Group’s new ads oppose ‘bathroom bills’
Business lobbyists behind $1 million ad campaign.
Two new radio advertisements critical of proposals in the Texas Legislature to restrict transgender-friendly bathroom policies are hitting the airwaves this week, part of a $1 million ad campaign by the state’s main business lobbying group to oppose the so-called “bathroom bills.”
In the ads funded by the Texas Association of Business, two Republicans — former state State Rep. Jim Keffer of Eastland and Denton County Judge Mary Horn — call the proposals unnecessary diversions.
“Some Texas politicians have made up issues, like bathroom bills, that are distractions from real concerns,” Keffer says in one of the ads. “Concerns like school finance reform, and real property tax relief — that’s what matters to me.”
Horn, who refers to herself as “a lifelong conservative Republican,” says backers of the bathroom bills “are seeking to solve a problem that simply does not exist.”
The efforts are “completely unnecessary and go against my Christian values and conservative principles,” she says. “These bills won’t protect anyone, but they will harm our state, our businesses and some of the most vulnerable among us.”
In both ads, listeners are urged to seek more information at keeptexasopenforbusiness.com.
Many Texas business groups have come out against the effort to regulate transgender bathroom access, calling it unnecessary and discriminatory. They also contend it could seriously hurt the state’s economy because new businesses and talented workers may not want to move to Texas if it’s approved, and because high-profile conferences, meetings and sporting events might be canceled.
Supporters of the bathroom bill — including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans — say such economic claims are overblown. They say legislation requiring transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate is needed to protect women and girls from men who could prey upon them in women’s bathrooms.