Transgender activists rally at the Capitol

They’re working for understanding and playing defense.

Elder was one of two dozen transgender Texans and their advocates who rallied outside the Texas Capitol early Monday, just three days after gold medal decathlon winner Bruce Jenner declared, “I am a woman” in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC News.

The Austin gathering came amid battles over the rights of gay, lesbian and transgendered people at the state and local levels. Texas lawmakers in this session have filed more than 30 bills that could restrict LGBT rights, while in Houston a conservative activist is continuing to try to force an election that would bar men “who perceive or express themselves as women” from entering women’s restrooms.

Katrina Stewart, executive director of Transgender Education Network of Texas, said as more transgender Americans like Jenner become more visible, the community experiences both more acceptance — and more backlash.

“We’re very hopeful for the Bruce Jenner interview that happened the other day and how that’s going to play out in allowing people to better hear, better be of the mindset to listen to the stories of their neighbors and friends,” said Stewart. “What we want to do is share our stories. We’re not here to make people scared. But that fear shows that they are people listening.”

Members of the transgender community are particularly concerned about a number of House bills that would make it a crime for a transgender person to use a restroom that is contrary to the sex they were assigned at birth.

Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Spring, said she filed her so-called “bathroom bills” in reaction to Houston Mayor Annise Parker successfully pushing for a local ordinance that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The so-called “HERO” ordinance originally included language that explicitly would have allowed transgender Houstonians to use bathrooms matching their gender expression; the protections remain but the ordinance now puts the burden on the individual to prove he or she was a victim of discrimination.

“That really opens a door for those who really aren’t transgender, but who are pedophiles. And it makes it dangerous for little girls; it makes it dangerous for women,” Riddle said Monday. “If you don’t care about the safety of children then you might support those kinds of things. But if you care about the safety of children more than you care about political correctness, then you would support the bill.”

Rep. Gilbert Pena, R-Pasadena, has filed two bills that would go even further than Riddle’s, allowing students to sue and receive $2,000 in relief if they identify a student using a bathroom that doesn’t match his or her “biological sex.” The bills would also require school districts to provide alternative bathroom and locker rooms for transgender students.

Pena on Monday refused to discuss his bills with the Chronicle, but an anti-discrimination activist said his proposal was appalling.

“This is sort of the opposite of small government. This is putting monitors in the bathroom,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Transgender Equality. “It’s absolutely immoral to put a bounty on a school child’s head.”

It cannot be emphasized enough that Debbie Riddle is lying through her teeth about bathrooms and menaces. As was the case throughout the entire HERO saga, I am amazed capacity of people who call themselves Christians to lie about this and other aspects of the ordinance. The good news here is that neither her bill nor Rep. Pena’s have received committee hearings, and the deadline for bills to be passed out of committee is rapidly approaching. The main danger beyond that is having them attached to other bills as amendments, so as long as the Lege is in session the danger remains. The Observer has more.

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