Texas mulls trans bathroom bill for public schools

Conservative lawmakers wanted transgender people to use school restrooms that matched the gender of their birth

CHICAGO: Texas is nearing passage of a law on the use of bathrooms in public schools by transgender children, reviving an issue that sparked boycotts and protests when North Carolina passed a similar measure last year.

The state legislature's lower house approved the measure over the weekend in a less restrictive form than originally proposed, and it now moves to the state senate for action.

Conservative lawmakers in the southwestern state had initially wanted to require that transgender people use school restrooms that matched the gender of their birth.

But business groups and Texas's tourism industry opposed that, saying it would bring negative attention to the state and cost billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The latest version of the bathroom bill would require schools to provide single-person bathrooms, should transgender people elect to use them. It would not ban, as the original bill would have, trans children from using the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.



North Carolina eventually repealed much of its 2016 bathroom law after great political pressure and boycotts.

Texas is the first state to venture into similar political territory, raising alarms among business leaders.

"We have been clear that discriminatory legislation would have a chilling effect on economic development, make recruitment and retention more difficult and stifle investment in Texas," Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business, said in a statement.

Advocates, including Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, say they are trying to protect children from predatory behaviour.
But many trans people and the parents of trans children said the proposed law unfairly targets a vulnerable population.



"Transgender children fear using the restroom in gender segregated spaces far more than any child should. They fear being laughed at, teased, shamed, punished, spit on, beaten, or killed," Melinda Hunter, mother of a transgender girl, wrote in public testimony offered to the state legislature.

The Texas senate must take up the latest bathroom measure by May 29, before the end of the state's legislative session.
If, as expected, the body votes to approve the bill, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has indicated that he is likely to sign it into law.