CEO DATELINE - ASAE speaks out against resurrected Texas bathroom bill
CEO DATELINE - ASAE speaks out against resurrected Texas bathroom bill
- July 18, 2017 |
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Walt Williams
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Texas lawmakers are once again considering legislation to prevent transgender people from using public bathrooms not corresponding to their sex at birth, and ASAE is joining with business leaders to condemn the plan.
The Texas Legislature is meeting in special session starting Tuesday to take up several issues, with the most controversial being passage of a "bathroom bill" modeled after a similar North Carolina law. State lawmakers rejected the proposal earlier this year in part because of pressure applied by associations and business leaders, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has continued to champion the issue at the behest of religious conservatives.
State lawmakers have filed at least three versions of a bathroom bill during the special session, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The bills would limit bathroom access to transgender people in facilities that receive government funds, like public schools, and override city ordinances preventing discrimination. http://bit.ly/2uvYj4w
ASAE CEO John Graham joined business leaders on the steps of the Texas state capitol building in Austin Monday to protest the proposed legislation. The bathroom bills create "strong incentive for groups to hold their meetings elsewhere," he said in remarks shared by Keep Texas Open for Business, a business coalition formed to oppose the legislation.
ASAE is planning to hold its annual meeting in Dallas in 2021. The group hasn't said whether it would pull the event should the bathroom bill become law.
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