LGBT activists accuse Texas of ‘ assault’
Supporters of bills cite safety issues, religious freedom
One bill would make it legal to AUSTIN decline adoption services to gay couples. Another could deny them marriage licenses. Others would bar transgender Texans from using the public bathroom of their choice.
Supporters of the bills circulating in the Texas Legislature this session say they’re intended to protect the religious rights of citizens or maintain safety in public bathrooms. Critics counter that they’re an unprecedented attack on LGBT rights.
Gay rights activists count 24 bills introduced into the Legislature this session that they say would infringe on the rights of LGBT residents in Texas — more than any other time in state history. The bills are a new front in the attack on LGBT rights by Texas’ Republicanled Legislature after a U. S. Supreme Court decision two years ago recognizing the right to marry for same sex couples, said Chuck Smith, president of Equality Texas, which advocates for LGBT rights.
“This is the most number of specifically anti- LGBT bills that we’ve ever faced,” he said. “It’s an all- out assault on LGBT people.”
One of the most contentious bills has been Senate Bill 6, the “bathroom bill,” which would require that people use bathrooms in public schools and government buildings based on their “biological sex” and prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
Another bill would allow county clerks to pass off issuing marriage licenses to other county officials if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, and another would keep transgender athletes from competing in high school sports.
“If these bills are enacted in their current form, we will see litigation,” Smith said.
Texas is not alone. This year, state lawmakers have introduced 131 bills that are considered anti- LGBT in 30 states, according to figures compiled by the Washington- based Human Rights Campaign. Nine of those bills have passed into law.
Texas leads the nation with the number of bills considered anti- LGBT. Last year, 252 bills were introduced, eight of which became laws, according to the HRC statistics.
The trend is a familiar one: As in cases concerning reproductive or voter rights, when initiatives that impede minorities’ rights are blocked at the federal level, lawmakers turn to state houses to try to pass laws, said Cathryn Oakley, HRC’s senior legislative counsel.
“It’s happening all around the country,” Oakley said of the bills. “Unsurprisingly, Texas just does it bigger.”