Reports indicate that the Chair of the State House Affairs Committee found the bill’s language to be too harsh. Representative Pena said it would be “toned down” and rescheduled for a hearing this week.
Statement from TLDEF Executive Director Michael Silverman
“We are pleased to see this onerous legislation postponed from consideration in the Texas legislature. The bill targets already vulnerable transgender students for further bullying harassment, and persecution. It is a cruel attack on the health and well-being of transgender students who deserve to be protected in their school environments. No amount of modification will make this bill acceptable. Regardless of how it is written, this legislation is designed to discriminate. We hope this delay leads to the bill’s ultimate demise.
We also hope that Texas state legislators ultimately scrap three other anti-transgender bills – HB 1747, HB 1748, and HB 2802 – that seek to criminalise transgender people for using restrooms consistent with who they are and threaten public bathroom providers with felony charges for allowing transgender people to use prohibited bathrooms. These bills are an assault on the basic rights of transgender people and should fail.”