When Texas officials unveiled a bill Thursday that would require people to use some bathrooms corresponding with their genders at birth, it drew unavoidable comparisons to a similar law passed last year in North Carolina. It also raised the prospect of a new confrontation with college sports officials and professional sports leagues, which pulled several prominent competitions from North Carolina in light of its law and now could face pressure to back away from one of the country’s largest and most sports-mad states.
The North Carolina law, known as House Bill 2 or HB2, curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, leading to protests, boycotts and criticism from business interests in the state.