Texas's Year in Anti-LGBT Bills

The Daily Beast has reported on over 20 new anti-Gay laws that have been proposed in Texas this year. While many states have witnessed various “legislative actions” such as the “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” or “Bathroom Bills,” Texas has seen by far the most.

As Jay Michaelson describes, this batch of Texas bills “range from the familiar to the bizarre.”

These laws include the four categories of usual proposals: 

1. Enhanced Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill
2. Bathroom Bill

3.  Marriage Refusal

4.  Trans Ban

Unlike other states, though, Texas’s proposals are MUCH more extreme. Take the Bathroom Bill. Instead of the one initiative many other states are taking, Texas is proposing three “Bathroom Bills” for the books.  The “Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act” is trying to prohibit any taxpayer funds towards same-sex marriage.

“So, you know, you may have a constitutional right to get married – but, alas, we don’t have the money to register it.”

One of the greatest dangers, though, as Michaelson warns, is the ignorant and completely inaccurate rhetoric surrounding the conversations on these bills.

He concludes the article by stating:

“These kinds of rhetorical subterfuge can be very effective. (Just ask Hobby Lobby.) “Religious Freedom” bills don’t succeed when people know what they really are. But like a good Texas German sausage, it’s sometimes hard to know what you’re getting.”