US: Texas Republican says he blocked a transgender bathroom bill because he didn't want 'a single suicide on his hands'

The Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives has been an ally for transgender people in the state as the governor there pushes for a controversial bathroom bill.

Joe Straus pushed back on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to pass a bill that was widely viewed as discriminatory toward transgender people during this past legislative session. Mr Straus has frequently criticized the bathroom bill as bad for Texas business, but his comments published recently in the New Yorkermagazine go further than is usual critique.

“I’m not a lawyer, but I am a Texan,” the powerful leader of the Republican controlled Texas House says he said when the lieutenant governor’s office approached him toward the end of the session, saying that he would need to pass a bathroom bill. “I’m disgusted by all this. Tell the lieutenant governor I don’t want the suicide of a single Texan on my hands.” Read more via Independent