Another Step Toward Bigotry.

Down in Texas despite all the comments by big business, the tourist industry, and the clergy against the bill to deny us a place to pee, the Republicans forge ahead.

Texas Senate committee approves transgender bathroom bill
American-Statesman
By Chuck Lindell
July 21, 2017

During an 11-hour hearing that lasted into the night, the Capitol rang once again Friday with voices debating legislation to ban transgender-friendly bathroom policies by local governments and public schools.

And although most witnesses spoke against Senate Bill 3, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted 8-1 to send it to the full Senate, which could vote as early as Monday. All Republicans on the committee voted in favor, as did Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville. The only no vote came from Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.

Sometimes tearful, sometimes angry during this year’s third public hearing on the subject, transgender Texans and parents of transgender children told the committee that limiting bathroom use to the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate would target a vulnerable population for harassment, isolation and discrimination.

“What about my safety? There are people out there who hate me,” said Ashley Smith, a transgender woman who said the two bills by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would force her to use the men’s restroom even though she looks nothing like a man.

The Republican governor and the Republican legislature just want to jam this bill through and they don’t care about any repercussions. The only thing that may save us is the Republican Speaker of the House who is against this bill, he has said that,

“I’m not a lawyer, but I am a Texan,” said Straus, according to the magazine. “I’m disgusted by all this. Tell the lieutenant governor I don’t want the suicide of a single Texan on my hands.”

An article in The Hill said,

Bathroom bill opens deep rift in Texas GOP
By Reid Wilson
July 18, 2017
AUSTIN, Texas — A proposal to ban transgender people from using the bathroom or locker room of their choice has sparked a legislative hostage crisis among Texas Republicans, exposing an ongoing rift between populists who align themselves with President Trump and more traditional, business-oriented conservatives.
[…]
That bill is a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), an arch conservative who runs the state Senate and who served as Trump’s Texas campaign chairman.

But the state House, led by Speaker Joe Straus (R), refused to pass the bathroom bill during the chamber’s regular session, amid opposition from some of the state’s largest employers, sports leagues and civil rights groups. Straus endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP presidential primary.

So will Speaker Straus hold his ground or will he cave into pressure or will he finagle a political plum from the governor? So stay tune to the same bat-channel for more of the continuing saga of Texas’s attempts to force us back into the closet.