I cannot pretend to understand fully the issue of transgenderism.
However, I know a hurtful and unnecessary piece of legislation when I see it. The Texas “Bathroom Bill” that aims to tell folks which bathroom to use is one of them.
The Associated Press is reporting that the state’s Bathroom Bill is all but a goner. Still, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vows to bring it up in a special session.
Except for one little thing.
Only the governor, Greg Abbott, can call legislators back into a special session and Gov. Abbott doesn’t appear inclined to do so.
The legislation would require people to use public restrooms that coincide with the gender noted on their birth certificate. And yet, there are those who contend that they “identify” more with the opposite gender; many of those them are having what’s called “surgical reassignment” to transform them from one gender to the other.
I’ll repeat that I do not pretend to understand confusing gender identity, having never gone such confusion myself.
The legislation being discussed, though, seems discriminatory on its face. What’s more, the Texas House of Representatives — led by Speaker Joe Straus — has been fighting to derail this Dan Patrick-led initiative from the get-go.
Indeed, business interests have threatened to boycott the state if it enacts such a bill, which has been the kind of punishment inflicted on North Carolina, which approved a similar bill.
As the AP reported: “Many states have balked at such bills after North Carolina was thrust into political and economic upheaval over its law, which was partially repealed in March.”
As they say, “money talks.”
https://apnews.com/b5e455ab9a15422cbd1f3eda069e4cf4
The Legislature is set to adjourn in a couple of days. There likely won’t be a Bathroom Bill sent to Gov. Abbott’s desk before lawmakers sign off for the session. As for Patrick’s pledge to get a special session called, he’d better check with the governor — who I hope keeps a cool head and decides that the Bathroom Bill is fraught with too much economic peril for Texas to endure.
The very idea of the Texas Legislature being hauled back to convene a special session for something as ridiculousĀ as this is mind-blowing on its face.