Foes of state bill find more allies
Texas Restaurant Association also against transgender bathroom legislation
The Texas Restaurant Association has joined a growing coalition of business executives, law enforcement officials and religious leaders opposing a bathroom bill targeting transgender people, a proposal that has highlighted deep divisions among state legislators throughout the special session now winding down.
The legislation, which would require individuals in public schools and government buildings to use bathrooms, showers and changing facilities corresponding to the biological sex listed on their birth certificates, failed during the regular session but was reintroduced in the special session. It has again passed the Senate and is now pending in the House.
Calling the proposal at odds with its focus on hospitality and inclusiveness, the restaurant industry group wrote a letter to House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, encouraging his continued opposition to the bill.
“Every day our industry
“Every day our industry strives to create an environment that is welcoming to all our guests, both Texas residents and the millions of tourists that visit Texas each year, regardless of their gender, race, religion or sexual orientation,” the letter states. “We must oppose any policies that are not in line with our industry’s core values.”
The bill, introduced by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, remains a deeply divisive issue in the state Legislature since a version of it failed earlier this year in the face of intense opposition from political and business heavyweights across the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Texas Republicans have consistently supported such a measure, arguing it bolsters women’s privacy and safety in bathrooms, but critics say it discriminates against transgender individuals by forcing them to use facilities that don’t align with their gender identities.
The latest version doesn’t stipulate rules for bathroom usage in restaurants and other business establishments. But Jonathan Horowitz, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, said restaurateurs in Houston and elsewhere fear it would chill the state’s tourism and hospitality industries by undermining their appeal to visitors and needlessly addressing what many consider a non-issue.
“A lot of people felt that the bill itself, on its face, is not necessary,” he said. “It’s a solution looking for a problem.”
Straus has consistently opposed the bathroom bill, threatening its passage in the House. In a statement to the Chronicle, Straus said he appreciated feedback “from businesses small and large, as well as law enforcement and thousands of others Texans.”
The bathroom bill has found support in certain conservative and religious groups.
But a larger number of business leaders, law enforcement officials and others have joined in opposition to the bill as the special session nears its end next week.
The Texas Travel Industry Association, an industry group that includes Visit Houston, on Tuesday wrote a letter to Abbott criticizing the proposal, citing a study earlier this year that estimated such a law would cost the state $3.3 billion in gross domestic product and 35,600 full-time jobs annually.
“The economic damage from a perceived discriminatory and unwelcoming public policy such as a ‘bathroom bill’ is anything but small,” the letter stated.
Similar bathroom bills have been debated in a number of state legislatures, but North Carolina is the only one to have passed such a law to date. State lawmakers there repealed part of the measure earlier this year after the NCAA, the NBA and a range of other associations and companies boycotted the bill’s passage by withholding business from the state.
Horowitz also serves as CEO of Houston’s Legacy Restaurants, which owns the original Ninfa’s on Navigation. He said Tuesday that he has never heard concerns about bathroom usage come up among customers or management during his time in the industry.
For years, he added, restaurant owners have made efforts to add unisex bathrooms and notices that encourage customers to use the facilities of their choosing.
“That’s a function of the changing demographics of younger business owners now,” he said. “There’s a younger generation that is more sensitive to the idea of being inclusive.”