Press Contact: Johnathan Gooch, [email protected], (512) 922-4040
Austin, TX – The Texas House State Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on SB8, the latest version of Texas’ proposed trans bathroom ban, on Friday August 21 at 8am.
The All In For Equality Coalition (Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, Texas Freedom Network, Lambda Legal, and Human Rights Campaign) will hold a rally at 1pm or after the hearing in the outdoor rotunda.
For a brief recap of where we are: During the regular session, a bathroom ban passed the Senate but did not get a hearing in the House. During the first special session, once again, the Senate held a hearing, but the House did not. In part because the House did not have a sufficient number of members to make a quorum.
Historically, past attempts to pass a bathroom ban have stalled out in the House. Texas lawmakers have been trying to pass a bathroom ban since 2017, but this is the furthest the bill has ever gone.
In the past month, Texans from all walks of life have spoken out against the trans bathroom ban. Cisgender women spoke out to say that the bill not only harms trans women but opens all women to invasive gender inspections before being admitted into the toilet. Black Texans spoke about the harms of Jim Crow and challenged lawmakers to reflect on the similarity between assigning spaces by race or by gender identity.
For ease of reference, the links below are shortcuts to individual speaker’s speeches.
Texas Women Are Stronger Together Press Conference (7/23/25) (hyperlinks to timestamp):
- Wendy Davis, former candidate for Texas Governor
- Rep. Jessica González, State Representative & Chair of the LGBTQ Caucus
- Sen. Molly Cook, first openly LGBTQ+ Texas Senator
- Ana Gonzalez, Texas AFL-CIO
- Kimiya Factory, Black Freedom Factory
- Fiona Dawson, Austin LGBTQ Chamber
- Melodía Gutierrez, Human Rights Campaign
- Darcy Caballero, Planned Parenthood Texas Votes
- Sofia Sepulveda (hablando en español), Equality Texas
- Becky Bullard, Democrasexy
- Sadie Hernandez, Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT)
- Felicia Martin, Texas Freedom Network
Separate is not Equal Press Conference (7/30/25) (hyperlinks to timestamp):
- Rep. Ron Reynolds, Texas State Representative, House District 2
- Antonio Ingram, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Verniss McFarland, The Mahogany Project
- Safara Malone, Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT)
- Chas Moore, Austin Justice Coalition
- Mick Rose, Community Member
- Miriam Laeky, Equality Texas
Senate Video Livestream: https://senate.texas.gov/av-live.php
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Equality Texas is the largest statewide organization working to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Texans through political action, education, community organizing, and collaboration.