A vote Tuesday by Travis County commissioners will allow county employees to raise the LGBTQIA+ Pride Flag at every Travis County government building annually during Pride month. (Frank Martinez/KXAN)
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Hundreds are expected to attend a rally at the Texas Capitol Monday afternoon where they will push for legislation to protect the LGBTQ community and criticize the dozens of proposed restrictions currently under consideration.
The event, which begins at 12 p.m. on the South Staircase of the Statehouse, is billed as All in for Equality Advocacy Day. Organizers include Equality Texas, Transgender Education Network of Texas, Texas Freedom Network, ACLU of Texas, Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign.
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According to a press release, speakers will include Jonathan Van Ness, star of Netflix series Queer Eye, and Cynthia Lee Fontaine, an Austin-based drag entertainer who competed in RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Since the start of the Texas legislative session in January, Equality Texas has kept a running tally of the “good bills” that it claims offer more protections to LGBTQ Texans, as well as the “bad bills” that proponents argue are having a negative impact would affect the community. The organization’s count now comes to 142 “good” and 140 “bad” bills.
This event comes a week after LGBTQ supporters gathered outside the Capitol to draw attention to some Senate bills they said would be particularly harmful to transgender Texans. A proposal would ban doctors from performing “sex reassignment procedures and treatments, gender reassignment” on children under the age of 18. The bill claims that such treatment includes anti-puberty drugs, hormone therapy and surgery.
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Proponents of this bill argue that this bill is designed to protect children. However, parents with transgender children are concerned about losing access to health care options in the state.
During the session so far, Equality Texas is using its social media accounts to raise awareness of upcoming Legislative Committee hearings, where lawmakers will discuss specific bills and share ways for LGBTQ people and their allies to make their voices heard, e.g. B. How to testify at these meetings.
This is an evolving story, so KXAN will update this story with more information once the rally concludes Monday afternoon.
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