as my state representative and senator, to do two things. Reject any bill that would bar Texas public schools or other public institutions from offering halal meals or accommodating prayer. And say publicly that religious freedom in Texas protects Muslim families as fully as everyone else.
The First Amendment does not have an exception for a faith a politician finds unfamiliar. Please protect the right of every Texas family to send their child to school without their religion being treated as a problem.
