House economic competitiveness panel releases its report today calling the bathroom bill needlessly divisive and a serious economic threat  

Today State Rep. Byron Cook, (R-Corsicana), who refused to hold a hearing on the bathroom bill during the Special Legislative Session, released the long-awaited report from his House Select Committee on Economic Competitiveness commissioned by Speaker of the House Joe Straus.

The House Economic Competitiveness panel called the bathroom bill superfluous, needlessly divisive, a serious economic threat and a monumental waste of time.  The report calls on Texas Republicans to announce that the “bathroom bill” is off the table for the 2019 legislative session in order to protect the efforts of Austin and Dallas to get Amazon HQ2, and to protect other recruitment efforts statewide.

Equality Texas CEO Chuck Smith praised the report and urges the Texas Legislature to follow the recommendation to take the bathroom bill off the table next legislative session.

“The bathroom bill and other discriminatory legislation targets LGBTQ Texans, is bad for the Texas brand and bad for business. We are proud of our state and we want our leaders to stop discriminating against us and wasting time and money.  The state should be focusing on real problems like properly funding education, investing in infrastructure, and preventing children from dying in state foster care,” said Equality Texas CEO Chuck Smith.

“Transgender Texans across the state have been in fear for their safety because of the false rhetoric perpetrated by the lt. governor during the debate over the bathroom bill to incite fear in the minds of Texans who have never met a transgender person.  These fear tactics and false rhetoric have real consequences and put transgender children and adults in harm’s way. We urge the legislature to drop this issue during the next legislative session,” said Lou Weaver, Transgender Programs Coordinator for Equality Texas. 

Equality Texas, the largest statewide organization solely dedicated to securing full equality for LGBTQ Texans lead the fight on the frontline during the legislative session to kill the bathroom bill and other discriminatory legislation.  We thank Speaker Joe Straus and Rep. Byron Cook for fighting to defeat the bill during the regular and special session.

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Equality Texas is the largest statewide organization working solely to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Texans through political action, education, community organizing, and collaboration.