By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune September 12, 2017 SAN ANTONIO — Texas House Speaker Joe Straus urged business leaders Tuesday to keep up the fight following the failure of legislative efforts this year to pass a “bathroom bill” that many of them opposed. “Texans rejected name-calling and scare tactics, and as a result, we…
After Months of Controversy, Texas Bathroom Bill Dies Quietly
By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune August 16, 2017 In the end, the controversial bathroom bill went quietly. For more than a year, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led the crusade for a state law to regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans — an initiative that resonated with social conservatives, including many pastors, who backed…
Texas Bathroom Bill Appears to Be All But Dead in Special Session
By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune August 11, 2017 Despite it serving, in part, as the reason lawmakers are back in Austin for legislative overtime, the Texas Legislature could very well gavel out next week without passing a “bathroom bill.” With just days left in the 30-day special legislative session, controversial proposals to regulate bathroom…
Growing Number of Corporate Leaders Step Up Opposition to Bathroom Bill
CEO’s from 10 Fortune 500 companies voiced their opposition to the Texas bathroom bill in a letter which was sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday, August 3. “No industry will remain untouched by the unnecessary harm that discriminatory laws will do to our competitiveness, to our ability to attract talent, and to our…
Religious Right Lobbyists Are the Lone Supporters of the Texas Bathroom Bill
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Law enforcement. The National Football League. Tech companies. Small businesses. And now, the largest oil and gas companies in the nation. None of the communities Texas Republicans have historically rallied behind want the GOP-led state legislature to pass its so-called “bathroom bill.” In fact, each and every one…
Meet the owner of a gay bar who is challenging Texas Gov. Abbott
By Alex Samuels, The Texas Tribune July 24, 2017 Jeffrey Payne thinks Texas is ready to turn blue. That’s why the openly gay, 49-year-old Dallas Democrat who owns five businesses — including The Dallas Eagle, a popular gay bar — is doing what some might say is impossible: attempting to win the governor’s seat by…
National Episcopal Church Urges Defeat of Texas “Bathroom Bill”
By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune July 20, 2017 As the Texas Senate prepares to consider legislation to restrict bathroom use for transgender Texans in legislative overtime, the national Episcopal Church is renewing its opposition to such proposals. Citing the “emotional and spiritual damage that discrimination does to transgender people,” top leaders of the national…
At the Texas Capitol, bathroom bill debate revs back up
By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune July 18, 2017 There’s a slight sense of déjà vu at the Texas Capitol. Legislative proposals to regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans are rolling in. LGBT advocates are fiercely denouncing them as discriminatory. Fearing economic fallout, business groups and corporations are rallying in opposition. And the leaders of…
Gay Dallas Businessman Throws Hat into Governor’s Race
A gay businessman from Dallas announced on Friday, July 14 that he has filed the necessary paperwork to initiate a run for Governor of Texas as a Democrat, becoming the first candidate to challenge incumbent Greg Abbott in the 2018 race. Jeffrey Payne, owner of the the Dallas Eagle and four other businesses, told KTVT-TV…
IBM Kicks Off Major Campaign Against Texas Legislature’s Bathroom Bill
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. With the Texas Legislature’s special session a week away, tech company IBM has ramped up its efforts to oppose the s0-called “bathroom bill” for its discriminatory effects against transgender Texans. The company, which has 10,000 employees in Texas purchased full-page advertisements in the Dallas Morning News, San Antonio…