Texas GOP May Add Trans Bathroom Ban, Secession to Party Platform

Republican Delegates Expected to Weigh Anti-LGBT Proposals, Hear from Ted Cruz at State Convention in Dallas

Two years after the Texas GOP made national headlines for endorsing so-called “reparative therapy” in its platform, delegates to the party’s state convention likely will consider adding anti-transgender bathroom language to the document this week. 

The Texas GOP is also expected to consider a platform plank in favor of seceding from the union at its state convention in Dallas, which begins Thursday. 

Top Republican officials in Texas, including Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have come out in support of anti-trans bathroom legislation. And the state convention is typically controlled by activists from the party’s right wing who serve as delegates. 

“Already, transgender Texans and their bathroom use has been in the spotlight in a handful of Texas cities — Houston, Dallas and Rockwall, the North Texas suburb that recently rejected a proposal to weigh in on the issue,” The Star-Telegram of Fort Worth (subscription only) reported Monday. “Now the question of who can go into which public restroom, which at least one state official has said could come up in the Texas Legislature next year, might be among the hot-button issues the Texas GOP tackles this week.” 

Back in December, the state GOP’s executive committee rejected a proposal to move the convention out of Dallas over the city’s decision to strengthen its transgender protections. Under Dallas’ nondiscrimination ordinance, trans people attending the state GOP convention will be able to use restrooms according to their gender identity. And, for the first time in history, the convention will include a booth sponsored by an LGBT group.  

However, the Star-Telegram also notes that this will also be the first Texas GOP convention since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of nationwide marriage equality. 

“Top GOP officials have long denounced the ruling, and grassroots Republicans may choose to weigh in on this issue — and on adoptions by same-sex couples,” the newspaper reported. 

Also in December, the party’s Executive Committee voted down a proposal to place a nonbonding resolution in favor of seceding from the union on the March primary ballot. But the issue is expected to come up again at the convention.

Texas Nationalist Movement President Daniel Miller told Texas Public Radio that at least 22 county GOP conventions recently voted to support having a statewide vote on Texas independence. 

“But many in the party say they expect any such proposal, which comes from the fringe movements in the GOP, to be shot down,” according to the Star-Telegram. 

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is scheduled to speak at the convention, and the Associated Press reports that many of those in attendance likely will be mourning his defeat in the Republican presidential primary. 

“There’s going to be a lot of disappointment,” said James Bernsen, a GOP consultant who was spokesman for Cruz’s 2012 Senate campaign.

Carl Tepper, one of only a handful of Donald Trump supporters in top state party positions, told The Dallas Morning News: “We need to leave the Ted Cruz people a couple of weeks to lick their wounds and come around on their own. … They are going to be my friends again. And I think they are going to see the value of a bombastic character like Donald Trump.”