Despite failing in the regular Texas legislative session, the “bathroom bill” is back yet again.
This article was originally published on my Patreon.
After Governor Greg Abbott vetoed a bill which would have banned hemp-derived THC products in the state, he called for a special legislative session to replace it with regulations, rather than a ban. In the leadup to the reopening of the lege, devastating floods claimed the lives of over 100 residents of Central Texas, including many children, and responding to this disaster also became a part of the agenda.
But the special session is quickly becoming a debacle. The Senate introduced a near-identical THC ban to the one that Abbott vetoed, with its sponsor claiming that it’s impossible to regulate the plant. They’re planning a massive power grab through redistricting. And, of course, the Texas Republican party can’t pass up an opportunity to oppress a vulnerable group. They’ve revived a failed bill which would ban transgender women from bathrooms and locker rooms at public places, including government buildings and schools. It would also ban trans women from women’s prisons and domestic violence shelters.
When bathroom bills first appeared on the scene, the outcry was widespread and near universal. Corporations and sporting events threatened to boycott states that proposed these bans. Nowadays, many corporations are abandoning their support for LGBTQIA+ people, and some Democrats want to turn on us — even powerful ones like California Governor Gavin Newsom. .
Which was why I think it was so important to hear Texas Democratic lawmakers and politicians enthusiastically support transgender rights during Tuesday’s press conference hosted by the All In For Equality coalition (which includes ACLU of Texas, Equality Texas, Transgender Education Network of Texas and others). Since Republicans claim that these bills are about women’s safety or privacy, the press conference featured survivors of abuse who spoke out against the weaponization of their stories against trans people.
In 2013, I was in the halls of the capitol to support the “People’s Filibuster” for abortion that finished what Wendy Davis started, and (while I’m suspicious of politicians in general) it was good to feel her solidarity this week. I wouldn’t normally share so much of a press conference, but, as so many seem poised to turn away from supporting us, I think it’s worth showing that many influential cis folks still believe trans rights are worth protecting publicly and proudly.
My patrons made it possible for me to publish this article. I’m offering these transcripts for free, because I think it’s important for trans people to hear that cis people support us. Please consider becoming a member if you’re not one already, so I can keep sharing stuff like this.
These speeches have been edited for clarity and length.
Former State Senator Wendy Davis: Hello, good morning, everyone. I’m so happy to be here and to be speaking on behalf of other women in this state who feel that what’s happening to our transgender community with this bathroom bill is simply wrong.
We all recognize the need to be safe, and we all want that, of course, for our children, our grandchildren, but we also recognize that the things that will make them safe have nothing to do with this bathroom bill. This bathroom bill is so typical of what we see coming from the legislature when the heat is on them for their own misdeeds. Right now in this building, they’re talking about stealing an election. They’re talking about doing it through a redistricting that steals the voices of people in our community, and what they want is to divert our attention elsewhere.
It’s a typical play for them to utilize our bodies to invoke and to capitalize and leverage prejudices and discrimination in order for us to move our attention from the horrible things that they so often are engaged in. Our Republican colleagues here in this building understand and know that this is a solution without a problem, that they are working in a way that will further harm our transgender community, and they will do it simply for their own political gain.
Yeah, this is exactly what’s wrong in the state of Texas. Right now we have districts that have been drawn to guarantee Republican wins, and what that means is that they’re consistently and constantly speaking to that small percentage of Texans that occupy the Republican voting primary base. That’s not who we are, though, and I can tell you as a woman that we should be doing everything we can to solve the real problems of this state.
We should be standing together and saying, leave our bodies alone. Let us pee in peace. Let us travel the streets of this state without fear that we are going to be stopped because we may be seeking reproductive health care. Let us have autonomy over our bodies once again. Quite simply, leave us alone and do your job to make sure that we truly are safe, that children like my granddaughters, who are nine years old and seven years old, are safe because they have the opportunity to get a vibrant, excellent education. They are safe because they have good teachers who are paid well. They are safe because their bodies are free of government intrusion, and they can realize their best futures for themselves, because they can make decisions about their own bodies.
Now, I know it’s the case that not everyone knows someone who is trans, and I understand too that there can be a great deal of misunderstanding about our trans brothers and sisters, but I can tell you, as someone who’s had the joy and benefit of coming to know so many people who are trans, our trans sisters deserve to be safe in the restroom, just like we deserve to be safe in the restroom. And I can assure you that I and other cis women will continue to fight for those sisters, and I invite you work to have better understanding, better alliance, better friendship with our trans community, so that you can see, as I have, these are incredible, wonderful, loving people from whom we should refrain from throwing them under the prejudicial bus, as Republicans continue to do.
Leave our bodies alone, do your job in this building, and let’s move forward, proactively and productively together. Thank you so much.
State Representative Jessica Gonzalez, Texas House LGBTQ Caucus: My name is Jessica Gonzalez. I’m the chair of the Texas House LGBTQ caucus, and look, I love you all. But I was hoping I wasn’t going to see everybody so soon, and not under these circumstances. But here we are, and I’m standing here today to say what many of us are feeling in our bones: we’re done putting up with this. We’re done watching our trans community be attacked by politicians who wouldn’t last five minutes walking in their shoes. We’re done being used as political scapegoats for political gain, and we’re done letting one twice impeached, indicted man, Donald Trump, treat our state like his playground, pressuring lawmakers to rig redistricting maps for his own power grab, while our communities suffer and will continue to suffer if they stay in power. So let’s just call this what it is: It’s a coordinated political assault on queer Texans, on democracy and anyone who refuses to sit down and shut up. This bathroom ban is nothing but a cheap cruel attempt to distract and divide us. It’s not about safety, it’s not about public policy. It’s about hate, it’s about control, and it’s about fear of people living authentically and unapologetically. They want us to be afraid, they want us to hide, they want us to disappear. But we’ve got news for them: We aren’t going anywhere. And look, I’ve been followed in public bathrooms myself. I’ve been told that I was in the wrong dressing room because I didn’t look the way that people thought a woman should look. It’s happened to me in this building. So I know how quickly strangers can decide that your body doesn’t belong, and if they’re doing that to me, the state representative in this building, imagine what they’re doing to our trans community, especially our kids. So I’m here to say and we’re here to say enough, because we’re done begging for humanity. We’re done playing defense, and we’re done letting fear silence our voices, because they don’t get to be racist, they don’t get to legislate us out of public life, and they don’t get to gerrymander away our power, not now and not ever. We’re fighting for our trans brothers and sisters. We’re fighting for queer youth, and we’re fighting for a Texas that doesn’t shrink to fit Republican egos, but that rises to meet people’s dignity. So if they think they can redraw the lines and redraw the rules to take away things like marriage equality, which they intend to do. … Well, I guess, let them try, but we’re going to put up a fight. Yep, because we’re here to build something stronger. We’re building solidarity. We’re building a movement, and we’re building a wall of resistance that will not break. So to every LGBTQ Texan, you do belong here. And to every ally we need you in this fight with us. And to those in power trying to take our rights, you better believe that we’re not backing down, because this is our home. This is our fight, and we’re not done. We’re just getting started. Thank you.
State Senator Molly Cook: Thank you all so much for being here this morning. It is an honor to stand in solidarity with so many women and survivors who are speaking up with courage. My name is Molly Cook, and I’m your Texas State Senator for district 15, but I’m also a registered nurse, and in between the session and the special session, I was back at the bedside, just like I have been for over a decade, serving patients in the emergency department. I’ve treated women fleeing violence from their partners and patients who simply need a safe place to be seen and cared for. This bathroom bill will not make anyone safer.
As a nurse, I care deeply about creating safe spaces for everyone, but when Republicans claim that they’re protecting women by banning trans people from public restrooms, they’re exploiting survivors and others here today, they’re using our stories to justify their cruelty. And when I stepped away from the bedside and ran for this seat and came to the Texas capitol, I came here to pass data-driven policy to protect public health and public safety. There is no evidence to support this legislation will make anyone any safer.
And when I questioned the Senate author of the bathroom bill on the Senate floor in the regular session, he gave no answer, no answer at all for why we need this bill. He stumbled over his words, made mistakes, made no sense and couldn’t even define sex or gender. So when I tell you this is not based on data, it’s not based on evidence, it is based in hate and it is based in cruelty, I say that to you with credibility, and after already fighting this on the Senate floor.
22 states and over 400 cities have passed laws that allow trans people to use the restroom that they feel comfortable in that matches their gender, and those places have not seen an increase in any public safety incidents. And in fact, where we have seen bathroom bans in effect, they have been struck down over and over again, even in cities like Odessa and conservative parts of our state, in states like Montana, who could arguably be even more conservative than we are. What has happened in states that pass bathroom bans is a rise in violence and harassment against trans people and against non-trans women who don’t fit a narrow idea of what a woman is supposed to look like.
I won’t stand for it, not as your Senator, not as a woman, not as a nurse, and certainly not as an out and proud bisexual woman. I know how good it feels to know myself and love myself. I want that for every single person here, every single patient that I treat, and every single person in our state. Women won the right to vote because we stood together. We got access to capital, to education, to jobs only because we stood together, and we will only be safer if we continue to stand together, including with our trans sisters and siblings.
I reject the bathroom ban and false narrative that pits women against women, whether they are trans or not. So thank you for being here. Thank you for raising your voices and for reminding all of us that we are stronger when we stand together. And I promise, as a Texas woman, always to fight for freedom, safety and privacy.
So keep it up, y’all.
Ana Gonzalez, AFL-CIO: Buenos días. My name is Ana Gonzalez, with the AFL-CIO. I use she/her pronouns, and I am proud to stand here in solidarity, representing the labor movement that fights for justice, dignity and rights for all people. Let me be clear: this special session, like all sessions, Greg Abbott hasn’t just ignored what Texas needs. He hasn’t just failed to improve the lives of the people that he swore to serve. Greg Abbott is letting Trump take over our state, and all the while continuing to attack our rights, rights we have organized, marched and fought for. Rights that belong to us, and right now, those attacks are targeting our LGBTQ+ siblings, especially our trans community. These bills aren’t about safety and fairness. They are about fear and control. Let’s call it what it is – hate – and let’s be honest, these aren’t attacks on strangers. There are attacks on our coworkers, our neighbors, our families and our friends. Do we really want the government policing who walks into a restroom? Do we? No, we don’t. That’s not only invasive, it’s absurd and it’s dangerous. And the truth is, this bill isn’t about bathrooms. It’s designed to humiliate and degrade our trans sisters. So I’m gonna say this very clear: As a woman, I don’t want that. As a Texan, I won’t stand for that. And as a union member, I am going to fight that. Because here’s the thing: our struggles are linked. Our fights are shared. Our power comes from showing up for another, no matter where we come from, no matter where we work, where we pee, or who we love, we are in this together. In the labor movement, we say an injury to one is an injury to all, and we mean it. So we’ll keep fighting. We’ll keep showing up, and we’re not going to back down. Thank you.
Kimiya Factory: Good morning. My name is Kimiya Factory, and I identify as a cisgendered, queer, Afro-Latina. Today I stand here with a list of current, future and legal concerns, none of which are about who is sitting in the restroom next to me.
I am concerned about ICE hunting families like game in broad daylight. I am concerned about the violation of constitutional rights like habeas corpus. I am concerned about the lack of funding and emergency infrastructure resulting in deaths and floods in the state of Texas. I am concerned about a Black woman’s body being a corpse at the hands of the state legislature because of reproductive access being cut.
Texas has never had its priorities straight. It has been the blueprint for oppressive legislation throughout time. Who is inflicting the pain? My rights are being stripped away from me, not by trans women in the bathroom stalls during brief encounters, but in violent house sessions at mahogany wood tables by white cisgendered lawmakers, heterosexual men deciding my bodily autonomy and my trans sisters’ bodily autonomy. That is who is inflicting the pain.
When we look at history, we have to understand that it will continue to repeat itself, but what we do have control of, in history repeating itself, is where we stand. I stand on the right side of history. I stand hand-in-hand with trans women, gender non-conforming folks and two-spirited people who have been at the front of these movements since the beginning of time. I am calling cisgendered hetero folks to stand in solidarity.
Trans folks have been at the front of Stonewall riots. Stonewall movements have been at the front of Black Lives Matter protests. have been at the front of pro-immigration. It is time for us to stand in our privilege the way that trans folks have stood for us for centuries, since the beginning of time. It is time for us to stand in solidarity.
I say all that to say: Drag saves lives. Transgender freedom is the future. Social construction is dangerous, and the Texas Legislature has an agenda. But I am here today to say to Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas State Legislature that we will not stop, we will continue to fight, and when we look at the promised land that Dr Martin Luther King, Jr spoke of, I will embrace trans women in a tight hug and thank them for their sacrifice, for living in their truth, for living in their beauty and for living in their freedom.
Si se puede, tu lucha es mi lucha! Thank you.
