Debate begins on bathroom measure
House mulls ban of transgender-friendly facilities in schools.
Arguing into Sunday night, a sharply divided Texas House debated whether to ban trans
gender-friendly bathroom and locker room policies in the state’s public schools.
An amendment, proposed for a bill on school safety and emergency policies, had Democrats and Republicans meeting in small groups on the House floor Sunday, preparing strategy for what has become one of the most divisive issues of the 2017 legislative session.
Sunday afternoon, about a half-dozen Democratic women stopped into the men’s room just off the House floor Sunday as a symbolic protest.
“We’re feeling like making trouble today,” said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, and one of the men’s room visitors. “It’s that kind of mood.”
The amendment to Senate Bill
2078, proposed by Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, would require public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to limit bathroom use to each student’s “biological sex,” barring transgender students from using the bathroom of their gender identity.
The amendment would apply to grade schools and high schools but not colleges and universities.
Paddie said his amendment was an attempt “provide definitive guidance to our school districts.”
“There’s absolutely no intent and, I argue that nothing in this language discriminates against anyone,” Paddie said. “It provides for reasonable accommodations for everyone.”
Democrats planned to propose a series of changes to gut or limit the impact of the amendment, while several conservative Republicans were considering proposals to strengthen it.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, told the House that the bathroom debate reminded her of the discrimination that she and other African-Americans experienced during the fight for civil rights.
“Bathrooms — white, colored,” Thompson said. “Bathrooms divided us then and it divides us now. America has long recognized that separate but equal is not equal at all . ... I can also tell you that separate restrooms for transgender kids are based on fear and not fact.”
If the Republican-led House approves Paddie’s amendment, as expected, the bill would then return to the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made it a top priority to pass a measure known as Senate Bill 6, which would ban transgender-friendly bathroom policies in public schools and universities and in government buildings. SB 6 also would overturn city and county anti-discrimination ordinances that require transgender-friendly bathroom polices.
Last week, Patrick gave the House an ultimatum — pass a bill limiting transgender-friendly bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms or he would work to ensure that a special session is called by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott also has said he wants the Legislature to approve transgender bathroom limits before the session ends May 29.
SB 6, however, bogged down in the House, where Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has called the bathroom issue a manufactured problem.
In addition, House Bill 2899, which would block cities and school districts from enacting or enforcing transgender-friendly restroom policies, died in a House committee.
Under Paddie’s amendment, schools would be required to provide for “single-occupancy facilities for use by a student who does not wish to use the facilities designated for use ... by persons of the student’s biological sex.”
The state attorney general would be responsible for enforcing the bathroom law by filing lawsuits seeking a court order or injunctions against schools or school districts.
Opponents say the amendment expected to be debated Sunday night would single out transgender schoolchildren, making school even more dangerous and unwelcoming for a population that is already vulnerable to bullying and suicide. Opponents also warn that passage would be greeted by boycotts, endangering the state’s economy.
Supporters say restricting bathrooms and locker rooms to a person’s biological sex is safer and a matter of common sense.
Lambda Legal, a civil rights advocacy group, said Texas can expect a lawsuit if the transgender bathroom ban becomes law.
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is hell-bent on making transgender kids into scary villains,” the organization said in a written statement. “If he does succeed in forcing discrimination into Texas law, you can bet that Lambda Legal will be on the case before the next school bell rings.”