Texas Bathroom Talk Takes Hours As Lawmakers Consider Restrictions On Transgender Use

AUSTIN, TX — Conversations about bathrooms generally don't last for five hours. But in Texas—where Republicans are dead-set on imposing restrictions for transgender people's use of public restrooms—the issue takes on new levels of verbosity.

Transgender Texas residents and parents of transgender people packed the Capitol Thursday to voice opposition to a proposed "bathroom bill." Championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and most of his GOP counterparts, the proposed bill would somehow regulate which bathrooms transgender people use when nature calls, and would compel them to use the ones labeled with their gender at birth rather than the one with which they identify.

In accounts depicted by the Statesman, many people testifying against the bill grew emotional in talking of a bill they view as discriminatory. Testimony began at midnight and didn't end until past 5 a.m. on Thursday. All told, of the 72 people testifying about the bill (formallyHB 2899), 66 spoke against it, the Statesman noted.

HB 2899 has emerged as a priority issue in the Lone Star State. Patrick has spearheaded the effort to regulate transgender use of public restrooms, going so far as to make the rounds of national media to explain what he perceives is an emergency measure. He has framed the matter as a safeguard to prevent doors to open on wholesale sexual assault of women and children, a view tempered by testimony from the transgender community disputing such behavior among their ranks.

“Trans people, we can choose not to transition and hate ourselves, or we can step out and be authentic and often invite hatred upon ourselves merely by existing,” Emmett Schelling of San Antonio said, as quoted by the Statesman. “This basically green lights citizens who might have a bias already to openly be worse than they already are.”

Parents of transgender children voiced fears over they would be the targets of hate groups. Others painted the proposed legislation as unlawful.

The proposed bill is widely opposed, not only by families with transgender relatives but among lawmakes in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio and beyond. Even House Speaker Joe Straus has expressed he doesn't support the measure, categorizing it as a non-priority issue.

“If we’ve gotten to the point in our civilization, in our society, that our politicians have to pass bills about bathroom stuff ... I mean, we’ve gotten really out of control,” Texas House Speaker Straus said in March, as quoted in the Texas Tribune. "For it to get this much attention in a legislative session is astounding to me," he added.

Related stories:

Texas Thrusts Itself In Lead Role Opposing Transgender People's Bathroom Use

Nationwide Opposition Swells Against Texas 'Bathroom Bill' Targeting Transgender People

Texas Speaker Says He Opposes 'Bathroom Bill'

Study Projects $3.3B Annual Loss Should Texas Pass 'Bathroom Bill'

Business Group Warns Texas Lawmakers Of $8.5B Loss If They Pass Anti-Transgender Rules

Business groups, too, have opposed the bill in predicting financial losses to the state amid boycotts to protest as seen in North Carolina where a strict version of the measure was mulled before being modified.

But during the marathon testimony, the bill did garner some support. Social conservatives and a smattering of pastors spoke in favor of the measure, the newspaper reported. Dave Welch, president of the Texas Pastor Council, was one such witness.

He said fellow pastors from across Texas are pushing for a uniform, statewide standard that would disallow local statutes framed individually who effectively create "...a definition of gender identity that differs from city to city," the Statesman quoted him as asserting. “We need our women and children protected,” he said. “They are not for sale.”

The bill's author, Rep. Ron Simmons, a Republican from Carrollton, also argued for such uniformity: “It protects our citizens in an area they believe they need to be protected in,” Simmons told the committee. “This issue needs to be the same in Austin as it is in Abilene, the same in Houston as it is in Hutto.”

Gov. Greg Abbott, who's been mum on the issue as debate intensifies, spoke out in favor of the bill this week. "I support the principles of both the Senate & House to protect privacy in bathrooms," he tweeted on Tuesday. "We will work to get a bill to my desk."

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