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Texas ‘bathroom bill,’ others not passed
By Sandhya Somashekhar
Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Texas legislature abruptly ended its special session late Tuesday without passing a bill regulating the use of bathrooms by transgender people, a setback for Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who had called the 30-day session in large part to enact such a law.

House leaders adjourned the session a day early, and the Senate followed suit after a contentious month in which the two Republican-controlled chambers failed to agree on a number of Abbott’s priorities. By far the most closely watched was the ‘‘bathroom bill,’’ which sought to require public school students and others in state-owned facilities to use restrooms and locker rooms that matched the gender on their birth certificates.

A version passed out of the Senate, but it never gained traction in the House, where leaders have long objected to such a measure. House leaders blocked a version that was passed earlier this year during the regular session. The legislature is unlikely to revive the bill until it convenes again in regular session in 2019.

It brings to an end, at least for now, the latest battle about the rights of transgender people to use the public restrooms of their choice. Conservatives say that letting them use their preferred facilities violates the privacy of others and gives male sexual predators a pass to enter women- and girls-only spaces. LGBT rights groups, meanwhile, accuse conservatives of playing on pernicious stereotypes of transgender people.

The debate flared most notably in North Carolina, where lawmakers last year enacted a law similar to the one that was under consideration in Texas. The law provoked several lawsuits and boycotts from celebrities, businesses and sports leagues. Under pressure, the state repealed part of the law earlier this year.