{"id":6101,"date":"2016-12-09T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6101"},"modified":"2016-12-23T19:59:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T19:59:49","slug":"report-passing-anti-lgbt-bill-could-cost-texas-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6101","title":{"rendered":"Report: Passing Anti-LGBT Bill Could Cost Texas Billions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A new report finds that major Texas travel and entertainment destinations, such as the Alamo in San Antonio, could lose billions of dollars if the state passes an anti-LGBT \u201cbathroom bill.\u201d Photo: iStockphoto<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texa<\/strong>s \u2013 Some state leaders are prioritizing a so-called anti-LGBT bathroom bill for the upcoming session of the Legislature, but a new report<\/a> warns that passage could cost Texas billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n

The Texas Association of Business has released a study pointing out that the backlash from passing a bill forcing people to use the toilet of the gender on their birth certificate could cost the state\u2019s businesses up to $8.5 billion and 185,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas, an LGBT advocacy group, says one business segment is likely to be the hardest hit by protests and boycotts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain industries that are on the front line of damage, and those would be those that deal with travel and tourism, conventions, sporting events and entertainment events,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n

Some state leaders, particularly Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have put the bathroom bill, which sponsors say protects religious freedoms, at the top of their agenda. But others, such as House Speaker Joe Straus, say there are more important issues.<\/p>\n

Smith says there are other bills that have been, or are expected to be, filed that would limit the rights of the state\u2019s LGBT community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been legislation filed that would prohibit Home Rule Charter cities in Texas from passing non-discrimination ordinances,\u201d Smith points out. \u201cThe legislation would also nullify any existing non-discrimination ordinances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith adds that recent polls show about 75 percent of Texans oppose measures that target groups for discrimination. He says passing that kind of law could damage the Texas economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are supportive of the effort to educate people about how damaging this discriminatory legislation could be for our state\u2019s economy, for our state\u2019s brand and for the business community, which accounts for the majority of the tax revenues in the state,\u201d he states.<\/p>\n

Smith says states such as North Carolina and Arizona lost hundreds of millions of dollars after passing \u201creligious freedom\u201d bills aimed at LGBT and other groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 Some state leaders are prioritizing a so-called anti-LGBT bathroom bill for the upcoming session of the Legislature, but a new report warns that passage could cost Texas billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. The Texas Association of Business has released a study pointing out that the backlash from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6103,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101\/revisions\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}