About 100-150 ppl gathered at Texas Capitol to support the bathroom bill that would restrict #transgender access to bathrooms. #txlege #lgbt pic.twitter.com/1oUxC8EHcr
— 🌟 Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) August 3, 2017
By John Wright
About 100 people gathered at the state Capitol on Thursday for a pro-bathroom bill rally organized by anti-LGBTQ groups including the Houston Area Pastor Council, Texas Values and Vision America.
The Dallas Morning News‘ Lauren McGaughy reports that two or three times more people showed up for a faith-based rally opposing the bathroom bills on Tuesday.
Thursday’s anti-LGBTQ featured a woman (photo above) holding a toilet seat that read, “Rosa Parks did not give up her seat for a man. Neither will I.” Among the speakers were bathroom bill authors Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton, and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. From the Morning News:
“We do not want out 12 year old boys and girls to be forced to shower and change together in our schools,” Simmons, R-Carrollton, told the crowd. “And yet when you talk about it, when you talk about it to the other side, they say, ‘well that’s not happening.’ Well, then, fine, this bill will not be an issue when we pass it. If it’s not happening, it won’t hurt.”
Simmons then added, “We don’t wait for our children to run out in the middle of the road and get hit my a car before we tell them not to run out in the road. And what we’re telling our school districts and our cities is, ‘hey, you’ve gone a bridge too far.'”
Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, the Senate author, was also at the rally.
“I have not had one woman come up to me and say this is a non-issue,” she said. Hundreds of Texans of all ages and sexes showed up at a committee hearing last month to weigh in on her bill; the vast majority were opposed.
The Houston Area Pastor Council later released an open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott demanding that lawmakers pass a bathroom bill during the ongoing special session, which ends Aug. 16.
“The moral bankruptcy of corporations and ultraliberal political groups cannot be allowed to steal the safety, decency and freedom of our families,” the letter states. “Only respect for the laws of nature and the laws of nature’s God will secure His blessings for Texas and our people.”
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