The Texas Senate voted to pass House Bill 3859, which would allow LGBT families to be disqualified from the state’s foster care and adoption system, whereby child welfare workers and state-funded agencies can impose their religious beliefs. The House also added an amendment to Senate Bill 2078 which discriminates against transgender children in public schools.
“Fresh off its passage of the most anti-immigrant legislation in the nation, the Texas legislature this weekend turned its attention to targeting women and children,” said Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas. “With the passage of sweeping abortion restrictions and two measures authorizing discrimination against LGBTQ families and kids, our lawmakers seem determined to make discrimination Texas’ chief export.”
“The Texas legislature is cynically advancing an aggressive agenda of discriminatory legislation for political gain,” said Rebecca L. Robertson, legal and policy director for the ACLU of Texas. “The so-called bathroom amendment approved by the House last night is billed as a compromise, but there can be no compromise on discrimination. Transgender children are not bargaining chips for lawmakers to trade, and their safety and dignity are non-negotiable.”
