Equality Texas gears up for the prolonged fight against bathroom bill

Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender, speaks about her experiences in high school, where a counselor once said to her, “We go by the plumbing and not by how you feel.” Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender, speaks about her experiences in high school, where a counselor once said to her, “We go by the plumbing and not by how you feel.” Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Equality Texas gears up for the prolonged fight against bathroom bill 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

After Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week he’d call a special session that would include the bathroom bill as one of many agenda points, local and statewide advocacy groups decided to gather their bearings in preparation for another emotionally charged fight.

“The one thing we all need the most is stamina,” said Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas.

The nonprofit held a Special Session Town Hall on Sunday morning to review their advocacy work this spring and gear up for the fight this summer — largely against Senate Bill 6, known as the bathroom bill, which would prohibit transgender students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

Smith called the bill “nothing more than a political attempt to discriminate against people and remove them from public life.” But Republican legislators in support of the bill say it is about respecting privacy and protecting women and children in public bathrooms.

Only a handful of people attended the town hall at Pearl Stable. Smith attributed the low turnout to “election fatigue” from the results of the previous night’s mayoral runoffs — the organization’s political action committee, Texas Equity PAC, endorsed Ron Nirenberg, who beat incumbent Mayor Ivy Taylor. Many advocates in the room expressed mental exhaustion from the intensely emotional legislative session.

“It was just a beating,” said Angela Hale, who handles media relations for Equality Texas. “All the stuff that we were able to kill and stop, now we’re having a special session with it all back again.”

Equality Texas spent the spring collaborating with other advocacy organizations across the state and country to shut down the bathroom bill, and now are trying to keep that sense of urgency afloat throughout the summer.

“We still have a long way to go,” Hale said.

The organization will need to raise $30,000, Smith said, to retain the contract staffers they had hired during this legislative session.

Smith encouraged others to take advantage of the brief respite from state politics, so by July 18, when the special session begins, everyone’s once again ready to rally. He said if a committee hearing day is once again scheduled for the bathroom bill, people can expect a “replay” of the regular session, with “all hands on deck.”

In March, hundreds of people gave testimonials against the Senate’s bathroom bill for about 13 hours in an overnight hearing, and in April for the House’s version — House Bill 2899 — the debate went well into the night.

“I think we’re all scrambling to find what is the secret sauce that gets someone to go from one position to another. I tell my colleagues all the time, that they continue to try to use logic and reason in a place where that isn’t valued,” said state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, who spoke at the town hall.

The key, Bernal said, is making someone feel like they could lose their seat — what he calls the “politics first, logic second approach.”

He also criticized the city of San Antonio, saying it did not appear as engaged as the other major Texas cities.

“I found the city of San Antonio’s aggressiveness on these issues and other issues during the session to be lukewarm. Wanting,” he said.

With Nirenberg as mayor, though, Bernal said he expects that to change.

Many advocates also reiterated that telling the story of transgender people, and making those outside the LGBTQ community identify and empathize with those in it must continue with equal and more force.

“I never would have been an advocate for this issue because it was nothing that ever touched my life — which is sad but true,” said Ginger Chun, mother of Marceline Chun, 16, who is transgender.

“A lot of people like myself out there don’t have the power or the ability to be who they are,” Marceline said, adding that she wants to “convince people that we’re a legitimate community.”

sfosterfrau@express-news.net