Legislation will be introduced in Texas’ 2017 legislative session that will limit or eliminate local non-discrimination laws that protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Based on the experience of other states that have passed similar legislation, we believe this will negatively affect Texas’ economic development and long-term growth prospects, impact workforce recruitment efforts, and undermine the technology community’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. In fact, it has been reported that Texas could experience a short-term GDP loss of $8.5 billion and 185,000 jobs due to lost travel and tourism revenues alone.

Please join the Austin Tech Alliance and TechNet for a roundtable to discuss how the Austin tech community can engage to oppose this legislation. You’ll hear from Brad Spies (SXSW), Matt Curtis (HomeAway), Eugene Sepulveda (Entrepreneurs Foundation), Tom Noonan (Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau), Chris Wallace (Texas Association of Business), and Jessica Shortall (Texas Competes).