Transgender woman takes selfie with unwitting Republican Governor behind transphobic bathroom bill

Ashley Smith took the picture to 'prove transgender people pose no threat'

A transgender woman poses with an unwitting Texas Governor Greg Abbott as debate on a controversial bill limiting transgender people's use of public bathrooms continues (Ashley Smith/Instagram)

A transgender woman took a picture with an unwitting Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott ahead of a transphobic bathroom bill he supports.

Mr Abbott appeared to be unaware that Ashley Smith of San Antonio is transgender.

Ms Smith posted the picture on Facebook and Instagram with the caption: "How will the Potty Police know I'm transgender if the Governor doesn't".

She said she took the picture to prove a point: transgender people "don't pose a threat" to the general public.

“I did not think [shouting] would work, or that I would be heard and was more interested in the getting the photograph and not getting thrown out,” she told the San Antonio-Express News.

Ms Smith, an LGBT activist, posed with Mr Abbott as he held a rally to announce his re-election bid.

In April tweeted his "support..."to protect privacy in bathrooms," referring to Senate Bill 6 which was debated in the state Senate's last session and came to a standstill.

Mr Abbott called for a special 30-day session to continue the debate that would require students attending state-funded high schools to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender at birth.

It mirrors the North Carolina state legislature bill that faced backlash from not only voters but large companies that invest in the state.

The Associated Press estimated that had that bill not been repealed as it was on 30 March, it would have cost the state more than $3.7 billion over the next decade because sports teams, advertisers, and companies were pulling business from the state.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) went as far as issuing an ultimatum, giving North Carolina one week to stop restricting the choice of bathroom facilities of transgender people otherwise it would pull holding events in the state until 2022.

Though some advocate were not pleased that the North Carolina repeal went far enough, it did prevent a massive loss of revenue for the state.

Moderates in the Texas Senate fear their state would face the same fate should this bill become law.

Tech behemoth IBM ran a full-page advert in local publications and posted it on social media. The company opposes "any measure that would harm the state's LGBT+ community and make it difficult to...attract and retain talented Texans".

One of the main arguments made by those supporting the bill is citing that allowing transgender people to use whichever bathroom they prefer puts women and children in harm's way.

In reality, there have been no reported cases of attacks by transgender people motivated by their trans identity.

A 2016 survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality compiled the results of over 27,000 people in the US and found that nearly 60 per cent of transgender Americans avoid using public restrooms because they either fear confrontation or have experienced verbal and physical abuse.

"We're about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbours," Ms Smith said, adding that she thinks Texans worry about more important issues than this.

"Some of us are not immediately obvious as trans. And the idea that you are going to be able to enforce a bathroom bill, I mean the enforceability is just not there."