In Texas, the biggest political battle of this generation may not be between Democrats and the GOP, but between Centrist Republicans and their far-right counterparts. And the contentious bathroom bill being re-introduced to the legislature this week is the battlefield upon which that war is being waged.
The Los Angeles Times this week publishedan overview of the bathroom bill and the internecine struggle for the soul of the conservative movement in the Lone Star State.
The issue pits Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a “movement conservative” and Tea Party darling, against House Speaker Joe Straus, a traditional business minded conservative.
Patrick has said, “I don’t want sexual predators masquerading as being transgender to enter into a bathroom to follow a little girl.”
On the opposite side, Straus recently told the New Yorker magazine, regarding the bill, “Tell the lieutenant governor I don’t want the suicide of a single Texan on my hands.”