AUSTIN, Texas – Today anti-LGBTQ groups including the Texas Pastors Council Action, Texas Values, Vision America Action and Texas Right to Life rallied in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s anti-trans “special discrimination session.”
The session includes Abbott’s call to pass anti-transgender legislation including Senate Bill 3, a bill which would bar transgender and gender non-conforming Texans from access to restrooms and students from participating in athletics in accordance with their gender identity.
Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have a record of turning to anti-LGBTQ hate groups to publicly promote their anti-transgender agenda, even at a time when a majority of Texans oppose such harmful measures. The Texas Pastors Council Action has worked closely with anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council (FRC) and once claimed LGBTQ rights are as “equally offensive” to God as slavery. Vision America Action once claimed the HIV and AIDS epidemic was “God’s judgment as a result of an immoral act.” Anti-trans groups like the Texas Pastors Council Action and the Vision America Action have fueled a debate that has already put the safety of trans Texans and the economic well-being of the state in jeopardy.
Last month, Gov. Abbott himself defined his “special discrimination session” when he described SB 3 as “Transgender Bathrooms” in a tweet. Abbott’s agenda is in direct opposition with Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican, who voiced his opposition to the anti-trans bills by saying he was “disgusted by all this” and did not “a suicide of a single Texan on [his] hands.” If an anti-trans bill like SB 3 is signed into law, it could drain about $3 billion from the state’s economy while also putting the safety of transgender Texans in jeopardy.
