AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) — More than 200 small business owners signed an open letter to state legislators urging them to abandon plans to require transgender individuals to use public restrooms that correspond with their gender at birth. The letter asserts there is “a growing sense of dread” that Texas will experience a backlash similar to what occurred in North Carolina after it enacted a similar law and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in canceled sporting events, concerts, conventions and corporate investments.
The letter goes on to say, “That kind of legislation doesn’t just go against our values to be welcoming to everyone, it jeopardizes the businesses we’ve worked so hard to create, and it threatens the jobs and livelihoods of everyday Texans.”
Legislative efforts to ban the use of restrooms contrary to a person’s gender at birth are spearheaded by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. In a speech last week to the Dallas Regional Chamber Patrick said, “If laws are passed by cities and counties — or school districts — to allow men to go into a (women’s) bathroom because of the way they feel, we will not be able to stop sexual predators from taking advantage of that law, like sexual predators take advantage of the internet.”
For the 2017 legislative session The Austin American-Statesman reports leading Republican lawmakers are also planning to push legal protections for people and businesses that refuse to serve gay couples or participate in same-sex marriages over religious objections.