Texas anti-transgender bill ‘all but dead’

AUSTIN — The Texas legislature may end the session without voting on a bill that would have required transgender people to use the bathroom for the gender they were assigned at birth.

From the Texas Tribune:

With just days left in the 30-day special legislative session, controversial proposals to regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans appear to have no clear path to the governor’s desk. As was the case during the regular legislative session that concluded in May, efforts to pass any sort of bathroom bill — a divisive issue pitting Republicans against business leaders, LGBT advocates, law enforcement and even fellow Republicans — have stalled in the Texas House.

And it’s unlikely that will change in the coming days.

“I’d say the chances are definitely getting smaller,” Republican state Rep. Ron Simmons of Carrollton, who filed two bathroom bills during the special session, said earlier this week.

The bill was one of the reasons for the special session and had been the focus of protests both in Texas and from across the country. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus refused to refer the bill to a House committee after it was passed by the state Senate. He’s had the backing of the business community, which had been vocal in its opposition to the bill.