While Trump grabs headlines, Texas Republicans launch new wave of assaults on LGBT rights

[DonViejo]

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sparks new "bathroom bill" and effort to curtail same-sex couples' rights in Houston

AMANDA MARCOTTE

For understandable reasons, Donald Trump and his cadre of Beltway Republicans are dominating the news cycle. But it’s also important to pay attention to what’s going on in the states, where the same reactionary revolt that lifted Trump to the White House is playing out closer to the ground.

In Texas, for instance, Republicans who are still enraged about the legalization of same-sex marriage by the Supreme Court in 2015 have launched two major attacks on LGBT rights.

In the Texas legislature, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, along with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, unveiled S.B. 6 earlier this month, a bill that would ban transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender when visiting or working in government buildings. Instead, all people in such buildings for any reason would be compelled to use a restroom corresponding with the gender assigned them at birth.

In an even stranger twist, the Texas Supreme Court, under heavy fire from Patrick, has taken up a case challenging the city of Houston’s policy of offering equal benefits to employees in same-sex marriages as it does to those in opposite-sex marriages.

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http://www.salon.com/2017/01/26/while-trump-grabs-headlines-texas-republicans-launch-new-wave-of-assaults-on-lgbt-rights/