House passes ‘bathroom bill’ amendment
Lawmakers must vote on issue again before sending measure to Senate
AUSTIN — The Texas House passed a whittleddown version of the socalled “bathroom bill” Sunday night, controversial legislation that bans children from using the school bathroom that best aligns with their gender identity.
It’s part of a larger push by conservative Republican leaders in the Senate on an issue that has commanded the attention of both chambers this Legislative session.
“This is shameful. We all know what we’re doing, and everyone watching knows, too, no matter what code words are being used,” said Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso who unsuccessfully attempted to derail the bill by raising a point of order questioning whether the amendment is germane to the bill.
The House voted 91-50 to tack the language onto an unrelated piece of legislation, Senate Bill 2078, Sunday while facing a threat by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that failure to pass a “bathroom bill” could spur a special session to keep lawmakers in Austin past the May 29 adjournment. The bill now needs a third reading in the House before it can return to the Senate.
The lower chamber has refused to take up Senate Bill 6, Patrick’s flagship measure, this session to restrict people using bathrooms in schools and state buildings to the bathroom
that correlates to the sex on a person’s birth certificate.
Patrick contends the issue is a matter of privacy and safety for women to use the restroom without a man present. Transgender rights’ advocates say the bill seeks to discriminate against transgender people and it is already illegal for people to assault someone in the bathroom. The business community has heavily fought the bill, saying it would hurt business in the state.
More than 125,000 transgender adults live in Texas, according to a 2016 study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Lawmakers amended a bill that would require school districts to share details and audits of their emergency disaster plans with the state, including how a school would react to a tornado or an active shooter situation.
Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, carried the amendment, arguing the added language would allow all students access to a single-stall bathroom or empty multi-stall facility, including those who are shy, have a colonoscopy bag or other reasons for wanting privacy. The amendment was relevant to the bill because it concerns safety, he said.
Differing opinions
Few Republicans spoke on the bill, but several female Democrat lawmakers roamed the men’s bathroom prior to the debate. Another held a picture at the front podium showing “white” and “colored” bathroom signs.
“Bathrooms divided us then, and it divides us now,” said Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, recalling the country’s history of racism that forced African Americans to use separate bathrooms. “We talk about how God created life. God created transgenders, too.”
House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican, has opposed previous iterations of the bathroom bill, calling it “manufactured and unnecessary.” After the vote Sunday, he indicated the new version passed by the House was watered down and would help sidestep a special session.
“I believe this amendment will allow us to avoid the severely negative impact of Senate Bill 6,” Straus said. “Members of the House wanted to act on this issue, and my philosophy as Speaker has never been to force my will on the body.”
The Texas Association of School Boards also came out in favor of the bill after the vote Sunday, saying the bill “moves the legislation in the right direction.”
TASB called the revised language “a common-sense solution regarding the use of restrooms and other facilities in public schools,” adding that many school districts already make separate bathroom facilities available to transgender students.
“School districts need the flexibility to determine the accommodations that work in each individual case, as student demographics and school facilities will play a large part in how a campus meets it student’s needs,” the statement said.
But advocates say the legislation will further alienate transgender students from their peers, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.
“Transgender youth deserve the same dignity and respect as their peers, and this craven attempt to use children as a pawn for cheap political points is disturbing and unconscionable,” said JoDee Winterhof, the group’s senior vice president for policy and political affairs.
The bill now will go before the House a final time for a procedural vote before returning to the Senate, which will vote either to accept the House’s changes or request a conference committee to iron out differences. Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said the legislation was a priority for him and threatened to force a special session over the issue. While the House’s language does not go as far as the Senate’s, it was not immediately clear Sunday whether Paddie’s amendment would be acceptable to Patrick.
In March, the Senate approved its own so-called “bathroom bill,” Senate Bill 6, which would force transgender Texans to use restrooms and locker rooms in public colleges and government buildings that correspond to their “biological sex” as designated on their birth certificate. LGBT groups and the state’s largest business lobby blasted SB 6, by GOP Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, as a discriminatory measure that would make Texas unattractive to major companies with LGBT-inclusive policies.
Legislative scrambling
For months, Republican lawmakers who wanted to pass some kind of “bathroom” bill tried to get broader legislation on the House floor for a vote. Several GOP members eventually coalesced around one by Rep. Ron Simmons of Carrollton that would have prohibited cities, counties and public school districts from enforcing non-discrimination ordinances when they involve multi-occupancy restrooms or locker rooms. It won praise from Gov. Greg Abbott, who called it “thoughtful” in his first public comments on a bathroom proposal.
However, none of their proposals won committee approval before a key House bill-approval deadline passed, effectively killing the lawmakers’ efforts on that front. That prompted some Republicans to find a still-viable bill to attach “bathroom” language to as an amendment. They eventually settled on Paddie’s amendment and SB 2076.