Transgender rights supporters protest Texas 'bathroom bill'

AUSTIN, TX (KTRK) -- About a dozen people loaded into a van at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, with several others trailing behind in their own cars.

This morning, they all have a message for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is pushing for the so-called 'bathroom bill' in the Texas Legislature.

Senate Bill 6 would require transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and public universities based on their "biological sex," not the sex they identify with.

SEE ALSO: Proposed 'bathroom bill' could have financial repercussions for Texas

ACLU releases online ad against proposed SB6, Deborah Wrigley reports.

This has been a hot topic on the local, state and national level.

Just months ago, President Trump repealed a directive signed by President Obama which would cut federal funds to schools that would not allow students to use the restroom they identify with.

Some fear this bill will cost the state billions in economic dollars. Transgender advocates say they just want to use the restroom in peace, and say their critics should want the same, too.

"It will also force transmen to go into the women's restroom. And if the women want some scruffy-looking guy who has been on hormones and has a low voice, probably a balding head and is bulking out, if they want transmen in the women's restroom because their birth certificate says 'F', that's what this bill is going to do," Phyllis Frye said.

"What it won't get is any more protection for people in the restroom."

Lt. Governor Patrick is holding a press conference today on SB6. There will be a Senate committee hearing on the bill before it can go before a vote in the state senate.

ACLU Texas takes a stand against the proposed Texas Privacy Act.

Texas bathroom bill unveiled ahead of 2017 session

It's called the 'Women's Privacy Act,' but opponents say it's not about woman at all.