LGBTQ equality called economic boost
Legislators are planning to introduce a bill that would safeguard gay rights
Several Texas legislators are proposing a law that would safeguard LGBTQ individuals’ rights — and, according to an economic impact study, boost the state economy.
The bill, which will be introduced in the 2021 legislative session, would give sexual orientation and gender identity protected status under Texas’ nondiscrimination laws for employment, housing and access to public spaces.
While San Antonio and other cities around the state have similar ordinances, Texas is not among the 21 states that have comprehensive nondiscrimination laws, said Jessica
Shortall, managing director of Texas Competes, an equality advocacy group backed by major employers.
About 20 percent of the state’s population currently is protected by municipal nondiscrimination laws.
“Over the years, I’ve watched Texans grow and learn and change on LGBTQ rights,” said former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, an Alamo Heights Republican. “I’ve gone through that learning and growth process myself, especially in recent years when we put together that diverse coalition from the business community, from the faith community, from law enforcement to push back against that 2017 bathroom bill that targeted transgender people.
“That year I was able to see firsthand … how antiLGBTQ discrimination can hurt people and how it can hurt our economy.”
Straus led the
fight against the so-called bathroom bill, which sought to block transgender people from using public restrooms aligning with their gender identity.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed federal workplace protections for gender identity and sexual orientation.
Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, is leading a coalition of state lawmakers to bolster the state’s nondiscrimination laws.
“In Texas, before the Supreme Court decision, a gay worker could be fired simply for being gay, and still to this day a family could legally be denied housing simply for having a transgender child,” Shortall said. “A lesbian couple could legally be denied service in a shop or a restaurant simply for dining together.”
About 70 percent of Texans support the idea a comprehensive nondiscrimination law for the
LGBTQ community, Shortall said.
“More than two-thirds of Texans support this basic concept of fairness, opportunity and respect for LGBTQ Texans who deserve to belong and to be themselves in every space,” said Rep. Ina Minjarez, a San Antonio Democrat.
Lawmakers, business leaders and experts joined a panel hosted by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to discuss the potential economic benefits of new inclusivity laws.
By 2025, the economic impact of LGBTQ protections for employment, housing and access to public places would bring in $1.4 billion and nearly 13,000 jobs to the San Antonio area, the study by the Perryman Group, a Wacobased economic analysis firm says.
Across the state, such laws would help generate more than 180,200 jobs, said the report that calculated figures out to 2045.
“The reason we should have these types of protections is not because they benefit the economy, but because it’s the right thing to do,” said Ray Perryman, president and CEO of the firm.
Straus said the economic impact data is important, but not surprising.
“If we could put an end to discriminatory rhetoric and end to discriminatory policy and turn the page to supporting nondiscrimination, then we would add another competitive edge to our efforts to attract talent, to attract corporate investment and tourism which is so important for San Antonio,” Straus said.
San Antonio will need every advantage to recover from the pandemic’s economic impacts as competition for business opportunities will be more intense in the years to come, Perryman said.
“There’s going to be intense competition around that workforce,” he said. “And equality is going to be a big part of that.”
Other San Antonio-area legislators supporting the proposed legislation include Sen. José Menéndez and Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer, Diego Bernal, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, Roland Gutierrez, Leo Pacheco and Rep. Ray Lopez.