When the Texas Senate yesterday gave initial approval for Senate Bill 6, they moved the state one step closer to codifying dangerous discrimination against transgender people.
By an overwhelming vote of 21-10, the Senate has given initial approval to what has been labeled “the bathroom bill.” After the Senate gives the bill its final approval, it will be sent to the Texas House of Representatives, where its fate will be determined. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
The bill comes with a poison pill for the state. As we saw in North Carolina after that state passed HB2, businesses will leave the state, concert tours will cancel events and the state will lose millions of dollars in revenue for legalizing and mandating discrimination.
The NCAA has also made it perfectly clear that the state will lose the right to host tournament-level events. While this year’s Women’s Final Four, to be held in Dallas, surely won’t be effected, next year’s Men’s Final Four in San Antonio will have to be moved.
While the NCAA has not made any specific statements about Texas’ future holding these events, the association will have no choice. It has drawn a line in the sand in North Carolina; To allow Texas to step over that line and continue to host events would be an unmitigated disaster for the NCAA and its members.
The NCAA continues to allow its members to discriminate openly against LGBT students, student-athletes and coaches.
