False Equivalency Alert: Top Texas Lawmaker Compares 'Bathroom Bill' To Battle Of The Alamo

AUSTIN, TX — Ahead of today's committee hearing on his pet bathroom bill — which seeks to ban transgender people from using public restrooms matching their sexual identities — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick compared his fight for the measure's passage to the Battle of the Alamo.

His remarks came Monday during a briefing for pastors that was hosted by the Family Research Council, which many consider an anti-LGBT hate group, the Texas Observer reported. Patrick's commentary took place at the headquarters of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a corporate-funded conservative think tank.

"Go out and win this fight for America," Patrick rallied the pastors in calling for passage of Senate Bill 6, the so-called "bathroom bill." He then summoned the Alamo during a date commemorating the key battle. “Today, on this day, 189 people sacrificed their lives at the Alamo because they believed in something,” Patrick said, referring to the March 6 battle that took place in 1836.

He wasn't done in extending the Alamo metaphor. “We’re not asked to give our lives. We’re not asked to grab our guns. We’re just asked to go cast courageous votes,” Patrick said, as quoted by the Observer. “And in the Senate, thank God, I think we have the votes to get out of committee and get off the Senate floor, but we have to get it all the way to the governor’s desk.”

The Senate Committee on State Affairs began staging its first hearing on SB 6 on Tuesday morning, beginning at 8 a.m. Patrick's impassioned, Alamo-invoking plea came as support of the measure seems to be withering, despite his aggressive efforts in promoting its passage. While it's expected to pass the Senate, the bill could fail to pass to the House, the Texas Observer and other media outlets have noted.

As the Observer reported on Monday that Patrick addressed the pastors shortly after speaking at a news conference on SB 6, where he unveiled “Operation One Million Voices” — a campaign embracing the bathroom initiative he said relies on churches across the state. Patrick's pronouncements also coincided with Transgender Lobby Day, which drew hundreds of SB 6 opponents to the Capitol in decrying the bathroom bill aimed at compelling transgender individuals to use bathrooms marked with the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Patrick has posited the bill as a way to safeguard the public (women and children especially, he's said) from sexual predators. In promoting its passage, Patrick has made the round of national media with mixed results, and intermittently re-framing the bill's name several times to its current "Texas Privacy Act"-branded iteration from an earlier reference alluding to protecting women.

Patrick was joined at the pastors' briefing by Sen. Lois Kokhorst, a fellow Republican from Brenham, Texas, the author of the bill. She described an informal meeting with pastors that buoyed her resolve to get the measure passed.

“They came over to my house, and I’m telling you that we prayed, and we brought the holy spirit so strong into that room,” Kolkhorst said. “I’ve passed big bills before, and I’ve always asked the Lord to help me, because I believe that this country is founded on Judeo-Christian values. We will only remain this kind of country with God.”

Here's a trio of past Patch stories related to this issue:

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

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

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

>>> Read the full story at Texas Observer

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick official photo via State of Texas website