When talking about discrimination, nothing is worse than passing a bill that restricts Transgender People from using Bathrooms of their choice. Just recently, the Senate in Texas supported a bill that would block transgender individuals from utilizing bathrooms in schools and buildings. The said bill runs counter to local ordinances that promote nondiscrimination.
Bathroom bill: a vehicle of discrimination
On Tuesday, the Texas Senate approved another version of the legislation that directly affects transgender people in Texas. This is part of the Republican efforts to revive the very controversial ‘Bathroom Bill’.
Fox News reported that following a debate that took eight hours, the 21-10 vote was reached. Regardless of the Democrats’ objection to its passage considering its discriminatory effect on the already vulnerable population, the Republicans once more backed the necessity to pass the legislation for the sake of privacy in bathrooms. The Texas bill goes now to Congress for consideration.
This Senate Bill 3 is authored by state Senator Lois Kolkhorst. As stipulated in the bill, the bathroom usage in schools and buildings will be regulated and will be overseen by local governments and will be based on the sex listed on an individual’s birth certificate and other IDs.
During the debate on Tuesday, a crucial alteration made to the legislation was the inclusion of IDs which are issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Despite the fact that these moves help transgender adults, who are unable to change their birth certificates, but are able to update their IDs, the bathroom bill does so little in enabling transgender children to utilize school bathrooms, matching their gender identity.
The bathroom bill likewise nixes portions of local nondiscrimination ordinances that let transgender residents use public bathrooms of their preference.
The bill would set a statewide policy on public bathrooms as well as offering guidance to school districts.
Language of the past according to Democrats
Democrats, on the other hand, believed the language of the bathroom bill was essentially a relic of the past. Moreover, the Democrats described wording in the original bathroom bill, which precluded the creation of policies to safeguard a class of individuals from discrimination, as language the Legislature has not taken into account since the Jim Crow era.
The bill obviously allows certain people to be discriminated against.
The bathroom bill now heads for to the House. The bill will be more likely to confront an icy reception by some legislators who are staunch opponents of such legislation.
