{"id":47730,"date":"2025-09-22T22:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47730"},"modified":"2025-09-22T23:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:07:24","slug":"abbott-signs-texas-bathroom-bill-limiting-restroom-access-for-transgender-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47730","title":{"rendered":"Abbott signs Texas \u2018bathroom bill\u2019 limiting restroom access for transgender people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R) signed a bill Monday that will require transgender Texas residents to use bathrooms in certain public spaces according to their sex assigned at birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law<\/u><\/a>, passed by the Texas House via a 86-45 vote<\/u><\/a> on Aug. 28, applies to government-owned buildings, including public schools and universities. It includes restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms, which it defines as \u201cmulti-occupancy private spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also instructs the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to \u201censure inmates are housed in a correctional facility, including a dormitory or cellblock of a correctional facility, according to the inmate\u2019s sex.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the law, Texas family violence shelters are barred from providing services to transgender women, unless they are 17 years old or younger and the child of a woman receiving services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to its passage, an amendment offered<\/u><\/a> by five Republican representatives raised fines for entities violating the law to $25,000 for first offenses and $125,000 for subsequent offenses. The initial fines were $5,000 for initial offenses and $25,000 for subsequent offenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendment was adopted by a 84-41 vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law includes exceptions for certain cases, including custodial and maintenance purposes, to accompany an individual in need of assistance, law enforcement actions and children nine years old entering a space alongside a caretaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a post<\/u><\/a> on the social platform X, Abbott called the ban \u201ca common sense public safety issue.\u201d The law will go into effect on Dec. 4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the bill was passed on Aug. 28, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas called it \u201cunconscionable and unconstitutional\u201d in a release<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTexans, including the transgender community, should be able to safely use public facilities that align with our gender identities as a basic matter of respect, safety, and privacy,\u201d the ACLU added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including Texas, seven states ban transgender people from using bathrooms according to their gender identity in all government-owned buildings, according to the Movement Advancement Project<\/u><\/a>. Thirteen other states limit transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity in some government-owned buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott\u2002(R) signed a bill Monday that will require transgender Texas residents to use bathrooms in certain public spaces according to their sex assigned at birth.  The law, passed by the Texas House via a 86-45 vote on Aug. 28, applies to government-owned buildings, including public schools and universities. It includes restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":47731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152],"tags":[34718,1594,1298],"class_list":["post-47730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanrights","tag-bathroom-bill","tag-abbott","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47732,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47730\/revisions\/47732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}