The Texas House approved legislation on Monday that would ban transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.
The Republican bill passed in a 94-50 vote. The Texas Senate, which is also under GOP control, will now vote on the measure.
Should Gov. Greg Abbott sign it, Texas will become the second state to have such a law in place. Though Abbott has not publicly commented on the legislation, he has said he would force a special session to address transgender bathroom use.
The measure requires public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to limit bathroom and locker room use to a student’s birth gender. The House passed it on Monday after Democrats failed to amend it on Sunday to give schools the option to opt out of the law.
“This shameful amendment is yet another example of Texas lawmakers’ anti-LGBTQ agenda,” said Human Rights Campaign’s JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs. “Transgender youth deserve the same dignity and respect as their peers, and this craven attempt to use children as a pawn for cheap political points is disturbing and unconscionable.”
Texas’s legislative session ends on May 29.
