The state of Texas is courting a major backlash from the LGBT community for a proposal from some Republican lawmakers requiring transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth.
It is obviously a discriminatory proposal that is causing a stir not only among transgenders in the state of Texas but those all over the country including the massive LGBT community.
In fact, some analysts say that if the lawmakers do not stand down on their proposal, it could eventually hurt the state financially. Many civic leaders in Dallas have warned that the proposal is risking the state from losing major sporting events the way it happened to North Carolina recently, reports Kera News.
Texas is often being considered to host major sporting events including the Super Bowl set in Houston next month, the NCAA women’s Final Four in Dallas in March, and the NCAA men’s Final Four in San Antonio next year.
The transgender bathroom bill is similar to the one passed last year in North Carolina that led to a significant fallout, including companies canceling their expansion plans in the state, the NCAA moving its championship games elsewhere, and the NBA moving next month’s All-Star Game out of Charlotte.
Going the way of North Carolina
According to Philip Jones, president of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, if Texas goes the way of North Carolina with regards to the transgender bathroom bill, the sports leagues will not hesitate to steer big sporting events out of the state.
He affirmed that it is not speculation as it is based on what economic fallout they have seen first-hand.
Jones was recently joined by tourism counterparts from Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio to unveil a campaign called ‘Texas Welcomes All.’ The city of Houston is also supportive of such statement and claimed that the state does not need such a transgender bathroom bill.
The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau previously supported a broad equal rights city ordinance which local voters rejected two years ago when opponents campaigned on a message of ‘No men in women’s bathrooms.’
According to analysts, the proposed statewide bathroom restrictions have already exposed cultural rifts.
As a matter of fact, former San Antonio teacher and author of the popular “Percy Jackson” and the Olympians” fantasy series had declined an honor from the Texas Legislature over what he described as nonsense. At least two other Texas writers have also rejected the same invitation to have their work ceremonially recognized by lawmakers in March last year.
An ally of Trump
Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick who is pushing for the anti-LGBT bill in Texas and he is banking on the fact that he campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump during the last presidential election and is considered a very powerful leader of the state Senate.
The proposal also got a public endorsement from Republican Governor Greg Abbott but Republican House Speaker Joe Straus expressed his opposition to the bill by saying that Texas should be inviting economic activity and not turning it away, obviously alluding to the possible negative repercussion if the bill is passed into law.
Senate Bill No. 6 is authored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham.
During a House floor debate on January 11 on a standard housekeeping resolution for the House chamber, state Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Republican from Tyler, tried to implement the restrictions on bathrooms inside the Capitol building but without success.
Texas doesn’t have any transgender lawmakers. According to the Texas Tribune, the House scuffle could have served as a test vote on the lower chamber’s views on the bathroom issue, notes LGBTQ Nation.
House Speaker Joe Straus has downplayed the urgency of the bathroom legislation, saying it’s not the most urgent concern of his.