COUNTDOWN OF 2017’S TOP STORIES REACHES NO. 4

Texas Republicans led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sought a state law to require transgender Texans to use bathrooms that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than the gender to which they now identify.

Senate Bill 6 drew quick opposition from advocates for LGBTQ rights and from a traditional Republican ally, the Texas Association of Business, which said the bill could lead to an economic backlash against Texas. Long hearings through the night and noisy protests were common through the spring and summer at the Capitol.

The Texas Senate, with Patrick presiding, approved the bill, but it could gain no traction in the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Joe Straus, who refused to let the bill come up for a vote.

The standoff between Patrick and Straus eventually led to a special session, and Gov. Greg Abbott made the bathroom bill one of the measures he wanted to see approved.

Again, Straus and the House refused to budge, and the bathroom bill died.

Abbott expressed his frustration with Straus’ leadership, suggesting he needed to get in line with his administration’s agenda or risk being replaced as speaker by House Republicans when the next session convenes in 2019.

Straus soon took care of that himself, announcing in October that he would not seek re-election, making his fifth turbulent term as speaker of the House his last.

NICK WAGNER / AMERICAN-STATESMAN John Shanks holds up a sign as he joins a protest at the Capitol in July against Senate Bill 6, the so-called “bathroom bill.” The Legislature was beginning its special session that day, and its efforts to pass the bill failed.