State Rep. Bill Zedler Files Bill to Permit LGBTQ Discrimination
Texas representative Bill Zedler of Arlington has filed HB 1035, a bill that Equality Texas says includes the “bathroom bill” and doubles down on LGBTQ discrimination. This filing is a departure from the more moderate tone coming out of Austin this legislative session, one focused on “bread and butter” issues like public education and property taxes.
Zedler’s bill would legally protect discrimination in healthcare, social services, the workplace, access to housing, in business, and in government by creating special rights for those who hold two specific religious beliefs: opposition to marriage equality and rejection of transgender people. The bill contains some of the same divisive bathroom regulations that overshadowed much of the 2017 session.
“Rep. Zedler missed the message voters sent last fall, when they sent home the author of 2017’s notorious bathroom bill,” said Samantha Smoot, interim executive director of Equality Texas. “Voters have had it with the hatefulness. They want lawmakers to focus on the economy and public education, not take aim at LGBTQ Texans’ rights.”
It appeared at the beginning of the current session that the too-close-for-comfort November 2018 election had put a scare in leaders like lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who came within single digits of losing his seat. Texas Republicans have been accustomed to heartier leads for over two decades. As the electoral pendulum appeared to be swinging back, the “Big Three” (governor Greg Abbott, speaker Dennis Bonnen, and Patrick) tried to take on a more moderate tone for 2019. This bill could indicate that all of that was just talk, and that LGBTQ Texans are still on the legislative menu.
Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2019/02/state-rep-bill-zedler-files-bill-to-protect-lgbtq-discrimination/
