By Thomas Maxheimer
“Bathroom bill” in House misses key deadline — but issue stays alive
The proposal to gut Texas’ city and school trans inclusive bathroom policies missed a deadline, but this does not mean the initiative is dead. The proposal, by Republican state Representative Ron Simmons, would ban the protections of any class of persons who were not already protected.
Over 100 students walk out of Mike Pence’s commencement speech
While Pence was giving a commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, students staged a walk-out protest primarily motivated by Pence’s opposition to LGBT+ rights, his attempts to block Syrian refugees, his support for Trump’s travel ban, and his anti-immigration views.
‘License to discriminate’ advocates make their stand against LGBTQ protections
After more than a decade of attempts, a bill to expand protections against discrimination could possibly fail again. Alyssa Johnson of Concerned Women for America testified that “…the Bible doe not condone homosexual lifestyles.” Rep. Gina Mitten, a Democrat from St. Louis, pointed out that this was the same argument used to object to racial equality and interracial marriage.
