ACLU of Texas Comment of Passage of Anti-LGBT Legislation

AUSTIN — Over the weekend, the Texas Senate voted to pass House Bill 3859 (HB 3859), a bill that would allow child welfare caseworkers and state-funded child adoption and foster agencies to impose their personal religious beliefs on children in their care and disqualify LGBT families from the State’s foster and adoption system. The Texas House of Representatives added an amendment to Senate Bill 2078 (SB 2078) that 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’s 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 aren’t bargaining chips for lawmakers to trade, and their safety and dignity are non-negotiable.”