A well-known children’s author refused to travel to Texas, citing the state’s transgender bathroom bill.
Rick Riordan, the author of the “Percy Jackson” series, declined an invitation to attend an event at the Texas state capitol building over Twitter, reports The Washington Post.
The event was intended to celebrate Riordan as a Texas author.
“Just turned down an invite to be honored by TX state legislature as a Texas author. If they want to honor me, they could stop this nonsense,” he tweeted. He also included a link from the ACLU about the proposed bathroom legislation, called Senate Bill 6.
The bill, dubbed the “Women’s Privacy Act,” will not allow transgenders to use the bathroom according to their gender identity. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick described the bill as a way to prevent sexual predators from preying on women while in the bathroom. (RELATED: Business Owners Scared Of Losing Business Over Texas Trans Bathroom Law)
An organizer for the event, Republican state Rep. Jason Villalba, said he respected Riordan’s right to speak out against the event.
“I’m not one to challenge his positions on that. This is America. We have First Amendment freedoms to speak on any issues we want to speak on,” Villalba told The Washington Post. “We’re disappointed that we won’t get to recognize him, but we respect him greatly.”
Some businesses have rallied against the bill out of concern that it will negatively affect Texas’s economy. Approximately two hundred small businesses signed a letter in October to protest the bill.
“That kind of legislation doesn’t just go against our values to be welcoming to everyone, it jeopardizes the businesses we’ve worked so hard to create, and it threatens the jobs and livelihoods of everyday Texans,” the businesses wrote in the letter.
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