Texas pastors call for revival of transgender bathroom bill

The Texas Pastor Council has urged Gov. Greg Abbott to hold a second special legislative session this summer to pass Senate Bill 6, a legislation that would prohibit individuals from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

SB5, commonly known as the "bathroom bill," failed to pass during the regular session that ended in May, and it also failed to advance during the summer special session that concluded on Wednesday.

The day before the special session ended, David Welch, executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, urged Abbott to hold another special session in order to pass the measure.

"If this does not pass during this special session, we are asking for, urgently on behalf of all these pastors across the state of Texas, that we do hold a second special session until the job is done," Welch said at a press event hosted by the conservative group Texas Values.

Welch was one of the Houston-area pastors who received a subpoena from the Houston city government in 2014 to hand over all of their sermons and emails on LGBT issues. The government eventually dropped the requests for the sermons following a backlash from both liberals and conservatives who believed the demands to be of questionable legality.

In an emailed statement shared with The Christian Post, Welch gave the Texas House of Representatives a "D minus" grade, and asserted that by failing to pass SB6, lawmakers were "putting dollars over daughters."

The legislation, introduced in January, mandates that individuals in public buildings must use the restrooms according to their biological sex rather than their chosen gender identity.

Although the measure provides exemptions for "special circumstances" and private businesses, it was widely denounced as transphobic by LGBT groups, businesses and some law enforcement officials.

Chuck Smith, president of Equality Texas, claimed that the bill poses a threat to children and warned that Texas could experience the same economic backlash that North Carolina faced when it passed a similar law.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the most outspoken proponents of a bathroom bill in state government, contended that the bathroom bill "does not discriminate against anyone."

"It's simply common sense, common decency and public safety to protect the women of the state of Texas," Patrick said in a speech earlier this month.

"Adult women don't want men following them into the ladies room, nor do they want their little girls or their granddaughters being followed into a bathroom by a man," he added.