Remember the North Carolina bathroom bill? For those with short memories, North Carolina instituted a bathroom bill which barred LGBT persons from using bathrooms that coincided with their gender identity. The banning from government officials resulted in the loss of billions for the state in under a year. The law ended when the governor was voted out of office and many supporting Republicans lost their government seats. Now Texas is looking to institute a bathroom bill of its own that estimate show could cost the state a loss of $3.3 billion and 35,600 jobs from the Texas economy.
So why is Texas so set on instituting a bathroom bill despite its potential negative results? I honestly can’t say. While some may reference Religious / personal beliefs, it is clearly stated in government law that a separation between Church and State is necessary to run an efficient society. Currently over 50 Fortune 500 companies are against this bill, and that number may continue to grow.
The LGBT community is not taking this “lying down” however and recently put out a statement against the potential bill:
“With Fortune 500 companies now joining the near universal opposition against efforts to pass a so-called ‘bathroom bill,’ it is time for Governor Greg Abbott to put his discriminatory ‘special discrimination session’ to an end,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “By pushing his anti-LGBTQ agenda, Gov. Abbott is cementing his legacy as turning Texas into a state that puts its own well-being at risk in order to harm its most marginalized citizens.”
