Texas Bathroom Bill – Your Voice Matters


If you believe in inclusiveness and oppose discrimination we need your collective voice to persuade Gov. Abbott to veto Texas Senate Bill 3. Money talks in these scenarios, and so it is important for us to flex our industry economic muscle. Remind political officials of the power of our dissent:

  • Our industry holds 1.83 million meetings every year in the United States.
  • Those meetings generate $28 billion in U.S. federal, state and local taxes annually.
  • More than $280 billion in annual U.S. direct spending is spurred by our industry.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Please take a moment today to support our industry and to craft a letter of dissent to Gov. Abbott and upload it here. Feel free to use the Economic Impact Study statistics of our monetary strength above.

PCMA adamantly believes that any form of discrimination conflicts with our industry’s values. We believe that meetings, events, conferences and trade shows are inherently built on a foundation of inclusiveness, uniting attendees of all skin colors, sexual orientations and gender identities.

As part of Texas state lawmakers’ second attempt at passing a discriminatory bathroom bill this year, a panel of Senate lawmakers voted last Friday to advance a measure to restrict bathroom use for transgender Texans. The Texas Senate is again poised to overwhelmingly approve the bill this week, though opponents are still trying to stall a vote with procedural challenges and drawn-out debate.

If Senate Bill 3 becomes law people will be required to use bathrooms of the sex listed on their birth certificates and local governments and school districts will be barred from deviating from that rule. The law would make life harder for transgender people who identify with the sex opposite of what is on their birth certificate.

The likelihood of the bill ultimately reaching the Republican governor’s desk remains tenuous despite GOP control of the Legislature. Should the Texas Senate pass this bill, the next step would be that the Gov. Greg Abbott signs the bill into law.

The success of our industry relies on diversity. The new ideas that emerge from our education do not come from putting thousands of similar people with similar opinions in the same room – it comes from inclusion. This is the true spirit of the meetings industry; our experiences are built on including everyone.

Please email me at [email protected] with questions, concerns and ideas. I am happy to share my perspective on how we together can best support the business events industry.

Deborah Sexton | President & CEO
Professional Convention Management Association | pcma.org

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