Sen. Eddie Lucio
State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a Democrat from Brownsville, today came out in support of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrrick’s and Sen. Lois Kolkurst’s bathroom bill, aka SB 6, according to a report by The Texas Tribune.
SB 6 would prohibit transgender people from using the appropriate public restroom facilities, and prohibits local governments or agencies from passing rules allowing otherwise. (The Texas Tribune explains exactly SB 6 says here.)
A hearing on the legislation is set for Tuesday, March 7, before the Senate State Affairs Committee,
Patrick parade Lucio before reports at a press conference to brag about having a Democrat supporting his hateful piece of legislation. Lucio, described as “a devout Catholic,” has been at odds with his Democratic colleagues on other “social issues,” like for example, abortion.
Lucio said at the press conference that “Children, youth and parents in these difficult situations deserve compassion, sensitivity and respect without infringing on legitimate concerns about privacy and security from other students and parents,” Texas Tribune reported.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who gets credit for pushing through his state’s bathroom bill — HB 2 — was also at the press conference. He urged Texas lawmakers not to listen to business leaders who say that SB 6 could damage the state economically, and claimed HB2 hasn’t hurt North Carolina at all.
(Others beg to differ with Forest’s claims that HB 2 hasn’t hurt his state. The Institute for Southern Studies, in a Jan. 6, 2017, article in its newsletter “Facing South,” estimated that the law has, so far, cost North Carolina about $560 million.)
Also at the press conference today, Patrick announced that he is launching “Operation 1 Million Voices” to build support for his hateful anti-transgender bill among Christians.