BATHROOM BILL PASSES SENATE VOTE

  

After more than eight hours of debate and a series of late-adopted changes, a sharply divided Texas Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill cracking down on transgender-friendly bathroom policies and barring transgender athletes from competing in school sports based on their gender identity.

Senate Bill 3, approved 21-10, would prohibit public schools and local governments from adopting policies that allow people to use multiple-occupancy restrooms and other private facilities that do not match the sex listed on their birth certificate or — in a change added Tuesday — as listed on a driver’s license or Texas handgun license.

The bill’s author, Brenham State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, began the debate by saying her goal was to create, “one statewide policy for how public schools and local governments handle access to bathrooms and other intimate facilities.”

Kolkhorst says “This bill would provide the privacy and safety that Texans expect.”

Austin State Sen. Kirk Watson countered that the senate is, “allowing fear to guide public policy and justifying discrimination.”

Kolkhorst replied that her bill was not designed to target transgender people, but instead those who would take advantage of gender-neutral facilities, including men who “say today I feel like a female and today I have a right to go into these intimate spaces” used by women.

SB 3 now heads to an uncertain future in the House, where Speaker Joe Straus has announced his strong opposition to a measure he says ia unnecessary and risky for the economy.