Texas Senate Bill No. 6 was introduced this legislative session in Austin. This bill (if passed) would allow the state to regulate who goes pee where in government & public buildings. It would also make any city or local ordinances protecting transgender individuals’ right to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identify null and void. These same ordinance protect LGBT citizens from discrimination in jobs, housing, and restaurants too.

The bill would essentially ban transgender individuals from going pee in a bathroom that did not align with the gender listed on the person’s birth certificate. Crazies call this ‘biological sex’. (In this post, you must say ‘biological sex’ in the most ignorant/nasally voice you can think of).

Sex like gender is not binary. One ‘female’ can have the body of an XY chromosome male. There are clear genetic variations that cause some humans’ bodies not to match their physical parts. See this interesting report in “Nature: International weekly journal of science” by Claire Ainsworth.

So the trans woman (according to this legislation) should be using the men’s restroom with her boobs, long hair, and estrogen while the trans man with facial hair, deep voice, and testosterone will use the women’s restroom.

And changing a birth certificate in Texas? Good luck. You must first start with your name and gender on your identification documents. The easiest way you can change those in Texas is to get the following:

A letter from a licensed professional counselor stating you suffer from gender dysphoria (takes multiple counseling sessions). This letter is required by any physician in Texas that will treat transgender individuals with hormone therapy. A letter from the physician stating that you have been on hormones for a while (usually 10 months to a year) and your hormone levels are just like that of a cis female.

Only after more than a year of jumping through hoops (to weed out the crazies) can you pay a lawyer over $3,000 to take you to court so you can receive a court order to change your name and gender with federal and state agencies.

Then, you take that judge’s court order to the Social Security Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety (driver’s license issuer), and expedite your request to U.S. Passport Office to reissue your passport with the new gender.

And we haven’t even gotten to the birth certificate yet. In Texas, there is no formal process to do this. It has been done routinely but the judges usually require sexual reassignment surgery be completed before the gender marker is changed on the certificate. Oh! Did I mention that is another few thousand dollars in court and lawyer fees? Not to mention over $20,000 for the surgery since many insurance plans do not cover it.

So after many years and tens of thousands of dollars, your ‘biological sex’ matches your gender.

This brings me to Texas’ public school children. If this bill is passed, young public school children who identify with a gender not presented on their birth certificate (they are not old/wealthy enough) will either have to use a single stall restroom or hold their bladders all day until they get home. Telling them where they can and cannot pee is treating them like second class citizens (see Jim Crow and water fountains)and only adds to the anxiety they face every day at school.

Do these legislators understand the relationship between suicide and trans kids? According to a study by Washington State based on national statistics found on the Youth Suicide Prevention Program website, “Almost 50% of transgender youth have seriously thought about suicide, and 25% reported that they have made a suicide attempt.” State senators and representatives are prioritizing their personal agendas over the well being of all the state’s children. This is not the Texas that I love.

The reasoning behind the bill: to (ignorant voice here) “Protect women and children.” Well this is a bunch of crap. My family and I have been doing just fine in Texas restrooms. Trans individuals are not pedophiles or predators. Restroom assaults are done by cis gender individuals and that is not going to change with a stupid ‘protection’ bill. Creepers are still going to sneak in the restrooms and hurt people. TX SB 6 is not going to stop that.

Why do these legislators care where people go to the restroom? Their actions and words cause so much fear and heartache. I wish they would stop. If they opened their eyes, they would see the blatant discrimination spread by their acts.

And to the Texas Legislature I say, “Pee, wash your hands, and move the F*** ON!”

See the Bill Annotated by the Texas Tribune.