AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - State lawmakers revived Texas' version of a North Carolina-style transgender "bathroom bill" this weekend.
The Texas house voted to ensure it will at least apply to public schools after adding hotly debated language to otherwise unrelated legislation involving classroom safety.
A broader proposal mandating that transgender Texas residents use public restrooms according to their birth certificate gender sailed through the state Senate. It had stalled in the House until Sunday night, when supporters were using a carefully worded amendment to tack school restroom restrictions onto a separate bill on campus emergency planning.
The bill passed with 91 in favor of the legislation and 50 against it.
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The amendment will require schools to offer facilities and single-stall bathrooms to students who don't want to use those based on their biological sex.
By focusing only on schools, Texas is hoping to avoid costly boycotts that followed North Carolina passing a "bathroom bill" last year.
"This amendment was more about using trans kids as a negotiating tool at a contentious point in the session than about making kids safer,” Rep. Celia Israel said. “It paints a target on the backs of already vulnerable children. We are getting rolled by the Senate, and transgender children are a part of that bargain. Texas is better than what the House did tonight."
Still, the NFL, NBA, leading business lobbies and top Hollywood and music stars have urged Texas to avoid the issue.
Just in: @SpeakerStraus issues (reluctantly) supportive statement on bathroom amendment to #SB2078. #txlege pic.twitter.com/FBvhws3Ti6
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) May 22, 2017
This is the vote breakdown on amendment to restrict school bathroom use for transgender students #txlege pic.twitter.com/LxIOJ1FSDN
— Alexa Ura (@alexazura) May 22, 2017
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