Abbott says facilities benefiting one religion should be illegal in public buildings.
The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport has shelved plans to install special washing rooms for Muslim passengers following objections by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, an airport spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times on Aug. 15.
The airport had been “evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D” for international passengers, the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Terminal D is one of five terminals at DFW and houses more than 30 of the airport’s 160 gates. It also has a connected hotel, the Grand Hyatt.
With every proposed project, the spokesperson said, DFW management considers several factors, including “operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs,” before granting approval.
The prayer washing project had not yet reached the official evaluation point when Abbott registered his opposition to such facilities.
“Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others,” Abbott wrote on his X account on Aug. 14, and thus the airport’s plans to install Islamic washing facilities were “illegal.”
The governor announced that he had taken action so his state would “not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities.” He directed a review of all state grants to both DFW and an airport in Houston “for possible revocation,” and also referred the issue to the Department of Transportation for its own investigation.
Abbott included links to letters that he had sent to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and DFW CEO Christopher McLaughlin. He copied U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Duffy letter, and the mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston on his letter to McLaughlin.
DFW then “accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week,” the spokesperson said. It “determined not to proceed” as the project seemed unlikely to “deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits.”
Reached for comment, the governor’s press office pointed The Epoch Times to a follow-up post by Abbott in which he acknowledged the change of plans by DFW and said the proposal had been “clearly illegal.”
By Jeremy Lott
