Texas Bathroom Bill Clears Senate Committee

[Riddick]

The Texas bathroom bill cleared its first hurdle Wednesday after a Texas Senate committee approved the measure, which requires that people to use the restroom that corresponds to the gender on their current birth certificate.

SB 6, the Texas Privacy Act, requires government buildings, public schools and universities to designate dressing rooms, locker rooms, restrooms, and shower facilities “for use by the people according to their biological sex that is the current birth certificate – not the birth certificate at birth, but the current birth certificate,” according to State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), who introduced the bill.

“Exceptions obviously are allowed for emergencies: custodial purposes, parents with small children, disabled,” she said.

According to Kolhort, “in Texas, there is a way to change your birth certificate, and it is going before a district judge and presenting the data of either hormone therapy or surgery, and then the judge makes the decision that the birth certificate shall be changed.”

“Obviously, it’s a pretty high bar to do that, because these are vital statistics that states keep, and so that is a lot as you change the birth certificate,” she said.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that in his state, people change the sex on their birth certificate “less than a dozen times a year in a state of 27 million people - the second largest state.”

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