CONTACT:  Susan Risdon, 214-226-6741 susan@redmediagroup.com

TEXAS ANTI-LGBTQ BILL ADVANCES

SENATE PASSES SB 1978, BILL MOVES NOW TO HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS

Today, the Texas Senate passed SB 1978 (Hughes) in a 19-12 vote, a measure called the most discriminatory bill filed this session by LGBTQ rights activists.

“Senate Bill 1978 has one aim only: to undermine LGBTQ equality and promote anti-LGBTQ messages. In any form, this bill advances messages that hurt the LGBTQ community,” said Samantha Smoot, Interim Executive Director of Equality Texas.

“This bill is part of an insidious, coordinated strategy to advance anti-LGBTQ messages and discriminatory public policies. It’s an outrage that the Texas Legislature is advancing bills that harm LGBTQ people, in defiance of public support for equal rights and violation of pledges made in January that there would be no attacks on the LGBTQ community this session.”

SB 1978 and HB 1372 lifted strategy and even specific text directly from “Project Blitz,” a national far-right initiative to propagate model anti-LGBTQ legislation. (You can access the full Project Blitz manual here.) Project Blitz is a creation of David Barton’s Wallbuilders and the Congressional Prayer Foundation.

SB 1978 now advances to the House, where its companion, HB 3172, died last week after a Point of Order was filed.  The bill will next go to the House State Affairs Committee.

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