LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities: An eye on Austin

There have been 944 bills, concurrent resolutions, joint resolutions and resolutions pre-filed in the House and the Senate for the 86th Texas Legislature, as of Thursday, Jan. 3. Of those, at least 14 are in some way related to the LGBT community or to HIV/AIDS.

And the good — if somewhat surprising — news is that none of those are bathroom bills. In fact, all of the 14 are LGBT-positive bills or resolutions introduced by allies of the community or, in one case, an LGBT elected official.

That, of course, is likely to change. Lawmakers have been able to pre-file bills for the 2019 legislative session since Nov. 12, and they can continue to file through March 8. And, despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s assurances during his debates last year with Lupe Valdez that passing a bathroom bill was not a priority on his agenda for 2019, there’s no doubt that such a bill is most definitely a priority on the agendas of the GOP right-wingers.

It’s also not very likely that any LGBT-positive measures are going to gain much traction with GOP lawmakers, who are in the majority in both houses of the Legislature. Still, just seeing those bills introduced offers at least a small ray of hope for progress to come.

Read more: https://www.dallasvoice.com/an-eye-on-austin/