Texas GOP lawmaker's gay son pens heartfelt protest against bill stripping LGBT protections

The drive to stop LGBT Americans from obtaining protections against discrimination in housing, hiring, health care and other rights has come between a Republican Texas lawmaker and his gay son.

According to the Texas Observer, Rep. Rick Miller (R)'s son, a Houston attorney and LGBT activist, took to Facebook to voice his disapproval of the discriminatory law his father has introduced before the state House and to try and enlist other Texans in the fight against the bill.

Beau Miller wrote on his Facebook wall on Thursday, "As many of you know by now, my dad has authored and submitted a bill in the Texas House of Representatives that, if signed into law, would prevent municipalities in Texas from maintaining sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws. While I love my dad very much, I am extremely disappointed by his actions and will do everything I can to prevent that bill, or any such legislation, from becoming law."

The younger Miller went on to say, "I am hopeful that I can persuade him to agree to not pursue this bill’s advancement, that outcome is far from certain. If anyone would like to help in this effort, I suggest writing to him about yours or a friend’s experience with discrimination and how it felt."

However, he urged anyone contacting his father to please be civil.

"To that end, and with full recognition of the deep emotions at play, please do not match hate with hate, or engage in name calling or insults. It does not help. Those type of communications tend to do more harm than good," he wrote.

Rep. Miller's bill, Texas H.B. 1556 would undo all LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances enacted in any Texas municipality, including ordinances passed in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and Plano.

The Observer reported that some 7.5 million people are currently covered under existing nondiscrimination ordinances.

Miller claims that nondiscrimination ordinances will hurt businesses in the state and that his bill, if ratified, will promote business growth.

“Because every private business is different, nothing in the bill prevents local businesses from voluntarily adopting their own discrimination policy not currently included in state law,” the lawmaker said.