San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Rainbow flags fly, LGBT protections sink
Rainbow flags are ubiquitous during Pride Month, but Texas remains a horrible place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to live, work and do business.
Anti-LGBT bigotry remains a mainstay of Christian conservative politics. From proposed “Don’t Say Gay” laws to bans on LGBT books, Republican state leaders are promising to crush the civil rights of people who do not share their religious strictures.
Texas ranks near the bottom in the new State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index published by Out Leadership, a coalition of businesses that promote gay rights and counts 94 of the world’s leading companies across 13 industries as members.
Out of a potential 100 points, the average state score was 64.61. Texas came in at 45.63.
Not only does official bigotry hurt Texans and discourage talented people from moving here, but it also discourages corporate investment.
“Multinational companies face operational and reputational risks when they do business in places where the legal and/or social atmosphere makes it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live openly,” the authors explained. “Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people creates serious challenges for talent mobility, retention, and development.”
Texas scored poorly in 11 out of 20 policy areas. The state does not grant LGBT people access to standard legal protections, provide appropriate health care or guarantee workplace safety.
Texas has not banned conversion therapy, which tortures LGBT people. State officials encourage schools and public libraries to ban books that portray LGBT people as normal and worthy of the same respect and civil rights as heterosexuals.
“While our state leadership purports to be pro-business, the attacks on LGBTQ+ Texans say otherwise,” Tammi Wallace, CEO of the Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said. “Companies are looking through the lens of LGBTQ+ inclusion when making decisions about moving to Texas, and people considering a career move are doing the same, not to mention tourists and conventions. The LGBTQ+ inclusion landscape in Texas, as the Out Leadership report notes, is abysmal.”
Most disturbing is how state leaders run for re-election on denying transgender children access to health care. Treatments the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Texas Pediatric Society consider the best standard of evidence-based care, Gov. Greg Abbott calls child abuse.
Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are pursuing criminal cases against parents who follow doctors’ orders. Their witch hunt is breaking apart families and ruining lives, according to a lawsuit brought by one of Texas’ more prominent law firms, Baker Botts, the American Civil Liberties Union and PFLAG National, an organization representing families of LGBT youth.
One of the three families represented in the suit includes a 16year-old transgender boy receiving gender-affirming treatment. The boy attempted suicide the day Abbott instructed child abuse investigators to prosecute parents who follow their doctors’ advice in treating transgender teens.
During recovery, the parents took the boy to a psychiatric facility for follow-up treatment. A therapist turned the parents into the Department of Family and Protective Services for child abuse. An investigator showed up a week later and opened an ongoing investigation.
Pursuing a criminal case against a parent for following doctors’ orders is not prosecution but persecution. But the antiLGBT bigotry does not stop there.
Republican politicians across the state have rallied right-wing supporters to ban LGBT books from schools and public libraries. GOP politicians call anyone who believes in LGBT equality a pedophile or a pervert. Ignorant bullies have shut down school board meetings and had librarians and teachers fired.
The ever-hateful Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promises to make matters worse with a “Don’t Say Gay” bill in the Texas Legislature next year. Modeled on laws in Florida and Oklahoma, the measure would ban teachers from acknowledging the equality of LGBT people to young children.
A second grade teacher could be sued for explaining why she has a wife or why Billy has two dads.
Few of these efforts will survive judicial review; they violate fundamental civil rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Conservative leaders know this; they only worry about turning out voters in November.
Inciting bigotry against misunderstood minority groups is a surefire way to turn out lowinformation voters. Demagoguery is cheap politics, but it’s what Abbott, Patrick and Paxton know best.
Most families, though, love and support their LGBT relatives. Most people support gay marriage and transgender rights. Every reputable company stands up for its LGBT employees. But we cannot rest when demagogues are at work.
Every Texan should fly the Pride flag this month, and every month, to shut down this bigotry. Corporate leaders must insist on more inclusive laws to boost economic prosperity for everyone.
The Spurs
mascot celebrates Pride Night in 2021. But the San
Antonio team is not representative of Texas, which does not grant LGBT people
access to standard legal
protections.