AUSTIN (AP) – A Texas version of a North Carolina-style “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people has again passed the state Senate but still faces obstacles.
The vote Tuesday came a week into a special legislative session that Republican Governor Greg Abbott called after GOP leaders deadlocked in May over efforts to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use.
But there is no sign of cracks in that impasse. Republican House Speaker Joe Straus for months has denounced the bill and has only sharpened his criticism in recent weeks.
Straus has stood with Apple, Amazon and other big-name companies that call the efforts discriminatory and bad for Texas businesses. Social conservatives say the bill is a needed privacy safeguard.
Police chiefs from Texas’ largest cities rallied against the bill outside the state Capitol before the vote.
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