Trans Woman Shares Photo Op With Texas Gov in Genius Bathroom Bill Protest

Ashley Smith says she took the picture to prove transgender people “don’t pose a threat” to others

Trans woman texas governor
Ashley Smith/Facebook

A transgender woman from Texas shared a photo in which she posed with Texas governor Greg Abbott to protest the state’s proposed bathroom bill.

The photo, taken after Abbott’s rally in San Antonio on Friday, shows Smith and Abbott posing together with the text “#BathroomBuddy” written across the top.

“How will the Potty Police know I’m transgender if the Governor doesn’t?” Smith wrote in the caption of the post, which now has nearly 6,000 likes on Facebook.

Smith told CNN that she took the photo to prove that trans people “don’t pose a threat” to others, despite the implication made by the proposed legislation that forces high school students to use the restroom matching the gender on their birth certificate.

“Sometimes it’s not really apparent who transgender people are,” Smith said. “We’re just regular folks.”

“I think it would be a disaster,” Smith said of the proposed legislation, adding that the bill, known as Senate Bill 6 or SB6, would pose “significant risk” to trans people. “Transgender people have faced harassment just for being who they are.”

The bill passed the Texas Senate in March, but was stalled in the House when the legislative session came to an end in May. Abbott tweeted his support for the SB6 in April, vowing to “work to get a bill to [his] desk.”

Back in February, “Everybody Wants Some!!!” director Richard Linklater teamed up with the ACLU of Texas on a PSA opposing the bill called “I Pee With LGBT.”

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