It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and I’m excited to see our Senate tradition continue with the second annual Christmas tree in the Senate Chamber. This beautiful, almost 25-foot Virginia Pine tree, grown in Denton, welcomes the Christmas spirit!
As we near the end of 2016, I have rolled out my top 25 legislative priorities for the 2017 Legislative session. If you missed my announcements on these, you can find them here, here, and here. As you can see, property tax relief, school choice and ending sanctuary cities are at the top of the list. I have also made protecting women’s privacy and making sure that businesses are not forced to allow men in women’s bathrooms a priority item.
In case you missed it, currently parents in Dripping Springs ISD are fighting to ensure that little girls in elementary school are not forced to share restrooms and gym facilities with little boys. Despite what you hear in the press, in a recent survey commissioned by Texans for Dan Patrick, the data reveals that the majority of Texas voters – including men and women, Democrats and Republicans, urban/suburban and rural dwellers and every racial and ethnic group – agree that use of public restrooms should be restricted by gender. You can be sure I will continue to make the privacy and safety of our Texas women and girls a top priority in my agenda.
- 69 percent of Texas voters support passing a law to make it illegal for a man to enter a women’s restroom while 21 percent do not support it
- When Texans were asked if elementary, middle school or high school girls should be forced to use the same restrooms, lockers or showers at the same time as boys, 77 percent of Texan voters said no
- Support for the law does not change when Texans were told some businesses believe legislation prohibiting men from using women’s bathrooms “might look discriminatory and could hurt businesses”
- When informed that college and professional sports organizations might boycott Texas if they passed a law prohibiting men from entering women’s restrooms, 47 percent of respondents — including just over half of men — said they would boycott the organizations by refusing to watch games or purchase their merchandise
- Read the survey in greater detail here
While we fight for our students’ safety, we’re also fighting to give every child in Texas access to a high-quality public education. Texas lags in school choice options, and I intend to make Texas a leader in education. If you agree that every parent should have the option to send their child to the school they believe is best for them, join me in sharing the image below with others:
