Senate panel gives first OK to measure limiting access for transgender people
AUSTIN — Texas’ battle over bathroom policies engulfed the state Capitol again Friday as a key state Senate committee approved a bill that has divided Texans for months.
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 8-1 in favor of legislation that would — if it becomes law — bar cities and school districts from adopting bathroom or locker-room policies that allow transgender people to use facilities that they are more comfortable with if it is opposite of what is on their birth certificates.
The bill also would bar transgender students from competing in scholastic sports as women if their birth certificates indicate they were born male.
The vote came after more than 250 people packed a committee hearing to testify over 10 hours. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for debate, which could start as early as Monday morning. The full Senate is expected to approve the bill and then send it to the House, where
leaders have long balked at backing the bill, saying the Legislature should focus on more pressing priorities.
The proposal also would require people to use the bathroom of the sex that is on their birth certificates at public schools and charter schools, even if they are transgender and better identify with a different sex.
“This issue is about much more than bathrooms,” state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said in support of the bill she filed that is similar to a measure she pushed earlier this year that failed. “This is about finding the balance between the right to declare your gender and the right of a parent to protect their child.”
Kolkhorst said the legislation is aimed at protecting the privacy of children in bathrooms from men who could pretend to be transgender to abuse them.
That brought a pointed response from Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who said if that is the goal then the better legislation would be tougher laws against people impersonating a transgender person.
Both sides seek protection
The response was even sharper from the hundreds of Texans who filled the chamber, where a majority spoke out against the legislation that they said would isolate transgender children and hurt the state’s economy as groups nationwide threaten boycotts of Texas like North Carolina dealt with when they passed a similar law last year.
“This bill is a dangerous bill,” said Patty Woodruff, the mother of a 16-year-old transgender daughter who drove four hours from Rusk and waited more than five hours to testify before the committee. “Our kids are not going to be safe anywhere.This bill is a hate bill.”
Others warned that transgender children and adults already have enough to overcome without being forced to go into a bathroom with people they consider the opposite sex.
“What about my safety?” asked Ashley Smith of San Antonio, who said she is transgender and worries about the response she would get if she were forced into a men’s bathroom.
“I just can’t see the urgent need to regulate bathroom use,” said Smith, who went viral last week when she posed with Gov. Greg Abbott in a picture in San Antonio last week.
But supporters of SB 3 were unrelenting themselves in stressing the legislation is needed to protect women and girls who are at risk in bathrooms now because of predators acting like they are transgender to get access to children. One of those to testify was Houston pastor Dave Welch of the Texas Pastor Council, who said some cities are making it less safe for women than others and the state needs to step in to make one statewide policy.
“Every woman, in every corner of Texas, every child needs to have uniform protections in our public places where they are most vulnerable,” Welch said. “It is the responsibility of the Legislature to deal with this.”
Austin resident Caryl Ayala argued that gay rights groups have gone too far in opposing basic bathroom protections.
“You have to pass this bill because the gay movement is pushing transgender policies,” Ayala said.
Turner opposes measure
But passing the bill jeopardizes the state economy, business leaders and city government leaders warned.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg told the committee he fears the bathroom bill is going to make it harder for all Texas cities to attract conventions and other businesses to the state as people and groups boycott the state. Plus he said he worries about the reaction from the NCAA and other sports leagues that pulled events from North Carolina after that state passed a similar bill.
“This bill will impede our ability to compete,” Nirenberg said.
It’s a similar concern that was issued by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who submitted a letter to the committee to express his disagreement.
“These bills do not address a single problem Texans actually face,” Turner wrote. “They add to the problems of many. These bills harm transgender Texans who only seek to live their lives in peace.”
Business leaders also testified warning that the committee is threatening the state’s ability to lure business to the Lone Star State. Visit Dallas CEO Phillip Jones said the state risks big economic losses if the bill ever becomes law.
“We will be devastated,” Jones said. “The economic consequences will be significant.”
Tom Noonan of Visit Austin followed that later by warning that festivals like South by Southwest and the Austin City Limits Festival could face boycotts by artists.
Business leaders who have spent much of the week sounding off about the legislation have warned that Texas has already lost $66 million in conventions just over the prospect of the bill becoming law.
A long way to go
Abbott has ordered the Legislature to take up the bathroom bill again as part of a special session that started Tuesday. He has argued the legislation is a privacy issue and is meant to protect children. A similar bill failed to pass the Legislature during the regular session that ended May 30.
But the measure still has a long way to go because of the Texas House, which has shown little interest in passing a companion bill. Both chambers must pass identical bills for it to have a chance to become law.
During the regular session, the House held a hearing on similar legislation but has never brought it to the floor for a vote.
House Speaker Joe Straus, RSan Antonio, avoided any mention of the bathroom bill in a message to supporters earlier this week and stressed he is only focused on working on items during the special session that promote private-sector growth, protect the vulnerable Texans and won’t grow government.