It's nice to see a politician acting on principle for once.

Shawn Thierry represents House District 146 in the Texas state legislature. While she lost her primary election in May, she has been a Democrat - until recently. Now she has switched to the GOP for her last few months in office, citing the discussion over a Texas bill banning "gender-affirming" care for minors as her reason for leaving the Democratic Party:

State Rep. Shawn Thierry published a statement to social media on Friday decrying the Democratic Party's march into the "progressive abyss" after she lost her primary for supporting a GOP-led bill protecting minors from gender transition procedures.

"The Democratic Party has veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies that I cannot, in good conscience, support — policies like promoting sex changes for children during a vulnerable stage of their lives, and dismantling Title IX protections for women in sports," Thierry wrote.

Thierry said because of her break with the values of her party, she will serve her final few months in office as a member of the GOP.

"I now stand with the party of Lincoln, the party that fought to preserve our Union and fought to end the atrocities of slavery," she added.

It's a fine pass we've come to when an elected representative feels the need to leave her political party over the question of whether or not we should allow the chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of children, or the practice of allowing men to compete in women's sports. Democrats, by and large, support these practices, while Republicans oppose them. That's what Shawn Thierry is concerned about. Her post continued:

"Mothers around our country from all backgrounds, races, and communities understand that it’s our sacred duty to preserve the innocence of our children, protect them from being sexualized, and sterilized," Thierry wrote. "To respect universal truths, and to uphold the rights of biological women as defined by science, nature, and common sense." 

"I will not be alone; I will be with millions of courageous women and men of good conscience, who are willing to place people over political ideology," she concluded.

This, dear readers, is a statement of principle. We can hope that state Rep. Thierry is correct in this assessment. And she has paid the price for her expressed principle, which was the main reason she lost her primary election. She was on record early on for supporting the GOP-sponsored bill outlawing "gender-affirming" care for minors and was immediately the target of attacks from her fellow Democrats. 

It's important to note that she does not even oppose these treatments for adults; only for children. Yet she was challenged in the Democrat primary and lost over her stance.

Previously on RedState: Federal Judge Blocks Major HHS Rule Equating Sex to Gender Identity 

NEW: Supreme Court Denies Biden Admin. Emergency Request to Partially Reinstate Title IX Rule

It's baffling, isn't it, that this should be controversial at all. We do not, after all, allow children - minors - to sign contracts, to get married, to join the military or get married without parental permission, to purchase a firearm, to drink a beer, or to get a tattoo. But national Democrats have made it part of their party's platform; they profess to believe that children should, in some cases without parental permission or even notification, engage in "transition" which can involve permanent, life-changing treatments.

What makes it all worse is that, in some circles, especially Hollywood, having a "transgender child" is something of a status symbol, making the parents complicit.

So Thierry is now a Republican, and it seems certain we haven't heard the last from her.