A group of global investors with $11 trillion in managed assets told Texas on Tuesday not to enact legislation restricting access to bathrooms for transgender people, saying it is discriminatory and bad for business.

The “Texas Privacy Act,” or Senate Bill 6, has been marked as a priority for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican and conservative Christian who guides the legislative agenda in the Republican-controlled state Senate. He said the measure protected the privacy and safety of Texans.

The bill on a flashpoint issue in the United States is similar to a law enacted last year in North Carolina that led to economic boycotts and the loss of major sporting events, costing the state an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

“The bathroom bill was bad for North Carolina and it will be very bad for Texas,” New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat, told a teleconference, adding it was the first time investors of this size opposed the legislation.

[…]

Springer said institutional investors including BlackRock, Alliance Bernstein, T. Rowe Price and state comptrollers and treasurers from places including New York and California sent a letter on Tuesday to Patrick and other Texas leaders calling on them to drop the legislation.

“As professional investors, we know that discrimination is simply bad for business,” Matthew Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management, which signed the letter, told the teleconference.

The investors did not give specific actions they would take if the legislation were enacted.

Might be nice if they had some specific actions in mind, because I imagine they will be needed. Hateful bigots hold onto their hate like it was their last breath. A warning isn’t much good without an action to carry it through. It’s a nice thought and all, but nice thoughts don’t go all that far.

Patrick has previously said the threats of economic damage to Texas were overblown. A prominent Texas business group estimates the measure could cost the state billions of dollars.

[…]

A National Football League spokesman said this month Texas lawmakers could hurt the football-loving state’s chances to attract a future Super Bowl if they enact such a law.

Ah, hand-egg. Well, that might do the trick.

Full story here.