Lone Star State native Richard Linklater has filmed an advertisement for I Pee With LGBT, the organization formed in response to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s anti-transgender bathroom initiative SB6. Better known as the Texas Privacy Act, the bill would ban trans people from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity.
The bill was announced in early January and has been met with intense resistance in the month since then. Both the NFL and the NBA have condemned its potential passage, with the latter organization warning that potential events in the state could be preemptively canceled, as happened in North Carolina. In total, North Carolina—which passed a similar law last March—was estimated to have lost over $500 million in business as of Jan. 6 due to the business community’s backlash.
Linklater’s ad features plenty of delightful wordplay—“You’ve got to take a seat to make a stand,” “You’ve got to spray it to say it”—and stays fairly light in tone, bringing together a rainbow of individuals to advocate for a pretty basic human right.
You can learn more about I Pee With LGBT and Texas’ SB6 here.
