Conservative Christians rally to further legislative agenda,
They cheer advances, call for House vote on bathroom bill.
Inspired by the recent success of bills seeking to crack down on abortion and transgender-friendly bathrooms, conservative Christians rallied at the Capitol on Thursday to continue pressing for favored legislation.
“For too many years we have been the silent majority,” Rafael Cruz, father of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said to shouts of “Amen!” on the Capitol’s south steps. “Well, we can be silent no more.”
A crowd of about 275 at the Faith and Family Day rally cheered state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, whose bill to ban second trimester “dismemberment abortions” received initial Senate approval Wednesday.
“God put us here to fight these battles,” Perry said. “When we’re on the Senate or House floor debating these tough issues, we feel your prayers. It gives us strength, it gives us courage, it gives us hope.”
Loud cheers also greeted state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who said she had “a good week, a long week” leading up to the Senate passage of Senate Bill 6, which would ban transgender people from using the bathroom conforming to their gender identity in public schools and universities and in government buildings.
“I believe in my heart that we must put safety and dignity ahead of social engineering that is disguised as civil rights,” Kolkhorst said. “Senate Bill 6 puts the safety, privacy and dignity of our children ahead of other people’s agendas, some of which we might call radical agendas.”
Kolkhorst also said she received vitriolic emails from the supposedly “tolerant left” and revealed that her office had received a death threat while the Senate was debating SB 6 on Wednesday.
After the event, Kolkhorst said the Department of Public Safety