A Texas Republican lawmaker is continuing his Party’s attacks on the LGBT community.
Copying language from a bill that recently became law in Arkansas, and one that recently failed in West Virginia, Republican State Rep. Rick Miller last month filed a bill that would ban all cities and towns from passing or enforcing any non-discrimination ordinances that extend protections to classes of people the State of Texas does not currently protect.
The bill targets the LGBT community. There are about a dozen municipalities across the state that have ordinances which extend protections in various forms to LGBT people, including Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and most recently, Plano. The bill, should it become law, would make all those non-discrimination ordinances “null and void.”
Miller’s bill, as all the others do, masks its targeting by claiming to make it easier to attract business into the state, and to operate across the state.
HB 1556, known as the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, claims,
“Uniform laws will benefit the businesses, organizations, and employers seeking to do business in this state and will attract new businesses, organizations, and employers to this state.”
The Texas Observer notes “more than 7.5 million Texas are covered by such ordinances.” Miller’s bill would remove those protections as soon as it is signed, or if it is signed, on September 1, 2015, depending on the number of votes it receives.
Miller is a former Republican Party county chairman. His Facebook page is filled with photos of him posing with anti-equality politicians and activists, including Ted Cruz, Phyllis Schlafly, Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, John Cornyn, and Karl Rove.
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