Transgender Texans Skip the Bathroom to Avoid Violence, New Survey Says

AUSTIN — One-third of transgender Texans avoid eating or drinking so they don't have to use a public restroom, and a majority have forgone using the bathroom at all while they're out to avoid confrontation or violence, according to a new survey.The survey results, released just weeks after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick unveiled a proposal to undo city laws protecting transgender Texans' access to public restrooms, are part of an unprecedented national survey that polled more than 27,000 trans Americans from Alaska to American Samoa.Nearly 1,500 transgender Texans answered the survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality. Its results show trans men and women in Texas, where there's no state law protecting LGBT people from employment discrimination, are more likely to live in poverty (34 percent) or be unemployed (17 percent) than the survey's national averages.  Continue reading...