Saturday, January 07, 2017

TEXAS CONTINUES BATHROOM WARS


"Less than a year after the sports and entertainment industries turned their backs on North Carolina for passing its so-called bathroom bill, Texas’ lieutenant governor on Thursday helped unveil a legislative proposal that has much of the same intent as North Carolina’s law but appears to include the potential for exceptions for special events.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a conservative Republican and president of the Texas Senate, has been pushing for legislation he said would protect women and children by ensuring that transgender people would have to use public restrooms and locker rooms assigned to their "biological sex" on their birth certificate.
The Texas bill (SB6) contains language that would appear to make it possible for a private organization to determine the bathroom-usage rules at public facilities they rent — the situation that occurs when, for instance, the NCAA signs an agreement to hold the Final Four at a facility such as the Alamodome, which is owned and operated by the City of San Antonio.
Specifically, the bill states that a “private entity that leases or contracts to use a building owned or leased by" a public entity “is not subject to a policy developed under” the bill. In addition, the bill says that the state and various localities “may not require or prohibit a private entity that leases or contracts to use a building owned or leased by” a public entity “from adopting a policy on the designation or use of bathroom or changing facilities located in the building.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2017/01/05/ncaa-response-texas-transgender-bathroom-bill-sb-6-hb-2-strike-lgbtq/96196940/

A number of Texas business organizations and state economic development groups are afraid the bill could cost the state millions of dollars.  I don't know if the bills exception will make a difference.  Companies that want to invest in Texas are irrelevant to the exception.  The issue is the big picture of LGBT rights. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

  1. Public safety should be the driving force behind any legislated policy regardless of its political ramifications. Most women I know believe their safety will be jeopardized by allowing physiological males to use female restrooms. I agree totally with this concern.

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