Southern Queer Newsroom
Texan Republicans passed their latest attempt at a bathroom ban out of the state House, putting it one step closer to Governor Greg Abbott's desk.
Senate Bill 8 has been discussed frequently in the last two weeks on this site. The bill seeks to ban trans people from entering bathrooms that align with their gender identity from every public building (including park bathrooms and libraries) in the state, as well as force trans women into men's prisons and impose massive penalties against institutions that don't take "every reasonable measure" to prevent trans people from existing in a public space.
Over the course of nearly six hours, Democrats questioned every aspect of the bill, from whether this was a problem worth fixing, to how it would be enforced. The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Angelia Orr, refused to answer whether gender non-conforming women being harassed was acceptable, refused to accept any Democratic amendments that would ensure women's privacy is protected, refused to say whether trans people deserve the same rights as cis people, and said trans people fleeing the state was preferable to allowing them to use the restroom where they wanted.
Republican testimony largely painted transgender people, especially trans women, as perverts and inherent threats to cis women, despite citing no evidence to back this up beyond personal discomfort. One representative, Troxclair (R-19), attempted to use the recent Minneapolis school shooting to paint all trans people as mass shooters before being cut off by the Speaker. Democrats, in turn, pointed to the high levels of harassment, physical and sexual assault, and murder experienced by trans women in bathrooms and in prisons.
"This is part of a coordinated campaign to erase LGBTQ Texans from public life," said Rep. Venton Jones (D-100), a gay Black man. He spoke about the case of Passion Star, a Black trans woman who was sexually and physically abused during her time in prison. "She was beaten, raped, and threatened with death." GOP House members, in a pointlessly cruel move, began laughing about her story.
Republican cruelty was a feature during debate of this bill. Due to Democrats forcing debate to take hours, one particularly angry Republican submitted an amendment to massively raise the penalties. It passed swiftly along party lines, and raised the first violation's fine from $5,000 to $25,000 and raised violations for every day after from $25,000 to $125,000.
Rep. Virdell (R-53) said he would never have to raise a transgender child because his community supposedly raised their children properly. While he did not go into details, trans people have been significantly more likely to experience domestic violence and religious trauma from attempts to "cure" them. However trans advocates in the gallery understood his phrasing, it caused an uproar large enough for the Speaker to kick everyone out of the gallery.
The bill also concerningly includes anti-lawsuit language in an attempt to ban courts from overturning the law on constitutional grounds. It is a major step up in the attack on both democratic norms and the transgender population. Democrats hammered on this point during questioning, saying it infringed on the basic Supreme Court ruling that allowed the courts to operate freely, Marbury v. Madison. Rep. Jolanda Jones (D-147) called the whole bill unconstitutional and violated the 4th and 14th Amendments.
"It's not about safety, it's about shame," she said. "SB 8 discriminates against a class of people who are constitutionally protected. It targets them. It stigmatizes them. It criminalizes them. And when we legislate hate, people get hurt."
The bill passed 86-45 almost entirely along party lines, with Rep. Sergio Muñoz (D-36) and Richard Raymond (D-42) joining Republicans. Not every Democrat was present for the vote, whether due to illness or district business. It is unknown by the author whether these were genuine absences or done to avoid showing a 12-18 strong contingent of Democrats abstaining on every vote.
Because of the amendment, the bill is back in the Senate awaiting final approval before it can go to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. If it passes, an already horrible situation for transgender Texans will almost certainly worsen dramatically.