Everybody pees. It's in our nature to do so. The right to use the bathroom that best aligns with our gender identity, however, is being challenged by some state governments. Texas' SB 6, better known as the Texas Privacy Act, seeks to prevent transgender individuals from using the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. It's being labeled as a safety issue, but really, it's discrimination.
Richard Linklater, the Academy Award-winning Houston-born director of Boyhood, partnered with Texas' ACLU to create a minute-long PSA calling Texas residents to take action against the bill. "You gotta take a seat to take a stand," a woman in the video says. It touches on the negative economic effects passing the bill would cause, which, if you've paid attention to North Carolina's economy after it passed a similar act called HB2, is not pretty. (The state has lost nearly $1 billion business after as a result of HB2.) Linklater's ad highlights how harming or harassing someone in any bathroom is illegal, but when it comes to public restrooms, 70 percent of transgender people have reported being harassed while using a bathroom whose gender they don't identify with. There's the true safety concern.
To help take a stage against Texas legalizing discrimination, head on over to ACLU's website to send a message (or donate!). You can also add your name to an open letter signed by many celebrities like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Laverne Cox, which protests the SB 6 as well.
