Legislation filed in the Texas Legislature that would prohibit individuals from using state-funded bathrooms or locker spaces of the opposite sex has bipartisan support from 75 co-authors, tapping back into the hottest topic of the 85th Legislative Session and a current nationwide conversation.
House Bill (HB) 239, also called the Texas Women’s Privacy Act and filed by state Rep. Valoree Swanson (R-Spring), outlines the definition of biological sex and asserts that “private spaces” controlled by a state agency or other publicly-funded facilities must allow persons into such spaces only on the basis of biological sex, instead of gender identity. These include prisons, domestic violence shelters, state department buildings, and all other publicly-funded facilities with bathrooms, locker rooms, sleeping quarters, and other such intimate spaces.
