Nurses could deny helping LGBTQ people under Texas’ new ‘religious freedom’ bill

The NCAA pulled all championship events and the National Basketball Association yanked the All-Star Game from North Carolina after the passage of House Bill 2, a similar “bathroom bill” driven by fear and prejudice. It would mandate transgender students either need to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological sex, or use a single stall bathroom.

Rep. Dan Huberty, a Republican from Houston who is chairman of the powerful House Public Education Committee and spent months working on the original school finance overhaul, said he was still studying what the Senate approved overnight and hadn’t fully made up his mind – but also indicated he’s far from optimistic about his proposal’s future. Late Sunday night proponents used an amendment to tack bathroom limits onto a separate, unrelated bill covering school emergency operation plans for natural disasters.

According to The Texas Tribune, the bill (House Bill 3859) advanced on a 21-10 vote. The legislation will then head to the desk of the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, to be signed into law.

“I would argue that the amendment that I proposed and put on this bill is to protect [transgender people] as well”, said Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Center.

A broader bathroom bill became law in North Carolina previous year and brought condemnation from business leaders and athletic organizations. “With the passage of sweeping abortion restrictions and two measures authorizing discrimination against LGBTQ families and kids, our lawmakers seem determined to make discrimination Texas’s chief export”. “Separate but equal is not equal at all”, she said.

Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature originally sought to force transgender people to use most public restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates. Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia drew a line between Paddie’s amendment and the House bill’s original objective.

The bill also would remove from publicly available government databases the home addresses and other personal information for state and federal judges and their spouses. It involves public schools, from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Meanwhile, the NCAA has issued nothing but radio silence when it comes to the Texas bills.

Senate Bill 2078 originally was meant to define school districts” “multihazard emergency operations plans’, the plans for situations including active shooters or natural catastrophes. Comparable proposals have been offered in other legislatures, but none has been approved. Students who choose not to must use single-access facilities, essentially segregating trans students either way. “That could be because you’re transgender, that could be because you’re shy”, Paddie said.

“I respect their opinion but I just strongly disagree”, he said. But the impact on North Carolina has been negligible, and Texas’s economy is one of the strongest in the union.

Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat, joined Republicans in voting for the bill in the hopes it will draw more private, religious-based adoption agencies into the system.