On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the most powerful Republican officials in Texas, unveiled a bill to force people to use the bathroom of their biological sex in government buildings and public schools. Violations will be punished with a fine of at least $1,000 USD.
Senate Bill 6, as it is called, is based on the argument that if trans people were allowed to go to the bathroom of their choice, men would disguise themselves as women to get into the women bathroom and sexually harass women.
We will let you draw your own conclusion on the validity of such argument…
A similar bill was passed in North Carolina last year and caused a major uproar with boycotts from companies, entertainers and LGBT rights groups.
Although LGBT activists and democratic lawmakers condemn the announcement and predict the same economic consequences as North Carolina in Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick denied in a statement the bill was discriminatory and minimised the potentiality of an economic blow.
A study commissioned by the Texas Association of Business predicts that this bill, along with other similar measures, could result for Texas in a loss of $964 million to $8.5 billion and 185,000 jobs.
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